Why You Never Hear Much About Ryan Reynolds And Scarlett Johansson's Marriage

Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds are two of the most successful actors in Hollywood, but did you know that once upon a time, they were married to each other? Probably not, and it's because the two valued their privacy at the time to an intense degree.

The secrecy of Reynolds and Johansson's marriage may seem odd, considering how they are both open about their respective partners now. Johansson and her husband Colin Jost are often seen on the red carpet, and Reynolds takes every opportunity to show off his wife, Blake Lively. They also share some tidbits about their spouses. "What you see is what you get with him," Johansson told Parade of Jost. "He's very optimistic, easygoing, funny, nice, and those are the qualities that really drew me to him." Meanwhile, Reynolds said that Lively was "everything to me" when he received his Walk of Fame star in 2016. "You are the best thing, the best thing that has ever happened to me — second only to this star," he said, per Cosmopolitan. "You make everything better, absolutely everything in my life better. You've made me the father of my dreams when I thought I only had fun uncle potential."

It's heartwarming to see Johansson and Reynolds happy with their families now. But what was mind boggling is the fact that they rarely talked about their previous marriage publicly.

If Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson had never confirmed their relationship via their reps, the public probably wouldn't have known they were together. They barely interacted in public and rarely got photographed hanging out, save for a few paparazzi pictures here and there. "We always kept our story private — how we met, our wedding, everything," she told Vogue of their marriage. "It was about us."

The two started dating in April 2007, and a year later, they got engaged, per Today. And when it was announced that Reynolds put a ring on it, they were apparently already engaged "for a little while." They tied the knot in September 2008 and per Johansson, keeping it on the down-low was incredibly hard. "I never thought that I'd be planning my wedding in, like, a dark alley somewhere, but it's turned out that way," she dished in an interview on "Late Show with David Letterman," per Digital Spy. It was really quite secretive, and I felt like I was doing a drug deal without all the fun. We tried to be very private about it, and it seemed to pay off."

But as we know, their marriage didn't work out. "After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we've decided to end our marriage," Reynolds' rep said in December 2010, via Entertainment Tonight. "We entered our relationship with love, and it's with love and kindness we leave it. While privacy isn't expected, it's certainly appreciated."

Despite the rumors that they had a bad breakup, Scarlett Johansson confirmed that his split from Ryan Reynolds was "comically amicable." But still, she admitted that she had a tough time handling it. "It was horrible," she told Vogue. "It was devastating. It really throws you. You think that your life is going to be one way, and then, for various reasons or whatever, it doesn't work out."

For Reynolds' part, he found it so devastating that he thought he wouldn't want to get hitched again. "I don't think I want to get married again, but you always reevaluate these things," he told Details in 2011 (via Cosmopolitan). Johansson chalked it all up to how young they were at the time. "The first time I got married, I was 23 years old. I didn't really have an understanding of marriage. Maybe I kind of romanticized it, I think, in a way," she shared with Vanity Fair. "It's a different part of my life now. I feel like I'm in a place in my life — I feel I'm able to make more active choices."

But it looks like the two are civil now, despite their unsuccessful marriage. "Departing a relationship and still maintaining the idea that this is still the same person I married is a great luxury that I experienced," Reynolds told Details. "Thankfully I was in a relationship where two people chose to remain on the high road in every regard."

Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds' divorce was almost as private as their actual marriage. They barely talked about the reason why they split, so many speculated multiple reasons behind it, but Johansson confirmed it's because they barely had time for each other.

"We have no time for dates. We work and then go home and I just stare at the wall for a few hours before I go to sleep," she told TimeOut (via E! Online).  Per a source, the two were "never together" because they were simply too busy. "They were together probably three months their entire marriage," an insider told Today. "They just grew apart. It was never like 'we want to split.' But they just both gave in to the reality that they were never together."

Johansson eventually realized how important quality time is in any relationship years later. Speaking with Vogue in 2012, she said, "I'm not saying more time in the marriage, but just having more time with my ex and really clocking those hours of face time with the person you love, really live together and not having the pressure of two people that have these careers." She has no regrets, of course, and looks back at their time fondly. "It was a beautiful thing," she continued. "I think it's nice to know that you're capable of loving somebody in that way."