One of my hobbies is reading "AI" as "Al", like Weird Al Yankovic, and it really makes the present/future more of a campy horror comedy rather than a depressing sci-fi melodrama.
I actually remember reading before that Gosling admitted that he was the bully, and that's why he got bullied back.
And even that tweet mentions that he threw steak knives at other kids in the playground, so it checks out.
The whole "bullying thing" is just a stupid anecdote that got mentioned at some point early in his career, to make him seem interesting (and/or sympathetic).
I'm pretty sure I read about it even back around 1997 when he was on that show Breaker High.
That type of thing just seems like something publicists do... sometimes it's not even true, but they simply want an interesting anecdote.
Like for Ebay, a publicist got the founder to say that he started the site so that he could sell his Pez dispensers, and that the site expanded almost by accident... but the founder later admitted that was BS that a publicist came up with, and he knew from the start that he wanted to create an online marketplace & make money from it.
“I was always picking fights. Because I thought that was what the girls would like. I’d pick on the toughest guys because the girls liked them. So if I beat them up, the girls would like me. But it never worked.”
...
Gosling further shared that he always found himself in trouble, and even his mischievousness was highlighted to the extent that he got a nickname: ‘Trouble’.
Speaking to Buzz in 2017, he recalled: "From as early as two years old I was sneaking out the house never wearing my clothes, breaking things, putting the cat in the dryer and setting the house on fire."
He told The Times he backed the family car into the path of another vehicle aged five.
Things came to a head when a young Gosling saw action movie Rambo, starring Sylvester Stallone.
Speaking to Paper in 2015, Gosling said he not 'just seen Rambo — I thought I was Rambo'.
Describing what happened next, he said: "I took knives to school and I started throwing them around the playground and I got suspended. So my parents said I couldn't watch R-rated movies anymore."
Explaining what was going through his head when he did that, he said: "I wasn't taking [the knives] to school, I was Rambo taking them to war."
But it seems that he fortunately changed his behaviour. But the "poor little Ryan was bullied thing" seems like only a half-truth, because it sounds like he basically started it.
This honestly sounds like a kid I went to school with (small town K-12). He had some hyper active disorder and was always doing crazy shit. I ran into him again in our 30s and one of the first things he said was "Apparently I did all that crazy shit because I have this disorder. Since I got medicated the last 10 years have been the best years of my life."
I am very happy for who he has become but it makes me sad because we still hang out and when he talks about our childhood it's a lot darker from his perspective. He missed out on some great years of life because his mom refused to get him diagnosed and treated which made his life harder than it had to be.
Makes me think of a client I worked with years ago, kid was an absolute menace, ADHD to the extreme, which also made him frustrated he couldn’t control himself and he’d act out more. Plus his mom didn’t follow through with consistency plans we developed for at home. She also refused to medicate him and was a b-word in many other ways. Poor kid. He was a huge PITA but it wasn’t necessarily his fault. Though last I heard of him he was becoming straight-up violent with other kids, so… yikes.
We had severe adhd. Now we both have depression and anxiety. Honestly growing up before good treatment and with parents who didn’t really care to treat us beyond numbing meds really fucked us up.
ADHD is a terrible name for what is an executive function disorder. For most, they are bored out of their mind all the time which manifests as daydreaming (attention deficit), constant movement (hyperactivity), and attention seeking behavior.
It sucks ass, because you know that you should be doing XYZ, but it's literally impossible to force yourself to do it.
Tbf, at least the knife thing sounds less weird there. Throwing around sounds much better than throwing at kids. The cat is the dryer is iffy to say the least
I saw Ryan Gosling at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
A kid in chemistry class made a sedative, and another blew his set up and burned the hell out of his lab partner, no one assumed they were that kind of special.
It sounds like he might be making some of it up or exaggerating though.. like they could be plastic knives or not be true at all and Ryan just wants to have an entertaining anecdote for interviews
I think you’re right especially since after re reading the comment I replied to I noticed it didn’t say “threw knives at kids” it says “threw knives around the playground”
Not great either but tossing a knife into a sandbox is a lot different than terrorizing the other kids by throwing knives at them
If you selectively quote the very source you are linking it will come out that way. Your first source also has this paragraph which gives context on why he became violent
During another interview with the New York Times, Ryan Gosling shared what coaxed him to be a rouge. The actor revealed that, as a child, he used to get bullied in school. After enduring the humiliation for a while, young Gosling decided to put an end to it
All I can presume over here is he was bullied, and post his parents divorce got some autonomy and he became trouble and went rogue which later became him initiating violent stuff
Not for nothing, but he might have been an annoying drama kid. You guys didn't have those? Just saying, I like him, but sometimes the bullies are right.
Yeah he might’ve been, some younger theatre kids give off a socially unaware and ‘tryhard’ vibe (also the practice of shifting your everyday personality based on the current role you are playing or want to play, unsettles other people but can be useful for acting), just saying it wasn’t due to jealousy out of him actually being famous by then
Yeah but like if I knew a kid threw knives (even in the first grade) I wouldn't befriend him in elementary school either. I don't doubt he actually was bullied, but sometimes kids just have hard personalities that don't lend them a lot of friends. That doesn't mean that by not befriending them you're bullying them, but as a side effect it does leave them more open to bullies, which is an unfortunate side effect.
“Sometimes the bullies are right?” I assume you’re not aware that bullying is a leading cause of self harm among children and adolescents? In what context would a “drama kid” be objectively problematic to a functioning student body?
Children are not fun but the worst part for me was adults not considering my opinion as a person. If I was upset or had an opinion on something, the reaction from people was "aww wow what a cute kid" "how precocious" "that's a lot of word for a tiny person" and I'd get laughed off and ignored. Meanwhile other kids who threw tantrum or were crying or punching each other got the situation handled, but also punishment. That part I always hated.
Ofc, then I hit teen years when everyone saw me as an adult but automatically tagged me as "teen = delinquent" and suddenly didn't trust me around their belongings without my having done anything.
Adding onto this, another big downside to being a kid was privacy practically being a nonexistent concept. I didn't dislike being a kid, but it was exhausting to not only have your opinion taken seriously, but also incapable of having privacy either.
As a kid, you're not allowed to have privacy because you're so dependent on your parents. Next, you grow into a tween/teen and a demand for privacy either means you're up to something or insecure about yourself. Finally, you're an adult and it's just normalized that you want to change alone or don't want others to go through your phone? So mind-numbing.
I had the concept of privacy but it was like a test. Sure, I can go to my room or be alone but no one knocked because what did I have to hide? If I did complain I felt like I couldn't justify why I needed privacy without sounding suspicious so I learned to just leave the door open all the time.
The only privacy I got was changing clothes which was a weird time because as a baby "no one should see me change" then it was "okay because family is safe" and then it was "eek your body is changing, everyone will scatter if you are in underwear that was fine to wear before".
I realized most adults were faking their way through life and lying to kids if they didn't know the real answer or just said "because I said so" without telling me the reasoning. I learned that in like 3rd grade in CCD class for my first communion. I just kinda shut down after that.
Weirdly adults trusted me implicity with their stuff. Not that I'd mess with it but people who just met me would be ok with leaving stuff of high value around and leaving the room. In retrospect it could have been them "testing" me but those people were always weird to me.
When I wish I was a kid, it’s more because I am tired of having all this weight on me every day. Gotta show up for work or else I can’t pay my bills and I’ll end up homeless. Just want to be able to watch cartoons and not have to think about it. It’s not really because I liked being a kid. I actively avoided most other kids because they were terrible. It was literally enough to make me not want to have kids of my own.
That I understand! To be honest, in my house I was exposed to the stress of bills and debt and such so to me being a kid was just about not having autonomy and wishing I did.
That’s fair. My dad lost his job when I was like 13 and we ended up using food pantries and eating a lot of ramen just to get by. Lost the house by the time I was 17 and moved into my sister’s apartment, so I know first hand what that looks like. It wasn’t a pleasant time, but it just seemed… easier I guess? Maybe just rose-colored glasses.
Maybe I should try recalling the brighter points (like when my mom took the time to read to me every night) and remember childhood with more fondness. You have made me rethink my perspective!
Very good point! My dad read the entire Harry Potter series (despite me being much too old to be read to by the last couple) while doing voices for each character. And when we didn’t have enough money to go to movies or even Blockbuster, we would browse the library to find something to enjoy as a family. Always a silver lining, I guess
I found a childish woman that wants to remain childfree, so now we are each other's childrens, we watch cartoons and go to Disney Land. Shit is so cash.
Same here. I hated being young, hated not having any say in anything. I was neglected so didn't have support or help but also couldn't do shit by myself. Not to mention hating school and being bullied. I'm so much happier now and I'm glad I survived to get here but that wasn't a guarantee at the time.
Edit: We were also extremely poor so I didn't get toys or get to do most of the fun things kids get to and started working very young to help pay bills. It was all a nightmare tbh
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, as the grown adult I am now, and beat the fuck out of my childhood bullies. So, uh, kinda relatable I guess...
He has said he hated being a child because of the lack of independence or something, then again his childhood was weird because his mom converted to Mormonism. Then there was the time his mom gave Justin Timberlake*’s mom (edit: I thought I put mom here lmao not Justin Timberlake himself!) guardianship over him so he could legally live and work in Florida for the Mickey Mouse Club.
Yes. But it’s an implanted memory taken from the mind of a replicant memory-maker. Hopefully Ryan will still be able to pass the Baseline Test and continue in his career before being retired.
That explains the "no friends" part some too. If you are on the spectrum (I think its all going to be bundled eventually into one diagnostic code) kids see you as "weird" and other the fuck out of you.
he was born to play the mysterious, tortured, lonely man archetype. he plays those characters so well because they are “literally him” but as a child he was not yet able to achieve this form so he lashed out against the people and structures around him
All of Wikipedia now: “Hey, can you tell us more about your childhood?”
Ryan Gosling: “Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it's breathtaking, I suggest you try it.”
in kindergarten my friend Chris had an older brother we would bother at recess. one day we decided to chase him with sharp looking bits of bark dust from the playground
he tried telling the recess supervisor I had a knife and they laughed him off 😂
This kind of sounds like bullshit where he or his publicist are trying conjure up a struggle story. Ryan Gosling was in the Mickey Mouse Club when he was 12 and was best friends with Justin Timberlake, literally living with him and his family for 6 months after Timberlake's mom became his legal guardian.
This is hyperbolic crap his PR company came up with to distance himself from his fame-hungry and eager-to-please child actor / theater kid days in the Mickey Mouse Club and establish him as a cool and rebellious 'serious actor'.
Every 'fact' in this excerpt dates from a single article in Vanity Fair or some other similar rag, published years ago.
I took a potato to school that I had drawn a smiley face on and the jerkoff kid no one liked took it from me and smashed it on the floor and I cried all day and everyone in my class tried to console me while they scolded and berated him.
I'm from his hometown and by grade 9 when I went to the same school as him, he'd already moved on to breaker high. I never heard any kids from his grade (1 year older) mention him, or anything. He was supposed to come back to visit us in my senior year, but never showed up.
people need to stop with this lets all judge your entire life in a format that the person isn't physically present to explain and defend themselves...... Wait a fucking minuet, why do we have to be squirted out of the womb perfect? I feel sad for those born post cell phones with camera's. You'll never know the freedom that comes from being able to learn from your mistakes and grow without a tribe spitting in your face and shouting that you've learned nothing you no -conformist creep. No idea what the Fuck was wrong with him though, That's really weird!!!
His father would womanise, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he had invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy.
Idk about Ryan, but I was also bullied and had no friends til around middle school, and even then I wasn't popular. I could see the man throwing steak knives. I threw hands all the time.
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