Ryan Gosling on the Moment He Knew He Wanted Kids with Eva Mendes

Ryan Gosling is gushing over Eva Mendes in GQ’s Global Summer issue.

The private star made some rare comments about his longtime partner, revealing the moment he knew he wanted to have kids with her.

He also opened up about taking time off to be with his family, and reacted to fans who think he’s too old to play Ken in the upcoming “Barbie” movie.

As for starting a family with Mendes, Gosling said, “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 pair co-starred in the 2012 drama “The Place Beyond the Pines,” and he recalled, “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.”

Now, the couple has two daughters, Esmeralda, 8, and Amada, 6.

He told the mag that he stepped away from acting for a few years “spend as much time as I could with them.”

Ryan said having a family has changed his perspective on acting. “I treat it more like work now, and not like it’s, you know, therapy. It’s a job, and I think in a way that allows me to be better at it because there’s less interference.”

He is back on the big screen with the new “Barbie” movie, which premieres in July, and recalled how seeing his daughters play with Barbies and Ken impacted his thoughts on the character.

“I did see him, like, face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon,” Gosling said, “and it was like, ‘This guy’s story does need to be told, you know?’”

The 42-year-old seemed amused by anyone thinking he is too old for the part as he reacted to the criticism.

“I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” he said. “It is funny… this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?... But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f**ked with Ken. That’s the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”

Ryan admitted he can relate to Ken, saying, “There’s something about this Ken that really, I think, relates to that version of myself. Just, like, the guy that was putting on Hammer pants and dancing at the mall and smelling like Drakkar Noir and Aqua Net-ing bangs. I owe that kid a lot. I feel like I was very quick to distance myself from him when I started making more serious films. But the reality is that, like, he’s the reason I have everything I have.”

Back in July 2022, “Extra’s” Rachel Lindsay spoke with Ryan about making the CIA action movie “The Gray Man” and “Barbie” back-to-back.

Rachel asked, “Do you think you're more of a Ken doll or a Gray Man?”

Ryan answered, “I hope there's a balance. And I love doing both of them back-to-back ‘cause I do feel like that Kenergy has always been there. It was good to get it out. But I also feel like Ken would love this movie.” Saying he thought Ken would like “The Gray Man,” Gosling went on to say, “I could see a shared universe where the Gray Man finally gets out of being a spy and gets to chill on the couch and gets to watch ‘The Gray Man with Ken.’”