Ryan Gosling 'embarrassed' after splitting up street fight

Ryan Gosling is "embarrassed" a video showing him breaking up a street fight in New York has gone viral online, because he feels he should have kept his "nose out of it".

The Notebook star was strolling through the streets of the Big Apple's East Village when he spotted two men brawling in the middle of the road.

Gosling was hailed a hero for stepping in to separate the pair - who were fighting over the ownership of a painting - but the actor is adamant he now regrets his actions.

He tells MTV News, "I'm embarrassed. I think that guy really was stealing that other guy's painting, so I should have just kept my nose out of it. It was sad, because it turns out that I said to the guy, 'Why are you doing this?' He said, 'Well, he tried to steal my painting.' I said, 'How do you know?' and he said, 'Well, he comes here every day and looks at my paintings,' which means the guy was a fan, and so he wanted the painting so bad he had to steal it because he couldn't afford it.

"So he finally steals the painting, and then he's getting his a** kicked by his hero, and then the guy from The Notebook shows up and makes it weirder. It's just, the whole thing, nobody wins, nobody won.

"I did not win. I had just come from the gymnasium, and I was all stretched out and feeling warmed up. So, I'm embarrassed."