How Ryan Gosling changed the life of his “greatest girlfriend” Sandra Bullock
When Murder by Numbers came out in 2002, Ryan Gosling was 21 years old, while his co-star, Sandra Bullock, was 38. The film saw “two gifted high school students execute a ‘perfect’ murder—then become engaged in an intellectual contest with a second homicide detective.” Despite the grisly plot at hand and the sizable age difference, the two stars went from “just friends” to a near two-year relationship.
Gosling would describe those two years as some of the greatest of his life. They split simply because of the rigours of the lifestyles they both lived. “Show business is the bad guy,” Gosling reflected in 2011. “When both people are in show business, it’s too much show business. It takes all of the light, so nothing else can grow.”
This was particularly apparent at the time given that Gosling was still trying to establish himself as a lead actor while Bullock endured the misogynist Hollywood problem of being in the fallow leading lady years that dated casting described as being neither young nor old. Things were hectic for the pair and the stresses proved difficult to overcome. As Gosling says: “It’s not easy to leave your hometown and your family and your support system and come out to Los Angeles to pursue a dream where the odds are not in your favour.”
When they parted ways, Gosling would maintain that he was lucky enough to have one of the “greatest girlfriends of all time.” This is something that has been said about Bullock frequently. However, it wasn’t just Bullock who offered Gosling loving support as he tried to develop his Hollywood career, Gosling also helped to shape the future of her life.
The Speed star fittingly said that Gosling calmingly slowed her life down for the better. When asked what his impact was, Bullock told Cosmo: “To chill. I live my life at a manic pace, and he’s taught me to disregard all that isn’t important. He’s like a little Buddha.” That he is. In subsequent years, he even lived in a tent for an extended period before filming Fracture.
The pair have both moved on and found lasting love elsewhere—Gosling with actor Eva Mendes and Bullock with “the love of [her] life”, photographer Bryan Randall. However, the lessons that they taught each other continue to resonate. As Ryan Reynolds reflected on the relaxed Bullock that he got to work with after the influence of Gosling: “I think that people see that Sandra Bullock has an ability to laugh at herself and you just don’t find that too often.”
