Breakup: Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams couldn't stand each other when they so convincingly played true-love-forever pair Noah and Allie in the three-hanky romantic weeper that is "The Notebook." But after the cameras stopped rolling, they decided their story, like their big-screen counterparts, "wasn't over." The Canadian lovebirds' two-year coupling was refreshingly low-key, save for their steamy, swoon-inducing lip-lock at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards. Alas, in spring 2007, just as they were fending off engagement chatter, McGosling decided to call it quits. But it turns out their failed romance could still inspire a heavy sigh or two. In an interview with the November issue of GQ, the usually reticent thespian called the amiable actress "one of the great loves of my life." What's more, Gosling explained, fans of "The Notebook" "do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that." (Sara De Boer/Retna Ltd.)