Ryan Gosling Brings His Sister as His Date to ‘Barbie’ Toronto Premiere

Ryan Gosling is paying tribute to his “original Barbie,” older sister Mandi. Wednesday, the Barbie star, 42, brought his big sister, 43, as his date to the Margot Robbie-led film’s Toronto premiere, sporting a light blue suit while Mandi looked Barbie chic in a purple dress accessorized with a pink purse. The siblings looked back on their own childhood in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the premiere, with Mandi praising Ryan’s “Kenergy.”

Asked if their family had a meeting to discuss Ryan being offered the role of Ken in the Greta Gerwig film, Mandi was quick to answer, “It felt like such a no brainer to me. Sorry to interrupt… No, listen, it’s like, of course he’s Ken!” Ken admitted, “Yeah, I didn’t know,” as his sister insisted, “I know. You may not have. So you had to look for the Kenergy, but I always knew it was there.” Ryan responded, “Wow. That’s beautiful, thanks. Well, she’s my original Barbie.”

While Mandi confessed she was “that one kid” who never owned a Barbie, her little brother added, “Because she was too busy being Barbie… Oh, she was doing all the things all the time. You know, getting me to school safely and then she was the president of that school.” He continued, “She had more meetings than classes. It was Barbie land. When I got to set I was like, ‘This is just like my house.’”

Ryan has been embracing giving Ken a fitting backstory in the new Barbie movie, joking in a recent GQ profile that Barbie’s counterpart’s “job has been beach” since he was first introduced by Mattel. “I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” Ryan continued in response to a question surrounding the backlash at his Ken casting. “It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken,” he continued. “Like you ever thought about Ken before this?”

“But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t,” Gosling added. “You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f-ked with Ken. That’s the point.” He joked, “If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”