Ryan Gosling loved "bonding" with Eva Mendes' family over household chores.

The 51-year-old actress has revealed how a love of cleaning together was instilled with her from childhood, and when she started dating her now-husband in 2011, she found that he had a similar passion.

She told New Beauty magazine: "I always thought it was a Cuban thing that we love to clean, and we love a clean kitchen.

"Some of my best memories from when I was little are of my mom cleaning the house over the weekend.

"She'd be playing a record super loudly, and it would wake me up. There was the smell of Pine-Sol and the sounds of her singing to El Puma."

Eva and Ryan met while working together on The Place Beyond the Pines, and he embraced the family cleaning sessions.

Eva recalled: "He would come over. He just loved it. When my family was around, we would literally take over the kitchen. It had to be clean.

"It was a bonding experience."

Eva also opened up on the families' summer plans, and she insisted their focus is on their daughters Esmeralda Amanda, 10, and Amanda Lee, nine.

She said: "Summer is their time to be kids, and I'm really taking it in... I just want to be with them.

"Whatever I'm doing, as long as I'm with them and Ryan, of course, that's where I'm happiest."

Eva previosuly admitted her 2014 performance in Ryan Gosling's directing debut Lost River was the high point in her career, and she is up for anything except violence and sexuality.

She wrote on Instagram: "I never quit acting.

"I wanted to be home with my babies and fortunately my other business ventures allowed me to do that more than acting would.

"Also, I was not excited about the stereotypical roles being offered to me at the time. Especially after working on the film LOST RIVER - that was a dream project. That's a tough act to follow. What's the point of this post? To shift that narrative. I never quit. I have such a shortlist of what I will do.

"Like, before kids, I was kinda up for anything, you know, if it was a fun project. But now I won't do violence. I don't want to do sexuality. The list is short."