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It’s nice when a usually private celebrity shares a sweet story about their family. (Not that they need to, mind you, but it does make my work here easier.) Ryan Gosling, whom I actually forgot has been with actress Eva Mendes for six years, gave Jimmy Kimmel’s audience a little insight into his home life. He told a story Friday night that many parents can relate to.

During Friday’s “Game Night” episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Ryan told Jimmy that he wanted to be up in his NBA final knowledge and catch up on the series between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, being a devoted Dad, he turned over the remote to daughters and Esmeralda and Amada Lee. Instead of watching the Warriors triumphs over the Cavaliers in a four-game sweep, he got to enjoy the American-Canadian PBS cartoon Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (Ryan is Canadian, you know).

Ryan told Jimmy, “Well, I knew I was going to be on the show so I was excited to watch the games. But I have a 2-year-old and a 3-and-half-year-old, so, let’s be honest, I’m not watching anything that doesn’t have a talking tiger in it.”

The 37-year-old actor also shared some stories from filming the upcoming biopic First Man, where he takes on the role of astronaut Neil Armstrong. The movie reunites Ryan with his La La Land director Damien Chazelle for the film, which also stars Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Jason Clarke, and Kyle Chandler. The drama, filmed in part in my hometown of Atlanta (represent), focuses on the years 1961-1969, when NASA was planning the Apollo 11 manned mission to the moon. The screenplay is based on the 2005 book by James R. Hansen. Ryan recalled the gruelling shoots:

“I did some physical training. At NASA, they put us through the paces in certain ways. For instance, they built this multi-axis trainer, which is something NASA designed just to help the astronauts prepare for the worst-case scenarios in space,” he said. “But it’s this thing that kind of sends you ass over teakettle. They would only do it for 20 minutes at a time or something but in the movie, because we had to get a lot of shots, I was in it for like six to eight hours. So I started to sort of smell a rat up here [he pointed at his head]. Something was wrong. That, and getting banged around in the capsules and hitting my head, that something might be wrong.”

And, as many husbands are wont to do, Ryan sought out his wife as a source of valuable advice and shoulder to cry on, sharing,

“Well, I knew something was wrong when I went home one night and I called Eva, and I was just hellbent on this idea that there were people in donut stores all around the world that were trying to charm their way into getting free donuts,” he said. “She was so patient and listening. She was like, ‘I’ve been saying you have brain damage as a joke, but I think you might have brain damage. I think you should go to the hospital.'”

It turns out that Ryan had a mild concussion. So, Eva was spot-on. She’s a good wife, and a good mother as well. In fact, I didn’t really realize until now that Eva hasn’t been on screen for a few years. She put the brakes on her career to raise her kids. That’s kind of awesome. And, as someone who was a mere two months old when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, I’m looking forward to First Man.

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Photos:WENN.com, Getty Images