Ryan Gosling & Eva Mendes’ Relationship Timeline Doesn't Include Marriage & Here’s Why

It’s been four years since Ryan Gosling starred in a movie — 2018’s First Man. Now, he’s starring in a spy thriller about a different man: The Gray Man, where he’ll play “the CIA’s most skilled operative,” and the subject of an international manhunt, per Netflix.

As if there weren’t already enough men to keep up with in Gosling’s filmography, he’s also going to play Barbie’s man — Ken, that is — in 2023’s Barbie movie helmed by Greta Gerwig. Though the highly anticipated film is still a year out, Gosling’s Ken doll look (complete with personalized briefs, bleached hair, and a tan six-pack) already has people talking — and some thirsting. Among them? Gosling’s longtime partner, Eva Mendes.

“I saw the photo, and the 14-year-old in me was like, aah,” Mendes revealed on The Talk in June, adding that she even wore his infamous “Ken” briefs on the show. “When I saw it, he sent it to me from work and I said, ‘Can I please have that underwear? Please. I never ask for anything.’”

So it’s safe to say that Mendes is pretty obsessed with Gosling — and good thing! Because the pair has been together for more than a decade. Ahead, a timeline of Gosling and Mendes’ relationship — from working on a film together to their roles as “Mom” and “Dad” to two daughters.

Sometime Before 2011: They Meet & Become Friends

Gosling and Mendes are often said to have met while filming The Place Beyond the Pines in 2011 — but as Mendes revealed to Oprah Mag, they actually connected well before that. “We had known each other for a while already, so to work together was really exciting,” she said. The pair tends to keep things pretty private (a trend you’ll discover through the rest of this timeline), so it’s anyone’s guess as to where or when they met for the first time.

2011: They Work On Their First Film Together

Even if they didn’t meet on set, it seems that working together on The Place Beyond the Pines helped Gosling and Mendes forge a romantic connection. That September, per PopSugar, the pair was spotted kissing during a date at Disneyland. (If you’re catching up on the couple’s filmography, you can also catch Gosling and Mendes together in Lost River, which the Gray Man star wrote, directed, and co-produced.)

2014 & 2016: They Welcome Their Daughters, Esmeralda & Amada

Mendes didn’t always plan to be a mom — but as she told Women’s Health in 2019, her relationship with Gosling changed that. “Then it made sense for me to have… not kids, but his kids,” she explained. “It was very specific to him.” Daughters Esmeralda and Amada were born in 2014 and 2016 specifically.

September 2016: Marriage Rumors Swirl

Gosling and Mendes are not married — but that hasn’t stopped reports about their rumored nuptials from swirling over the years. In 2016, Us Weekly reported that the pair had been married in a ceremony with “a small group of family and friends,” but TMZ said the story was not true.

Before the couple were officially linked, Mendes told Chelsea Handler that she wasn’t necessarily a fan of marriage. “I'm not like anti-marriage or the institution, like for other people,” she said in 2011, per Us Weekly. “And I love the idea of a union — that's all very beautiful. But I think, you know, it's a very old fashioned, archaic kind of thing. We did it for land originally. How unromantic is that?”

Mendes also said that it would be alluring “to be with someone in your fifties and sixties and be like, ‘That's my boyfriend.’” Aw...

January 2017: Gosling Praises His “Lady” During His Golden Globes Acceptance Speech

Wondering why there are so few red carpet photos of Gosling and Mendes together? It’s pretty simple — as Mendes once told Shape, she’s happier hanging out at home. “What people don’t know about me is that I love being home,” Mendes revealed. “Instead of hitting the red carpet, I’d rather be with our girls.”

But even though Mendes wasn’t there in person to celebrate Gosling’s 2017 Best Actor Golden Globe win for La La Land, she caught his extremely sweet speech from home.

“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,” Gosling said at the award ceremony. “If she hadn’t taken all of that on, so that I could have this experience, there would surely be someone up here today, so, sweetheart, thank you.”

Gosling dedicated the award to the memory of Mendes’ brother, Juan Carlos, who passed away shortly before Amada was born, Mendes told Women’s Health. “It was like a dream ... it was the most beautiful gesture, and I had no idea Ryan was going to say it.”

October 2021: Gosling On Lockdown Parenting

Though Gosling and Mendes still keep their family life very private, the Gray Man star did discuss parenting during lockdown in an interview with GQ. “Our kids are young, so it was a tough time for them to be separated from other kids and not being able to see family and whatnot,” Gosling said. “So, we did our best to entertain them.” He joked that he and Eva did more acting during the lockdown than they did in their whole careers.