Ryan Gosling nabbed the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a musical or comedy on Sunday night. His performance as jazz musician Sebastian in La La Land blew us away — and his acceptance speech was no different. It was a little bit funny and incredibly heartfelt, and made us fall in love with him that much more.
"This isn't the first time I've been mistaken for Ryan Reynolds," Gosling joked about his fellow nominee when he got up onstage, "but it’s getting out of hand."
Then Gosling pivoted to a more serious sentiment, thanking his love Eva Mendes for her support and strength as his partner and the mother to their two daughters. “You don’t get to be up here without standing on the shoulders of a mountain,” he began. “While I was singing and dancing and playing piano," he continued, "my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second and trying to help her brother with his battle with cancer." Gosling added, “If she hadn’t taken all that on so I could have this experience [someone else would be up here]. Sweetheart, thank you."
The actor then dedicated his award to Mendes' late older brother, Juan Carlos Mendes, who died in April 2016 after a battle with throat cancer, as ET reported at the time.
Gosling and Mendes usually shy away from discussing their private life, so his touching personal disclosure was as unexpected as it was moving. And it was adorable to see the father discuss his two little girls with Mendes, 2-year-old Esmerelda Amada and 8-month-old Amada Lee. We bet they were on the couch at home with Mom, who was probably tearing up watching her husband's beautiful speech. Watch it in full, below — it's worth every second.
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