Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are usually incredibly private about their personal lives and their family.

However, in an emotional speech at the Golden Globe Awards, Gosling made sure to honour his partner and thank her for supporting his career – particularly when the Training Day actor was going through such a difficult time herself.

“I would like to try to thank one person properly,” he said. “While I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I've ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second, and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer,” he told the audience. 

“If she hadn't have taken all that on so that I could have this experience, it would surely be someone else up here other than me today. So sweetheart, thank you.”

Gosling added: “To my daughters, I love you.

“And if I may, I would like to dedicate this to the memory of [Eva's] brother, Juan Carlos Mendes.”

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Mendes gave birth to the couple’s second daughter, Amada, in April last year, the same week that her brother, Juan Carlos, lost his battle with cancer.

He was just 53 years old.

Talking to Latina magazine about losing such an important member of her family, Mendes said: “Losing my brother brought our family closer, and we were already close to begin with. So to just see everybody be there for one another and show up, I feel so lucky to have them. And then they were there for me when Amada was born.

“We had a funeral service for him and that same week I had the baby. So it was really, really intense and obviously beyond heart-breaking, but also kind of beautiful.”

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Gosling – who also shares daughter Esmerelda with Mendes – won Best Actor for his and Emma Stone’s latest movie, La La Land.

Stone, likewise, won Best Actress for her incredible portrayal in the film - and, as such, collected her first ever Golden Globe.

Speaking from the heart, she dedicated her gong to every struggling actor in the world, as she said: “Hope and creativity are two of the most important things in the world.

“To any creative person who has had a door slammed in their face… or anyone who feels like giving up… I share this with you.”

It was an incredible night for La La Land, which has been tipped to win Best Film at the Academy Awards later this year.

Winning in every category it was nominated in, the Damien Chazelle-directed musical made history by taking home seven Golden Globe awards – the most won by any single film in the ceremony’s history.