The Shady Side Of Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds We Can't Ignore

Megastar married couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have headlined the Hollywood A-List crowd for years. But star power that bright is bound to come with a darker shadow. Over the years, the pair have made a number of shady moves both together and solo that somewhat tarnish their golden image. From asserting creative control in their projects at the cost of their co-stars and crew to making off-putting remarks in interviews that eventually go viral, both Lively and Reynolds have trekked a dual pattern of both their stars and egos simultaneously rising. They even spend a significant amount of time working together in the industry, whether they are promoting one another's projects or being more actively involved behind the scenes. "When Ryan and I got together, we made a rule not to work at the same time," Lively once said (per Us Weekly). "That takes working really hard when we're not ... it takes balance."

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' romance started out as a fairy tale meet-cute, as they first connected while filming 2011's "Green Lantern." Both actors were in relationships with other people at the time, with Lively dating her "Gossip Girl" co-star Penn Badgley and Reynolds married to Scarlett Johansson. Lively was even linked to A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio in the summer of 2011 when the film was released before she and Reynolds got together by the fall of that year. "It was funny because for about a year after 'Green Lantern' had come and gone and all that stuff, we were both single," Reynolds shared on SiriusXM's Entertainment Weekly Radio in 2016. "We went on a double date with [other people] and that was the most awkward date from their perspective probably because we were just like fireworks coming across." 

A year later, they were married in a private ceremony (more on that later), but it did nothing to stop the rumors from swirling. Outlets began reporting from unidentified sources that their affair actually began on the set of "Green Lantern," and even that Johansson thought that Lively purposely set out to seduce Reynolds. For their part, no parties involved have ever publicly spoken about the rumors.

In 2012, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds capped their whirlwind, year-long romance with a lavish wedding ceremony at a former slave plantation in South Carolina. The star-studded ceremony featured numerous famous friends of the couple, including Lively's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" co-stars Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn and singer Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. There were even photos published from the event, prompting fans to call out the couple for perpetuating the racist use of the property in its past.

After fielding those comments, the couple ultimately expressed remorse for their decision. "Years ago we got married again at home — but shame works in weird ways," Reynolds shared with Fast Company. "A giant f****** mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action." Lively also commented on their past choices in a 2020 statement related to the Black Lives Matter movement. "We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is," she wrote on Instagram.

While bringing his comic book alter ego, Deadpool, to life, Ryan Reynolds took his job as star and writer super seriously – to some, perhaps too seriously, at times. The first "Deadpool" movie became a huge success in 2016, grossing a whopping $782.6 million globally. By the time Reynolds and his merry band of anti-hero brothers prepared to make the movie's sequel, there was one colleague who eventually dropped out. "Deadpool" director Tim Miller reportedly dropped out of directing the sequel due to his star's desire for full creative control. "It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise," Miller shared in an interview with KCRW in 2019. "You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can't. I don't mind having a debate, but if I can't win, I don't want to play. And I don't think you can negotiate every creative decision, there's too many to make ... So if he decides he wants to control it, then he's going to control it."

Despite Miller's departure, both "Deadpool 2" and the third installment of the series, "Deadpool and Wolverine," went on to break box office records, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

While her husband has been rumored to want more control behind the scenes, Blake Lively is reportedly known for her diva-like behavior on set. During her run as Serena van der Woodsen in her breakout role on "Gossip Girl," tabloids consistently compared her to her wealthy character from having beef with her co-star Leighton Meester to getting Armie Hammer, who played her love interest at one point, allegedly kicked off of the show. For Hammer, who has faced behavior problems of his own, he teased that Lively's behavior and dislike toward him cut short what was supposed to be a more significant episode count on the show. "Let me just say that was a tough show to film," he teased on the "Watch What Happens Live After Show" in 2017. "It was also like, 'get him out of here.'"

Ironically, Lively has made statements to the media claiming that she doesn't want to be perceived as a diva. "I think that sometimes you're not encouraged to stand up for yourself," she told People in 2017 (per Showbiz Cheatsheet). "I didn't feel like I could fight for myself in the same way, because I was afraid of coming across as a diva or difficult or demanding."

Before he eventually married Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds was rumored to have resentment issues when it came to his romantic partners. After his divorce from Scarlett Johansson in late 2011, details about their marriage began to spill out into the media. Outlets claimed that sources shared that, like his professional tendencies, Reynolds could get controlling during their relationship. "He's more traditional and she's more independent," a source told the Daily Mail at the time.

In addition, the two A-list actors' personalities reportedly clashed, and constant competition in Hollywood contributed to their eventual split. Johansson herself even hinted that those issues contribute to the difficulty of a famous marriage. "The logistics of being with another actor are challenging," she told Cosmopolitan in 2016 (via E! News). "There has to be a real understanding of how you share your time, especially when two people's careers are going at the same rate. Or even if one person is more successful than the other, that also proves challenging. There may be a competitive thing."

Throughout her career, Blake Lively has provided a number of questionable interview moments. Before her controversial press tour for the 2024 film "It Ends with Us" (more on that later), Lively has made uncomfortable comments on a variety of subjects — weirdly, many of them being aimed at women and the female experience. From belittling a woman's pregnancy cravings to joking about a woman's "little bump" when she wasn't expecting, many have said that the actor is not "a girl's girl" (per Newsweek). For the latter incident, Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa claimed that she feared being blacklisted after the awkward exchange. "I felt, you know, in that situation, a little ashamed at first as I didn't know what happened," she shared with TMZ in 2024 after the video from her 2016 interview went viral. "I didn't know what I said that was so bad that made her ... behave like that. I think it's important to let people know that these things go on sometimes, and maybe it [will] help or prevent it from happening again."

It wasn't all fun and foul-mouthed games on the set of "Deadpool" for star Ryan Reynolds and co-star TJ Miller. Miller, who played Weasel in the first film, detailed what he called a "weird" on-set experience with Reynolds that was the catalyst to the disintegration of their friendship. "As the character, he was, like, horrifically mean to me," he revealed on "The Adam Carolla Show" in 2022. "But to me. As if I'm Weasel ... it didn't bother me, but ... I just kind of listened, and thought it was weird, and then I got off stage because they were like, 'Cut?' Everybody was like, 'What the f*** is he doing?'"

Miller, who has had some shady moments of his own, went on to say that he felt Reynolds was "insecure" and became a different person after releasing the first Merc with the Mouth film. Yet, he later clarified his comments in a separate interview, sharing that Reynolds reached out to him when he heard his side of the story. "It was really cool. He emailed me the next day ... so I emailed him back, and now it's fine," he told the "Jim Norton & Sam Roberts Show." Even if things were supposedly patched up, Miller was not featured in the third Deadpool film, "Deadpool and Wolverine."

It's not just the "Gossip Girl" set on which Blake Lively has had reported on-set feuds with her co-stars. She also had an alleged conflict with "A Simple Favor" co-star Anna Kendrick, who once described Lively as "never evil, but ... has a dark, funny side" (per the Daily Mail). Kendrick continued by saying that this different "side" of her colleague would surprise people. "Once you get to know her a little better, she'll definitely talk with the best of them," she shared with the outlet.

The pair reported conflict as they were shooting the 2018 film "A Simple Favor." But while little concrete evidence of their bad blood exists apart from gossip accounts and alleged source info, Kendrick and Lively did joke around about their "feud" in the press. After Lively described a moment while filming where she had a later call time than her co-star, Kendrick joked that it was her final straw. "That was the day I decided to hate you," she said in an interview with Lively for BuzzFeed. "We were all talking s*** about you!"

One of Blake Lively's most controversial situations occurred as she was promoting the 2024 film "It Ends with Us." The film, which centers around a woman who is a victim of domestic violence, came under fire when audiences criticized the handling of sensitive material, from the initial trailer to the interviews its cast and creatives gave during the press tour. Director and co-star Justin Baldoni was reportedly ousted from the press tour with Lively, author Colleen Hoover (whose book the film was an adaptation of), and other co-stars. Baldoni held solo interviews to discuss the film's material, while Lively joined Hoover and her co-stars more frequently and discussed the aesthetics of the film. To add to the mystery, Lively and Hoover reportedly unfollowed Baldoni on social media.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the feud began with stories from the set, including Lively's discomfort with Baldoni after he inquired about her weight before shooting a scene where he had to lift her up, as well as Lively's large involvement in the creative direction of the film as a producer. There were even two rumored cuts of the film in the end — one was Baldoni's, and one was Lively's. In terms of directing a potential follow-up film, Baldoni was quick to pass the baton. "I think there are better people for that one," he shared with Entertainment Tonight. "I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That's what I think."

It wasn't just Blake Lively who had a hand in the reported "It Ends with Us" drama. Her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was involved creatively in the film. He even wrote one of the key pivotal scenes, which was later revealed by Lively during the film's press tour. "He works on everything I do," the actor shared with E! News. "I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his." Reynolds even got in on the press tour action with a faux interview with Lively's on-screen love interest, Brandon Sklenar, to help promote the film.

Reynolds' involvement was also a rumored part of the on-set rift between Lively and director-co-star Justin Baldoni, who was even reported to hire a crisis PR management team as he promoted the film. But on the air, he praised the couple for providing their vision for the film. "You can't summarize Blake's contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end," Baldoni said in an interview with Today. "Ryan was so generous ... he's a creative genius, that guy. So, you know, his gift is levity, and her gift is levity."