Ryan Gosling Says “If Women Love Me It’s Because I Listen… Not Because Of My Abs”

Hollywood’s hottest actor, Ryan Gosling has dated some of the most beautiful women’s in the industry including Gossip Girl‘s Blake Lively, The Notebook co-star Rachel McAdams and his current girlfriend actress Eva Mendes. But, according to Gosling, it’s not because of his gorgeous abs that make him such a hit with the ladies— it’s because he’s a good listener. He says:

“If I have any particular appeal to women, maybe it’s because I listen more than other guys do and appreciate how they think and feel about things. I grew up with a family of strong women and I owe any capacity I have to understand women to my mother and my big sister. They taught me to respect women in a way where I’ve always felt a strong emotional connection to women, which has also helped me in the way I approach my work as an actor.” 

 

The Canadian star has been mentioned in multiple blogs for his good looks and last November, his fans even staged a protest outside the New York HQ of People Magazine when they failed to name him the Sexiest Man Alive. Bradley Cooper, who was then mentioned got the accolade, he was hit by a backlash from the rival fans after he beated Gosling to the title.

Last year, Gosling was given Time Magazine‘s Coolest Person Of The Year award and this year he did well in The Sun‘s Sexiest Male competition, coming in at seventh place. But the Crazy, Stupid, Love actor still think that he’s not attractive. He says:

“I don’t even think of myself as particularly good looking, and not at all a typical kind of Hollywood leading man sort of actor. I have a greater affinity for characters who aren’t mainstream leading man kind of roles. I hate feeling that I’m just doing a job for a paycheck.” 

 

Although he is known for playing the romantic lead back in the 2004 film adaption of Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook, he is determined not to be confined to schmaltzy roles. He said:

“I’ve been fortunate to play in a few romantic films which impart a kind of romantic leading man aura to you. But I don’t think that’s my destiny as an actor and I’m not pursuing those kind of parts. I’m much more into twisted romantic stories like BLUE VALENTINE, or offbeat kind of characters like I play in the thriller DRIVE. But I’m open to everything as long as I see some intelligence or beauty in the script, and especially when the director has a different take on the world. ” 

 

Gosling would be seen next in the upcoming film titled Gangster Squad, based on a true story. He plays Sergeant Jerry Wooters, a dedicated detective in charge of an elite group of cops trying to root out crooks on America’s east coast led by mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). But his cop is not merely bent on taking down arch rival Cohen, because he also romances the gangster’s girlfriend Grace Faraday played by Emma Stone. He says:

“I play one of the rare honest cops in LA during that era in the late Forties and early Fifties, when crime and corruption were out of control. My character creates a secret unit whose principal mission is to arrest the top Mafia leader, Mickey Cohen. It was an incredible pleasure watching Sean enter into the skin of a mobster and how he carries a lot of the weight of the film.” 

 

Gosling who was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, was a trouble child in school, with poor grades and often getting into fights. The day after watching the Rambo film First Blood, he went into school with a small case he had filled up with steak knives. He said:

“I would then threw them at one of the kids in recess and tried to kill him. It wasn’t until I got suspended and my mother slapped me out of it that I realized I wasn’t in that movie any more. I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies after that. I would only watch the innocent comedy duo Abbott and Costello, and National Geographic films.” 

 

While he looks back, he finds it hard to explain what was going on in his mind. He says:

“I wasn’t feeling angry at all. I was just still in the film. I was living in the reality the movie had created. Like after Rocky, I came out, picked a fight with somebody immediately outside the theatre and got my ass kicked– because I thought I could fight. Or when I saw Singin’ In The Rain, I thought I could tap dance. I thought life was a musical. My mom had to tailor what I watched.” 

 

His mom got divorced and eventually moved him to LA, where he started his career in showbusiness. He first starred in the Mickey Mouse Club, the popular kids’ TV show that also launched the careers of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. He recalls the antics in the studio with his fellow young presenters, who were known as Mouseketeers. And he was the centre of attention even then. He says:

“They would come and ask me questions about sex and I just told them what I heard— positions and stuff. All the mothers went to Disney and told them I was corrupting their kids.” 

 

He reckons that his fantasy childhood gave him a different way of looking at life saying:

“I always thought of myself as an outsider because I didn’t have the same kind of life other kids did. I was indulging in a fantasy world, living on the set of Mickey Mouse club and spending so much time in Disneyland. I’ve been aiming to be an actor since I was eight. I’ve always loved the fantasy element in performing and the process of projecting yourself through the roles you play. I feel very privileged to have been able to lead the kind of life I’ve had so far.” 

 

But at the present moment, his life is currently in the public eye since he is now in a relationship with Eva Mendes. And he admits that he finds all the media attention difficult.

“I’m not really happy about it but it’s part of the business of being an actor. I don’t mind the process of promoting my films because you want people to see the work and be able to get good projects financed. But lately I find I’m starting to get sick of the process and I should start trying to be as boring as I possibly can. The whole notion of being a movie star is part of the myth-making process that goes on in the film business. You create this great illusion on screen and then the illusion is taken to a different level when actors become mythologised.”