Ryan Gosling Couldn't Get A Date In High School

In news that you can't believe is possibly true, Ryan Gosling admitted that he had trouble dating in high school, sort of. Yes, that's right: The star of The Notebook, who taught us everything we need to know about love, didn't have game. I understand that this is tough news (how obtuse were these high school girls?), so I'm here to help you get through it. “Yeah, growing up, I never played sports,” Gosling told Australia's Sunday Style. “And I guess, growing up, the guys girls liked were jocks or, you know, that sort of thing, and because I never did that; I was in dance class and things like that. Also, I just grew up around a lot of girls."

While the actor solidified heartthrob status as an adult, his adolescence was a little bit different. “I was [involved] in a lot of their conversations about guys and I found it frustrating because I felt like I must not be a threat if they’re being so open in front of me," Gosling added. "That used to bother me. Yeah, that bothered me. I didn’t like that.”

Ryan Gosling, I would never do that to you! As surprising as this news is, the actor isn't the only star who went through an awkward phase during school. Check out these nine stars who were also late bloomers.

1. Taylor Swift

We all know Taylor Swift as a poised, elegant star on the red carpet, but she said that she was quite the loner back in high school. “I remember when I was in school, the whole reason I started writing songs was because I was alone a lot of the time," the singer told Ellen DeGeneres on Ellen. "I’d sit there in school and I’d be hearing people like, ‘Oh my god, this party that we’re going to is gonna be so awesome on Friday. Everyone’s invited except for [Taylor].’”

2. Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston, a punk rock princess? Yep, the actress once sported an ultra-edgy hairstyle! "[I rocked] a mini-Mohawk just above my ears, and lots of liquid eyeliner," Aniston told PEOPLE. "I did liquid eyeliner better than anyone in history."

3. Angelina Jolie

When she was a teenager, Angelina Jolie was a self-described "punk" who even graduated high school early. "I was the punk outsider nobody messed with," Jolie told Parade. "I was fearless. At 16, I graduated and moved out."

4. Naya Rivera

Although she played popular cheerleader Santana on Glee, Naya Rivera described her younger self as a blend of two much geekier characters. "In high school, I was most like Artie and Rachel," the actress told Fitness magazine. "I knew what I wanted, like Rachel, although I wasn't as obnoxious. But, like Artie, I was a nerd, always trying to fit in and get my hair to lie flat."

5. Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling looked back on her awkward high school years with her signature sense of humor. "I was obsessed with being popular in high school and never achieved it," Kaling told NPR. "There's photos from our high school musicals, and I'm comically in the deep background, wearing a beggar's costume."

6. Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Garner admitted that she was never the most popular girl in school — and that she nearly aspired to be a librarian! “I was a real nerd,” the actress told The Mirror (via Shape magazine). “I wasn’t the popular one, I was one of those girls on the edge of the group. I never wore the right clothes and I had a kind of natural geekiness. I was in the school band and I think that has a bit of a stigma at the age of 13. If you’d asked me what I wanted to be, I would have said something like a librarian.”

7. Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick didn't blossom until after high school, joking that she didn't call herself a nerd for the credibility. "I had a totally normal high school experience... boys really liked flat-chested theater nerds, let me tell you," Kendrick told the WTF podcast. "I wasn't, like, socially comfortable, that's for sure. I mean, I don't want to say I'm nerdy for cred."

8. Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham joked about her high school fashion choices, but admitted that she chose not to attend her reunion. "They're like, 'Oh, she's the person who wore a tube top as a skirt for four years. She should not have been allowed to go to college,'" Dunham told Jimmy Kimmel, adding that she skipped her her high school reunion because "I'm avoiding who I was. I'm avoiding past incarnations of myself."

9. Steven Spielberg

Despite his clout as one of the most influential movie directors of all time, Steven Spielberg described himself as being an "outsider" in school. "I was a nerd in those days," Spielberg said of his childhood. "Outsider. Like the kid that played the clarinet in the band and orchestra, which I did."

Ryan Gosling and these other stars prove that, despite our most awkward stages of life, or how that stage can seem like it lasts forever, massive success can come to anyone, and the long journey to feeling comfortable in your own skin is one we can all relate to.

Images: Getty Images (9)