Ryan Gosling Says Eva Mendes and Their Family Are His North Star

Ryan Gosling is opening up about how Eva Mendes and their two daughters serve as a north star for him in his life.

In a Men’s Health cover story with The Fall Guy director David Leitch, the Barbie actor and Bullet Train filmmaker were asked if they have a motto they live by or a north star that guides their decisions.

Gosling explained that he doesn’t really have a motto, but will find himself thinking about his deathbed when faced with a decision, saying that considering what will matter then is what helps him choose the best thing for him.

“It puts things into perspective,” the three-time Oscar nominee told the publication. “It always comes back to family first. I don’t think I’ll regret anything professionally, but I do think when it comes to Eva and the girls, they come first.”

He continued, “I don’t know, it’s probably not a good thing that I go deathbed, but it’s helpful for me. Anytime I’m struggling, I just think about whether it’s going to matter to me then because, yeah, this whole thing can be distorting.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Gosling was asked who his heroes are, and he immediately said Mendes, before adding that his Uncle Bill also serves as that to him.

“When I was in school, [Uncle Bill] said, ‘I’m gonna put all your achievements in a scrapbook.’ I didn’t want the scrapbook to stay empty,” he said. “Uncle Bill believed in me at a time when I didn’t really believe in myself.”

While Gosling and Mendes are famous for keeping their relationship incredibly private, the couple, who have been dating since 2011, will occasionally give fans a glimpse into their love story.

Over the past few months, Mendes has shared what it was like to work with Gosling in 2012’s The Place Beyond the Pines, praised his Saturday Night Live Cuban wife sketch and called out people who tried to shame him for playing Ken in Barbie.