Eva Mendes admits becoming a mother has made her appreciate Valentine's Day more.

The 49-year-old actress is married to Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling, 43, with whom she has daughters Esmeralda Amada, nine, and Amada Lee, seven, and she says having children has made her a big "softie".

She said in a video on Instagram: "I don’t like love Valentine’s Day. I used to be a rebel and be like, ‘No, Valentine’s Day is bull.'

"But now I like it. I’m a mom now and I’m all like soft and stuff."

In the caption, she wrote: "Yup, I’m a softie now that I’m a Mami of two little girls! lotsa love out there today and always (sic)"

'Barbie' star Ryan previously revealed he never planned to have children until he met Eva.

The 'Notebook' star got together with the 'Hitch' star after they starred in 'The Place Beyond the Pines' together and he admitted playing "pretend" in the 2012 movie gave him a glimpse of the personal life he could have.

Ryan told GQ's Global Summer issue last year: "I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her, but after I met Eva, I realised that I just didn’t want to have kids without her.

"And there were moments on 'The Place Beyond the Pines' where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore.

"I realised that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have.”

The 'Drive' star also explained he deliberately took a four-year break from acting after his second daughter was born.

He said: "I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them.”

Ryan reflected that their life together with their children is "so much better" than he ever thought it could be.

He said: “I would never want to go back, you know? I’m glad I didn’t have control over my destiny in that way, because it was so much better than I ever had dreamed for myself.”