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Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes Make First Official Appearance Together in Over a Decade
For Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, togetherness has never been measured in red carpets or photo opportunities.
"I have always had a clear boundary when it comes to my man and my kids," Mendes—who shares daughters Esmeralda, 11, and Amada, 9, with Gosling—explained in April 2020, responding to an Instagram commenter who wondered why she didn't post photos of her family. "I'll talk about them of course, with limits, but I won't post pictures of our daily life."
Not to mention, she continued, since her kids were too young to "understand what posting their image really means...I won't post their image until they're old enough to give me consent. As far as Ryan and I, it just works for us this way, to stay private."
Their children remain off-limits to this day, image-wise, though Mendes has sounded happy to talk about the joys and challenges of parenting, on occasion.
Less off-limits in recent years, however, has been her relationship with Gosling, her partner since they met in 2011 making The Place Beyond the Pines.
Their slow emergence from don't-bother-us-we're-private status began when Gosling made the press, premiere and awards season rounds for 2016's La La Land alone, but made clear that Mendes was there in spirit. By the time he ran the gauntlet again for Barbie a few years ago, he was getting fervent declarations of support from his longtime partner.
In fact, no one banged the drum harder for Gosling's embodiment of Barbie's boyfriend than Mendes, who made it clear she did watch her man perform "I'm Just Ken" at the 2024 Oscars, just not from a seat in the audience.
Todd Owyoung/NBC
But even though Gosling has been nominated for two Oscars (plus all the other awards that tend to precede that recognition) since they got together, ultimately it took a Hail Mary to reunite the couple in front of a camera.
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Ahead of the 45-year-old's fourth time hosting Saturday Night Live—and the upcoming release of his new sci-fi-action-adventure-in-space movie Project Hail Mary—Mendes made a surprise appearance alongside Gosling on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 5 when the host and his guest enlisted a high school marching band to play "Happy Birthday" for the actress, who was turning 52.
They held hands and even shared a kiss, during what was their first joint showbiz appearance together since SXSW in 2015—where they appeared at a Q&A following the premiere of Lost River, directed by Gosling and starring Mendes, but did not stand next to each other.
Of course, it's not as if they haven't gone out over the last 13 years. They even take their children places, as parents do. After the family of four were spotted at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Mendes gave NBC Olympics an approving shout-out for leaving their daughters out of the frame when the couple's presence at a women's gymnastics event was duly noted.
But for almost the totality of their relationship, they have for the most part opted to run their respective professional lives solo, though obviously they have each other's back behind the scenes.
Not that Mendes was ever the most splashily out there of actresses, but once she and Gosling became an item she pared back on public appearances, rededicated her social media to fashion and her business pursuits, and focused on her family.
"It was like a no-brainer," she told Entertainment Tonight in 2024. "[And I was like], I'm so lucky if I could have this time with my children."
Gosling has publicly thanked Mendes for holding down the fort at home so he could go make movies, but she was fully onboard with that arrangement.
"It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, 'OK, he's going to work and I'm going to work. I'm just going to work here,'" she explained. "He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job. And he did it and he came home."
Loic VENANCE / AFP via Getty Images
And it turned out the 2 Fast 2 Furious alum was "never in love" with acting.
"I don't mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn't a great actress," she told The Times in October 2024. "I had my moments when I worked with really great people."
But, Mendes continued, "I still have the same level of ambition as I had before. It just has shifted." Plus, she wanted to show her daughters that “working is cool.”
Which is why she started carving out more boss time for herself as they got older.
"Mami's first fashion week in over 10 years!," the New York & Company designer posted to Instagram in February 2024, along with a series of shots showing her all dolled up for the Dolce & Gabbana show during Milan Fashion Week. "Yup, I haven't gone to a fashion event since I've been a Mama. Time flies when you're mommying."
Meanwhile, Gosling has historically been reluctant to go into detail about his personal life. (But he'd make subtly awesome gestures, like wear a T-shirt promoting Mendes' children's book while doing press.)
"I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with," he told ET Canada in 2015. Asked what it was that drew him to her, he tersely replied, "That she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for."
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for SXSW
So, not only was her appearance with him on The Tonight Show a big moment, but so was the bit leading up to her entrance, a video in which Gosling engaged in a promotional chat with Alexa about Project Hail Mary and the AI started serving up compliments about his real-life leading lady.
"I swear this happened," Gosling assured Jimmy Fallon, "this was not planned."
When he asked why people should see his new movie, Alexa responded, "Because the IMAX visuals are absolutely stunning. Plus, Eva Mendes herself called it a masterpiece that brings back the magic of the big screen experience that you just can't get the full impact of from your couch at home."
That is akin to what Mendes posted on Instagram about the film, and Gosling doubled over with laughter.
He replied, "That Eva Mendes is great, isn't she?"
Don't ask if you don't want an answer, and Alexa continued, "Absolutely. She's got this incredible range that people don't always give her credit for. From her breakthrough in Training Day to that beautiful performance in The Place Beyond the Pines with Ryan Gosling, she brings this authentic vulnerability to every role. Plus, she's been smart about stepping back from acting to focus on family, which shows she's got her priorities straight."
Gosling noted, "I couldn't agree more."
Really, it would have been a little awkward if she hadn't then emerged to much fanfare.
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Whether this is the start of a new chapter of visibility for the couple remains to be seen, but it does show that they've reached a new stage of comfort when it comes to being appreciated as a duo.
Alexa, cue the applause. And read on for more of the sweetest things Mendes and Gosling have said about each other:
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Their Place Beyond the Pines
Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes started dating shortly after playing a couple in their 2012 crime drama A Place Beyond the Pines.
“I know that I’m with the person I’m supposed to be with," Ryan told Hello three years after the movie's release, adding that his favorite quality about his partner is that "she’s Eva Mendes."
As he put it, "There’s nothing else I’m looking for."
Sonia Recchia/Getty Images
On Cloud Nine
For Ryan, life with Eva and their daughters Esmeralda and Amada is "heaven."
"It's like walking through a field of flowers every day," he gushed during a 2016 appearance on Good Morning America. "I live with angels. It's a ray of sunshine in a dark time."
Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
La La Love
Ryan dedicated his 2017 Golden Globes win for La La Land to Eva—and her late brother Juan Carlos Méndez Jr.—saying in his acceptance speech, "While I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second, and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer."
"If she hadn’t have taken all that on so that I could have this experience, it would surely be someone else up here other than me today," continued Ryan. "So sweetheart, thank you.”
Donato Sardella/Getty Images for New York & Company
Oh Baby
For most of her life, Eva thought she would never become a mother. Then, according to the Hitch actress, "Ryan Gosling happened."
"I mean, falling in love with him," she told Women's Health in 2019. "Then it made sense for me to have…not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him."
Instagram/Eva Mendes
Parental Duties
Of her life with Ryan as parents to two young girls, Eva joked to Access in 2019, "It's so fun and beautiful and maddening."
"It's so hard, of course," she noted. "You end your day, you put them to bed and Ryan and I kind of look at each other like, 'We did it, we did it. We came out relatively unscathed.'"
Robert Kamau/GC Images
Staying Private in a Public Space
Eva got candid about the couple's decision to keep their home life out of the spotlight, writing to a fan on Instagram in May 2020, "I don't talk about Ryan and all the wonderful things he does as a father because I keep that part private."
"I feel it's best that I continue to disclose what I'm comfortable with but not involve him or my kids too much," she continued. "Does that make sense? Hope so. Because this is my honest answer."
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Building a Family
Likewise, Ryan didn't really have baby on the brain until Eva came along.
"I mean, it’s true that I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her," the Drive star admitted in a 2023 GQ interview, "but after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her."
In fact, Ryan said "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 realized that this would be a life I would be really lucky to have."
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Mama Knows Best
When it comes to parenting, Ryan also admittedly looks to his longtime love.
"I just lean on Eva," he told GQ in 2023. "She knows what’s important, always. She just somehow knows. So if ever I’m in my head about it, I just ask her.”
Splash by Shutterstock
Finding the One
Reflecting on his life before Eva, the Notebook alum said in the same interview, "I was looking for her, you know?"
He added, "But it all makes sense now."
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Feel the Kenergy
Eva let the world know that Ryan is more than kenough following the success of Barbie. Reflecting on the "hate when he took on this role," the actress wrote on Instagram in January 2024, "So proud of my man."
"Despite all the #Notmyken ridicule and articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, now iconic character," she added, "and took it all the way to Oscars."
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Best Costars
Working with Ryan on The Place Beyond the Pines changed Eva's life in more ways than one. As she explained of his approach to acting during a March 2024 Today appearance, "I’ve never experienced anything like that."
"The way he works, his commitment to his craft, how he wants to make everything as best as it can be," the Girl in Progress star shared, "and that means making his costars as best as they can be."
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Lessons Learned
But for Ryan, Eva is the one doling out the acting lessons.
“She has really become the best acting coach I have ever had," he raved to Extra in May 2024. "It's endless how she helps me"
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