Ryan Gosling shares the amusing reason his daughters were confused about him playing Ken in 'Barbie'

Ryan Gosling's kids are wondering why their dad plays Ken in the new film "Barbie." The 42-year-old explained that his daughters Esmeralda, born in 2014, and Amada, born in 2016— whom he shares with his partner and fellow actor Eva Mendes—might not be feeling the "Kenergy."

During an interview with The New York Times which was published on July 13, he shared, "Barbie landed in my house at the same time as the script, basically. What was interesting to me is that my kids don't just brush their hair and dress them up. None of them have names that are Barbie. They all have complicated backstories, lives, relationships, hopes, dreams. It's incredible how intricate the world is that they've created."

The "La La Land" star said his daughters were "confused" and wondered, "Why Ken?" when they learned about their dad's new role, given that the girls don't refer to their dolls as "Barbie and Ken."

"They don't even call him Ken. One of them is named Darrell. And Darrell works at a grocery store. One of the Barbies' names is Gym Class. And Gym Class met Darrell at the grocery store, but Gym Class, she's focusing on herself right now," Gosling said. "He's such a nonpresence in their world, they were like 'What is there to play? Is there meat on that bone?'" The actor also told PEOPLE that his kids were his introduction to Barbie and when he decided to play Ken, they were confused because "they have no use for Ken."

Despite not understanding the need for his role, the girls were also a big source of support for their dad during filming. "My kids were around for the months at home as I was prepping for it," Gosling said. "So they, inadvertently, were prepping for it too. And they came to set that day and were a huge sense of support and doing it with me off-camera."

Gosling and his family keep their personal lives private and rarely share a peek into their lives. Eva Mendes explained their boundaries in 2020 in a now-unavailable Instagram post, writing, "I have always had a clear boundary when it comes to my man and my kids. I'll talk about them of course with limits, but I won't post pictures of our daily life. Since my children are still so little and don't understand what posting their images really means, I don't have their consent. And I won't post their image until they're old enough to give me consent." 

The 49-year-old actress also once told a fan that she will "only post flashbacks of things that are already 'out there' (like pics from movies we did or stuff like that)," reported PEOPLE. "My man and my kids are private," she wrote. "That's important to me, so thanks for getting that. Have a beautiful day. Sending so much love!"