10 Stars Besides Ryan Gosling Who Thanked Their Spouses in Award Speeches

Here are the 10 stars besides Ryan Gosling who thanked their spouses in award speeches.

Ryan Gosling’s Golden Globes acceptance speech a few nights ago was touching. He thanked his “lady” Eva Mendes and the world was a quiver. He got emotional. We got emotional. Andrew Garfield kissed Ryan Reynolds. It was a big night.

Gosling also made a nod to his co-nominees with a joke about being mistaken for Reynolds. It was clearly meant as a compliment, though it hard to tell just by looking at him if Ryan Reynold’s enjoyed it or was made uncomfortable.  But Gosling’s heart was in the right place. Gratitude is a good thing. He talked about standing on the shoulders of others to achieve this win and how hard it is to thank so many people in a limited time. 

So Gosling decided to use his speech to primarily talk about the support he received from his wife—without mentioning her name. It was nice… right? I know, I know, it was so genuine and heartfelt. It was really nice…right?

Maybe I’m too cynical—nitpicking the way a person thanks the person they love. It just came off a little cloddish.  She’s “your lady” we get it, but maybe mention her name?  Who knows, maybe Mendes prefers not to be name-checked in acceptance speeches. I just couldn’t help but get a slight vibe of a 1950s era sales executive thanking “the Mrs.” for taking care of the kids when he received employee of the year.

It seems craven to come down on someone for how they said “thank you,” when thank yous are already so rare in our society. Yet, the HOW of things is important. Can you really thank someone the wrong way? I don’t know, have you ever had someone apologize to you the wrong way? Yeah, I thought so. These things can happen. And given the point that Gosling specifically decided to focus the majority of his speech to thanking his wife, you’d think he would think critically and carefully about his wording when doing so.

It’s fine, really, it’s fine. It was a nice thing to do.  He thanked her for taking care of their daughter, for being pregnant, and helping her brother battle cancer. Those are good and noble things. Still, for some reason it felt inequitable. It’s tough to blame all of this on Ryan Gosling; he just said thank you in a speech. I guess I just want more from our well-spoken and traditionally good-looking celebrities when they pointedly thank their celebrity wives who are also actors, models, and businesswomen for taking care of the kids. But that’s just me, and, to quote the ever-relevant Janice from the ever-relevant Friends, “Well, shut me up.”

Here are 10 stars besides Ryan Gosling who thanked their spouses in award speeches. Let’s see if I have a problem with any of them. Spoiler alert—it’s unlikely. If you like reading about movie stars you might want to check our article on Top Oscar Record Holders afterward. 

 

10. Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart, Oscar, Best Actor

“And I especially want to thank my gorgeous wife, Sue. We’ve been married 33 years. We have a beautiful family, three girls: Isabelle, Jessie, and Hayley. Thank you, guys. I wouldn’t be up here without you.”

 

9. Denzel Washington – Training Day, Oscar, Best Actor

“My beautiful wife. I love you so much. You put up with me, in spite of myself. And my beautiful children at home. I told you if I lost tonight I would come home and we’d celebrate, and if I won tonight I would come home and we’d celebrate. Well, I’m coming home, we’re celebrating.”

 

8. Steven Spielberg – Schindler’s List, Oscar, Best Director

“I want to thank my wife, who’s here with me tonight, for rescuing me 92 days in a row in Krakow, Poland, last winter when things got just too unbearable.”

 

7. Cuba Gooding Jr. – Jerry Maguire, Oscar, Best Supporting Actor

“Tom said don’t forget to thank your wife. I will never forget to thank my high school sweetheart and the mother of my children, Spencer and Mason. I love you, Sara.”

 

6. Aaron Taylor Johnson – Nocturnal Animals, Golden Globe, Best Supporting Actor

His sweet words to his wife were:“I want to thank my wife, for being there for me, for putting up with me. You’re my soulmate, I love you very much.”Good enough to put Mr. Johnson on the list of stars besides Ryan Gosling who thanked their spouses in award speeches?

 

5. Damien Chazelle – La La Land, Golden Globe, Best Screenplay

“And, finally, this is a love story,” … “So I have to thank and give a large portion of this award to my love, Olivia. Thank you for inspiring me to dream every single day. Thank you so much.”

 

4. Viola Davis – Fences, Golden Globe, Best Actress

“And [thank you] to my beautiful husband, my daughter Genesis–the loves of my life.”

 

3. Kate Winslet – The Reader, Oscar, Best Actress

“And [thank you to] my very own Sam,” she said, thus becoming one of the stars besides Ryan Gosling who thanked their spouses in award speeches.

 

2. Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago, Oscar, Best Supporting Actress

 “And to my son Dylan, who is going to be watching at home, and to my husband, who I love and I share this award with you, along with this one, too.”

 

1. Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady, Oscar, Best Actress

“First I’m going to thank Don because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you’ve given me.”

That being quoted, these were the 10 stars besides Ryan Gosling who thanked their spouses in award speeches. What do you think, which thank you speech is the most moving?