Ryan Gosling And Eva Mendes' Relationship Timeline

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have one of the most private relationships in Hollywood. The pair were friends before they co-starred in the 2012 film "The Place Beyond The Pines," which they began filming the year before (per Glamour). It's not clear when exactly that relationship grew from friendship into something more, but they were spotted on trips together in 2012 and in 2013 and welcomed their first child together in 2014.

Now that they are parents of two (their second daughter was born in 2016), it's clear that, marriage or not, Mendes and Gosling are in things for the long run. The two occasionally speak about one another in the press, such as when Gosling famously told Hello! in 2015 that the only thing he looks for in a woman is "that she's Eva Mendes," and Mendes revealed in an interview with Women's Health Magazine that she didn't want children until she met Gosling and knew she wanted to start a family with him.

Here is a look at what we do know about the couple. Enjoy the timeline of Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes' relationship.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes have known one another since at least 2011, when they began filming the movie "The Place Beyond the Pines." Mendes later told Oprah Daily that the pair had known each other for a while before the movie, but that the experience helped shape their future. As she put it, "There's such special work in 'The Place Beyond the Pines.' We had known each other for a while already, so to work together was really exciting."

Mendes and Gosling are notoriously guarded about their personal life together, so it's difficult to know exactly when and where things between them developed. They visited Disneyland in California together in September 2011, where eagle-eyed observers noted how in tune with each other they seemed to be. An unnamed source told Us Weekly, "They were very playful. Eva was skipping around like a little girl ... She would lean into him, and she held his arm the entire time." 

The same source also appeared to be close to the situation, and admitted to the outlet that Mendes had "always joked with us about how gorgeous he is." As the source added, "She's never been shy about having the hots for him!"

Whether they wanted to be public about it or not, it became clear that things between Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were getting serious a year later when they traveled to Gosling's native Canada for his mother's graduation. Gosling's mother had been studying at Brock University in Ontario. The university's spokesperson Kevin Cavanagh admitted to the Toronto Sun that it was clear at the ceremony that the actor was happy for and protective of his mom. Cavanaugh said, "He is very fond of and proud of his mother. He was beaming."

Us Weekly later reported that it was important to Mendes to get approval from Gosling's family, and that Gosling's mother was very fond of the actor nearly immediately. As a source told the outlet that when it came to Gosling, the two women were aligned in their goals and missions. The source told Us Weekly, "Donna and Eva get along really, really well. Donna wants Ryan to settle down and Eva is all about getting him on that train too, so they're both on the same page."

While Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling never even confirmed they were in a relationship, they welcomed their first child Esmeralda in 2014. Their daughter was born at 10:22 a.m. on September 12, after the couple kept the pregnancy fairly private. A friend of both stars told People that Esmeralda was delivered via cesarean section and that Mendes was thrilled to be a new parent. The source said, "She's absolutely in heaven being a mom. She's never been happier. She and Ryan are just in awe of this beautiful person they created. It's a really special time for them."

A friend also told the outlet that the two had wanted to become parents for some time. As they put it, "This has been a long time coming. Ryan and Eva definitely discussed children before. She knows how much he wants to be a dad and he's going to be an amazing father."

Mendes later admitted that she didn't see herself as a mom until she met Gosling. While speaking to Women's Health Magazine, Mendes admitted that having children was "very specific" to her partner.

Ryan Gosling got uncharacteristically personal in a December 2015 interview with Hello! in which he chatted about fatherhood and his love of Eva Mendes. Gosling told the magazine that the family of three was preparing for the first Christmas that their daughter would be old enough to enjoy, so they were all looking forward to the holidays in a major way. 

Gosling also told the outlet that he was enjoying fatherhood immensely, and also still enjoying his time with Mendes. He said, "I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with." When asked what he wants in a woman or partner, he gave the perfect answer: "... that she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for."

Gosling's openness about his family and relationship was unexpected for some, as he and Mendes go out of their way to keep a lot out of the press, but it was a welcome holiday gift for the couple's fans around the world.

The Mendes-Gosling family continued to grow in 2016 when the two welcomed their second child together, a daughter they named Amada Lee Gosling. This time around, the two managed to keep Eva Mendes' pregnancy a secret until a full two weeks after Amada was born.

TMZ published information about Amada's arrival, and also shared a photo of Mendes that was shot two weeks before she gave birth. It's now clear in the photo that Mendes is strategically hiding her eight-months-pregnant stomach — and doing a great job of it. But some fans were not caught totally by surprise. Us Weekly had previously reported in April 2016 that the two were expecting their second child. The outlet wrote that Mendes had been seen in February of that year and was visibly pregnant.

Since then, Gosling has opened up slightly about their lives with two children. He has said, like so many other parents, that the kids are growing up quickly, and he appreciates the quality time they get to share together.

With two children under their belts, it's not too surprising that rumors Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes were secretly married circulated for some time. Those rumors reached a fever pitch in 2016, when Us Weekly claimed that "multiple sources" had confirmed the pair had gotten married in a secret ceremony in September of that year. 

A friend of the couple told the outlet that it wasn't far-fetched for them to be wed. As they put it, "Eva and Ryan have always felt like a married couple. They are infatuated with each other." However, Us Weekly also reported that the couple's representative issued a denial that a wedding happened. Mendes and Gosling also reportedly denied being married to TMZ. The gossip site confirmed that the pair had not gotten married at any point in 2016.

While they may or may not have tied the knot in 2016, one thing was still clear — the two were very happy together. When Gosling won a Golden Globe for his role in "La La Land" in 2017, he made a special point to thank Mendes in his speech. He said, "You don't get to be up here without standing on the shoulders of a mountain of people ... I just would like to try and thank one person properly ... my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second, and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer" (via Golden Globes).

A few years later, it was Eva Mendes' turn to unexpectedly open up about her private life with Ryan Gosling and their children together. While appearing on Access Daily in 2019, Mendes admitted that parenting was a lot harder than she thought it would be. But luckily, parenting alongside Gosling has its perks. As she said, "But it's like that feeling of ... 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.'"

Mendes also spoke about the family's sweet home life together, telling the outlet that her daughters were getting into gardening, which was something she wasn't really able to do growing up in a city. Things for the family are also a little easier because they have plenty of family living nearby. As Mendes said in the interview, her family lives in California, and Gosling's Canadian family often comes to Los Angeles and spends "a very long time" with the family of four.

Additionally, Mendes admitted to the outlet that she is hopeful that she and Gosling could work together again, telling the outlet, "He's just such a creative genius. There's always stuff going on there, but I would love to at any time. I would audition for him any day."

In 2020, Eva Mendes surprised fans by making a few personal comments on Instagram. As reported by Us Weekly, Mendes replied to a fan on a now-deleted post who asked why it appears she is a "single mother" on the internet. After first telling the fan that she keeps her Instagram active mostly because she is a "girls' girl" who loves to be able to connect with other women on the platform, she added that she keeps her personal life off the internet as much as she can.

She admitted that she speaks about motherhood as a way to connect to other moms, but doesn't want to diminish the work of fathers and of men who have children in their lives. Mendes commented, "I don't talk about Ryan and all the wonderful things he does as a father ... because I keep that part private."

Mendes went on to demonstrate that she's given the matter a lot of thought and that she is finding ways to be "private in a public space." She added that not revealing too much about Gosling is important because "I don't feel comfortable crossing that boundary that I have set for myself. I feel it's best that I continue to disclose what I'm comfortable with but not involve him or my kids too much" (per Metro).

In November 2022, Eva Mendes posted perhaps one of her most revealing photos to Instagram to date — if it means what a lot of people think it does. The actor shared a photo on her Instagram of herself in a yellow tube top with her wrist across her face, and on her wrist is a small tattoo that reads "de Gosling." As many who speak Spanish know, this could mean that Mendes' name is now Eva Mendes de Gosling — or Eva Mendes "of" Gosling.

Of course, in typical Mendes-Gosling fashion, the actor didn't offer any other insight or details about what the photo might truly mean. The image caption is simply two heart emoji with crossed swords. As Harper's Bazaar put it, at the very least the photo shows that Mendes' commitment to her family with Gosling and her relationship is at a high level, and that should really be good enough for all of us.