“If she hadn’t taken all that on so that I could have this experience, it would surely be someone else up here other than me today—so,” he looked intently into the camera, “sweetheart, thank you. To my daughters, Amada and Esmeralda, I love you.” (And then he dedicated his award to the memory of Eva’s brother, Juan Carlos Méndez Jr., who died in April 2016, 12 days before Amada was born.)
In the moment, that was an unprecedented glimpse behind closed doors from Gosling, who usually prefers to talk about literally anything other than his private life in interviews. Asked about Christmas presents for Mendes and the kids in 2016 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Gosling charmingly pivoted to saying he wanted to get a new Roomba to help out his existing Roomba, because he felt so bad that the first one was always tirelessly cleaning.
Meanwhile, Mendes hasn’t been in a movie since Gosling directed her in Lost River, which they made in 2013 and was released in 2015.
But, make no mistake, her pivot to fashion and other pursuits—including her upcoming debut children’s book, Desi, Mami & the Never Ending Worries—was on purpose. And she has relished being a mom first and foremost.