Eva Mendes explained why she and Ryan Gosling will never walk the red carpet together

The 96th annual Academy Awards took place last night - and what a night it was.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer won a staggering seven gongs, and the absurdly wonderful Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, collected four - including Best Actress, which was awarded to Emma Stone.

But one thing we love even more than seeing our favourites win is seeing which couples walk it together, debuting their love or securing our belief in it - which Emily Blunt and John Kransinski did pretty well.

Just call us hopeless romantics.

One of the highlights of the night was Ryan Gosling performing his Barbie smash-hit ‘I’m Just Ken’, which was nominated for Best Music (Original Song), leaving the live audience and viewers delighted.

During the red carpet walk, the star was pictured with two special women on his arm - his mum, Donna Gosling, and his sister, Mandi Gosling.

The Blade Runner 2049 star is in a long-term relationship with actress Eva Mendes - the two have been together for over a decade, and share two daughters together.

So why wasn’t Mendes at the Oscars?

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Despite the two both being household names in the acting world, they have expressed a wish for a more private life.

In March last year, Mendes posted a clip from the 2012 film in which they both starred, The Place Beyond The Pines.

“Magic is Real. We did not meet on set." Mendes wrote.

“The magic started way before but here’s a little magic captured on camera”,

A fan wrote: “I really hope Barbie will get through the Awards Season just to see you w Ryan. I know, I'm a selfish and probably I dreamer, but I will never stop to dream about it!!"

Mendes kindly responded: “You’re the best! What a cool comment, thank you. But we don’t do those things together.

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"Like these photos I’ve been posting, Im [sic] only comfortable posting because it’s already out there.”

Eva then followed up to explain further: “By ‘not comfortable’, I mean exposing our very private life that we value. I’m still dying to do another movie with him though…”

But that doesn't stop Eva from showing her support for Gosling.

Further showing the strength of their love, Mendes posted a photo on Instagram wearing a pink sparkly blazer after last night’s Oscars.

She captioned it: “You took Ken all the way to the Oscar’s, RG.

“Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed”, followed by a kiss emoji.

And The Notebook star also had his own tribute in the form of an E-shaped necklace.

Couple goals!