Ryan Gosling a dad? Fatherhood hoax causes Facebook meltdown

"This little guy was only 9 months old when I became his dad," the post, which has now been removed, read.

"His mom and I were great friends before she passed away from cancer. I promised her, I’d always look after him.

"So, I decided to step up and become his dad. He brought me so much joy. He was my everything."

The post, which received more than 940,000 likes, went on to claim that, after Ryan adopted the little boy, the baby’s biological father won his child back.

"One year later after the adoption, his biological father wanted him," it said. "Of course, I put up a fight, but he won. That year of being his father taught me how to love unconditionally. We have to stop and be thankful for our children and children should stop and be thankful for their parents.”

Sharp-eyed fans soon suspected some fakery afoot when they noticed that post ended with a link urging users to "save thousands of children and meet me while doing it" that actually redirected people to a page selling Gosling T-shirts.

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