Eva Mendes
Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes Reuters

Ryan Gosling snapped at a photographer in New York who referred to his girlfriend Eva Mendes as “baby.”

The couple, who have been dating since September, were in New York for the premiere of their movie, “The Place Beyond the Pines,” when a photographer who recently worked with Mendes for a photo spread saw her and shouted, “Hey baby!”

An eyewitness told The New York Post, “Ryan completely flipped out, and it got heated. Ryan got in the guy’s face and said, ‘Who are you calling baby?’ Eva had to jump in and calm everyone down before it came to fisticuffs. Ryan then made nice and shook the guy’s hand.”

Gosling and Mendes are known to keep a low profile. While promoting “A Place Beyond the Pines” last week, Mendes admitted that she does not appreciate how much information the media knows about her personal life.

When asked about boyfriend Ryan Gosling, she immediately “shut down.” “That's where I start to shut down, because it gets into my personal territory that I don't feel comfortable talking about. So sorry," she told New York magazine.

She then went on to discuss her dog and his run-ins with the paparazzi.

"I'll go somewhere and they'll be like, 'Hey, Hugo,'" Mendes said to the publication. "And I'm like, 'How do you know Hugo's name? That's so creepy!'"

In Britain, publications blur the faces of children to maintain their privacy.

Mendes joked that American publications should blur out pets' faces to keep their privacy as well.