Ryan Gosling gave an interview to the Sunday Times in which he said that growing up with his single mother and sister shaped him.

“I feel like I think like a girl, just by osmosis, because I live with my mom and my sister. They talk so much. When you live in a house with only women, as your brain is developing, I think my thought process is similar to that of a woman. I talk to my friends and feel a connection. A lot of my friends grew up with single moms. And it’s like we communicate differently. I never spent much time around boys.”

In fact, he reveals, his early acting career – Gosling joined Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 12 alongside Britney and Justin Timberlake – partly destroyed his parents’ marriage.

His mother and sister moved to Florida to be with him. His father stayed behind in Ontario.

Being a child star was tough, he notes. “You’re 12, but nobody looks at you like you’re 12. You’re there to do a job, you have a schedule, you pay rent… Grown men call you ‘sir’ and run around bringing you sandwiches… Some kids got carried away by it and you could see them becoming bullies.”

Returning to normal life in Ontario after two years was just as hard. “You get into fights, you get insulted, you’re told ‘you’re gay’, you’re just a target.”

He was hyperactive and homeschooled, and was prescribed Ritalin after being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

He stopped after a short time. “What I didn’t realize was that most of what I was feeling was ambition.”

In his new film “The Place Beyond the Pines,” Gosling plays a fairground stunt driver who becomes a bank robber.

The film stars his real-life girlfriend Eva Mendes (he also dated his former co-stars Sandra Bullock and Rachel McAdams).

He doesn’t speak directly about his personal life, but notes, “Doing something with someone is probably the best way to get to know them. So when you collaborate with someone in a creative way, you get on a fast track and get to know them pretty quickly. Most of my friendships have come about that way… Hanging out isn’t really my way of connecting with people. I prefer to go out and do something. And that’s a really special way of getting to know someone.”

“The Place Beyond the Pines” will be released on April 12th