Despite not taking home the Best Supporting Actor gong at the 2024 Oscars, in many ways Ryan Gosling stole the show. His all-pink rendition of 'I'm Just Ken' added a healthy dose of silliness to an otherwise formal and often stuffy occasion.
Ryan Gosling, who played the infamous Ken in Greta Gerwig's box office hit, Barbie last summer was one of only two actors from the film to receive a nomination from the Academy, alongside America Ferrera.
Starting his performance hidden beneath a black cowboy hat at his table, Ryan burst into song and took to the stage in a hot pink suit with a group of male backing dancers, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, Mark Ronson and several Barbie cast members including Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Simu Liu.
It became an instant highlight of the night, with many fans wondering why Ryan's wife Eva Mendes wasn't there to bask in his glory. Especially since the performance seemed to reignite a lot of female attention, with users on X (Twitter) writing 'I think I'm in love with him' and 'Ryan Gosling has more stage presence than any male pop star alive'.
Others who were lucky enough to attend the 96th Oscars ceremony noted that Ryan won over the entire room and managed to get everyone up on their feet. Journalist Ryan Setoodeh wrote, 'Ryan Gosling fully belting out "I’m Just Ken" is the one of the most incredible Oscar musical performances I’ve ever seen. People were screaming, cheering and gasping inside the Dolby.'
So where was Eva Mendes? And why wasn't she front and centre at the Oscars to celebrate Ryan and the rest of the Barbie team? Well, it's none of our business really.
The best guess would be that she was at home with the couple's two young daughters – Esmerelda, nine, and Amada, seven – who were no doubt dancing the night away and watching on TV. Or that she was backstage supporting her husband from his dressing room, without taking part in the fanfare of the red carpet.
Regardless, Ryan and Eva are both A-list Hollywood celebrities who can probably afford a babysitter and would have made a great interview pairing on the red carpet. So Eva's absence feels like a deliberate choice – and one that we applaud.
Despite both being incredibly famous actors, Ryan and Eva, who have been together since 2011, have managed to keep their relationship almost entirely out of the spotlight.
In fact, people weren't even sure if they were married until 2022 when Eva referred to Ryan as her husband in an interview for the first time. The pair are notoriously private about their family life, which might be one of the reasons things seem to be going so well for them.
Ryan has openly gushed about his wife and said 'it meant everything' to have her support during the making of Barbie, and Eva has called him 'the greatest actor [she's] ever worked with', but they don't owe us any red carpet appearances or PDA to prove that they are happy. In fact, the opposite approach seems to be working just fine.
Eva has addressed the fact that they don't really do red carpets in an Instagram post, when a fan asked her if she'd be appearing on the Barbie press tour. She replied, 'What a cool comment, thank you, but we don’t do those things together.'
She added: 'Like these photos I’ve been posting, I’m only comfortable posting because it’s already out there.'
In this case, it turns out Eva was with Ryan at the Oscars rehearsals during the day, but ducked out at show time to let Ryan (and/ or Ken) have his big moment. She even posted a photo of herself in Ryan's Oscars outfit on Instagram with the caption, 'You took Ken all the way to the Oscar’s, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed.' We hope he brought the pink suit back with him too.
Nikki Peach is news and entertainment writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and current affairs.