Remember the days when Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were intensely and truly secretive about their relationship? (Ryan Gosling was nominated for an Academy Award yesterday for his role as Ken in the movie Barbie. Unfortunately for Gosling, along with his Best Supporting Actor nomination, the film's director, Greta Gerwig (who many were hoping for a Best Director nomination), and Margot Robbie, who played the lead character (many were hoping for a Best Actress nomination), were not nominated. America Ferrera, who played Gloria in the film, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and received a total of eight nominations, including Best Picture.

Both Gosling and Ferrera are still deserving winners and should not have to feel bittersweet about their success, but Gerwig and Robbie each spoke out against their lack of awards. But now it was Mendes' turn to speak up in defense of Gosling, and she did so today on Instagram.

Mendes screenshot a Rolling Stone article with the provocative headline "Sorry to Be the One to Say It, but Ryan Gosling Is Giving Major Cringe as Ken in 'Barbie'." The article seemed to strike a nerve with Gosling's longtime partner Mendes (who also shares two daughters with Gosling), who said, "I'm so proud of my guy. There was a lot of hate when he took on this role. When he took on this role, a lot of people tried to discredit him. Despite being ridiculed as 'Not My Ken' and the many articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, and now iconic character and took it all the way to the Academy Awards."[5

She concluded beautifully, "I am so proud to be this Ken Barbie."

I want to thank Mendez for giving us that little bit of romantic exuberance we didn't know we needed.

Truly, it is an incredible shame that Gosling's brilliance will be missed by the Academy's omission. Ferrera did the same, commenting on Mendes' post, adding three clapping emojis, "He is amazing as Ken! He did three somersaults! We are so glad it was him and so grateful that he has emerged to super stardom and continues to show up to support all the ladies in this process! He is a class act, insanely worthy and talented"

. [While we are upset about Gawig and Robbie, we can also look forward to Gosling and Ferrera. We have access to everything. They are not mutually exclusive.

And Gosling, through his partner's supportive posts and the support of the women around him during the filming of Barbie, clearly knows that women are running the world, not just Gerwig, Robbie, and Ferrera's one-two-three power punch. After all, he and Mendes are raising their two daughters as they will one day. Let him have his flowers, his moment, and maybe, just maybe, his Oscar.