Ryan Gosling Shares Rare Quotes About Fatherhood, Eva Mendes

Everything in its right place. Ryan Gosling offered some rare insight into his life with Eva Mendes and their two daughters — and revealed why he took a four-year break from Hollywood.

The La La Land actor, 42, didn’t appear in any films between 2018 and 2022, in large part because of the 2016 birth of his and Mendes’ second child, daughter Amada, now 7. The couple also share daughter Esmeralda, 8. “I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them,” Gosling explained in a GQ interview published on Wednesday, May 31.

The Notebook star and the 2 Fast 2 Furious actress, 49, started dating after meeting in 2011 on the set of the The Place Beyond the Pines, which hit theaters the following year. Gosling explained on Wednesday that he hadn’t given much thought to the idea of fatherhood before he met Mendes.

“When you asked me about Eva and kids, I think I said, I didn’t think about kids until she told me she was pregnant. That’s not really true,” the Lost River director told the outlet, referring to a comment he made earlier in the article. “I didn’t want to overshare, but now I also don’t want to misrepresent. I mean, it’s true that I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her, but after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her.”

The Canada native went on to say that making The Place Beyond the Pines — in which he and Mendes played the parents of a young son — helped him understand that he didn’t want their family to “pretend” any longer. “I realized that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have,” he explained, adding, “I was looking for her, you know? … It all makes sense now.”

Mendes and Gosling have kept their children out of the spotlight over the years, but the Drive actor shared a few details about how they balance parenting duties. The Dead Man’s Bones singer explained that he “lean[s] on” his partner whenever he’s unsure about the right path with their kids. “She knows what’s important, always,” Gosling said. “She just somehow knows. So if ever I’m in my head about it, I just ask her.”

Earlier this month, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly that the couple’s connection is stronger than ever. “She’s his No. 1 fan and loves when he gets to do big movies, like Barbie,” the source revealed, adding that the duo are “as in love today” as they were when they met.

In Barbie — which stars Margot Robbie as the titular doll — Gosling plays Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. The Oscar nominee didn’t say whether his daughters will see the movie, but he noted that they do play with Barbies.

They’re somewhat less enthusiastic about Ken, however. “I did see him, like, face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon,” the Half Nelson star joked to GQ. “And it was like, ‘This guy’s story does need to be told, you know?’”