Eva Mendes to Ryan Gosling at Oscars: 'Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed'

Eva Mendes may not have been Ryan Gosling's red-carpet date to the 2024 Oscars, but she made it clear Sunday night she and their two children were cheering him on from home.

After Gosling, "Barbie" star, performed Best Original Song nominee "I'm Just Ken"on live TV at the 96th Academy Awards, Mendes posted an Instagram photo of herself sporting a pink blazer and a black cowboy hat with the caption, “You took Ken all the way to the Oscar’s, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed. 💋”

Mendes and Gosling, who starred in 2012's “The Place Beyond the Pines,” share daughters 9-year-old Esmeralda and 7-year-old Amada.

Gosling joined by Slash for star-studded 'I'm Just Ken' performance

Donning a bright pink suit, the actor, 43, delivered a live star-studded performance of the power ballad written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.

Gosling began the performance seated in the audience behind "Barbie" star Margot Robbie before moving to the stage after placing a black cowboy hat on a woman seated in the crowd.

For the song he was joined on stage by nearly two dozen dancers wearing cowboy hats, accompanied by other actors who played Kens in Greta Gerwig's film, including Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ncuti Gatwa.

The dancers carried Gosling around surrounded by cardboard cutouts of a Barbie doll before a surprise appearance by Slash center stage on guitar.

In the end, Gosling returned to the audience, where Robbie, Gerwig, America Ferrera and Gosling's "La La Land" co-star Emma Stone joined him in song.

Gerwig and Robbie were snubbed from this year's best director and best actor categories at the Oscars,.

Also Sunday night, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell performed "What Was I Made For?," their nominated song from "Barbie.

Eva Mendes to Ryan Gosling: 'Always by my man'

A previous post on Mendes' Instagram page included a video of her standing outside Gosling's dressing room during a show rehearsal Friday. In the shot she sports a black hat, white shirt over a black tank under a jean jacket, and long pencil jean skirt.

"Always by my man," the caption reads.

Two months ago, Gosling revealed his daughters have not seen the movie he stars in.

He did say they have seen "little parts of" the movie, and visited him on set while he filmed his big musical number.

Contributing: Bryan Alexander and Brendan Morrow

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.