Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have historically been fiercely protective of their marriage and their two daughters, and we mean fiercely secretive. This weekend, however, the couple is publicly and, unlike usual, a bit sticky about each other.

It all started Saturday night when Gosling spoke about Mendes at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Gosling, the 16th recipient of the Kirk Douglas Award for Outstanding Work, talked about how his acting career has allowed him to play a wide variety of characters. Most importantly, he met the woman of his dreams, Eva Mendes, and had two children." I always dreamed of making movies one day, and now movies have made my life a dream." (Gosling and Mendes share a 9-year-old daughter, Esmeralda, and a 7-year-old daughter, Amada.)

Gosling, who received the Kirk Douglas Award, has been honored by Michael Douglas (who also happens to be Kirk's son and whose legendary acting skills run in the family), Robert De Niro, Jessica Lang, Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Yeoh, and John Travolta, among other actors who will follow in their illustrious footsteps. It goes without saying that the award is named after a legendary actor. Gosling, still tugging at his inner Ken from last summer's "Barbie," said upon accepting the award, "It's hard to imagine standing here tonight in my career. Kirk Douglas. He was one of the first true icons of cinema and he is completely and totally in a class of his own and I ...... Just Ken."

The next night, Gosling seemed to garner headlines with his sweet comments about Mendes, and at Sunday's Critics' Choice Awards, he literally went viral with his deadpan reaction to the camera. Gosling looked dubious and stunned when his song "I'm Just Ken," from the Barbie soundtrack, won best song at the awards ceremony, after presenters Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos picked it for best song. (Gosling raised his eyebrows at the news and looked surprised. ) "Then he stood up and shook his head in joking disbelief.

Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, the song's lyricists, then took the stage to accept the award. Ronson said in his acceptance speech, "Ryan Gosling, this is as much your award as it is ours." 'Your unparalleled performance got the audience hooked on this song.'

Speaking of "falling in love," Mendes shared a GIF of her longtime partner's viral moment on Instagram yesterday, captioning the clip (again a bit unorthodox since the two rarely talk about their relationship) "I LOVE HIM." I LOVE HIM. On Saturday night, Gosling said this himself.

Their relationship is so close that speculation that they are married has been fueled for years by Mendes referring to Gosling as her "husband" in 2022, though the two have yet to publicly confirm or deny it; they have been a couple for nearly 13 years, but Red for over a decade They have not accompanied each other on the carpet, and Mendes explained on Instagram last April why they chose to keep their relationship private after a fan asked if he and Gosling would be together during awards season.

"We don't do that kind of thing together." I replied, "I only post what I'm comfortable with because it's already there, like these pictures I'm posting. She added, "'Not comfortable' means exposing our very private lives, which we cherish. But I would love to do another movie with him. ......" She added. In a follow-up comment to the same post, Mendes added that she and Gosling actually had one public event together while promoting "Place Beyond the Pines. 'We've only been on the red carpet together once to promote this film. ("Place Beyond the Pines" was released in 2012.)

Nevertheless, Page Six writes, "Despite keeping their relationship private, Mendes often posts about Gosling's upcoming projects and successes and is supportive online. Commenting on his work is great, but commenting on their romance is even better."