The Real Reason Ryan Reynolds And Blake Lively Believe They Have A Strong Marriage

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively may just have one of the strongest relationships in Hollywood, and now, Reynolds is revealing the secret behind their marriage.

The actors first met on the set of their 2011 movie "Green Lantern" and quickly formed a budding friendship. In an interview with the "SmartLess podcast," Reynolds recounted how he and his "Gossip Girl" soon-to-be-wife first went out on a double date with two other people before realizing that they were indeed paired incorrectly — as they discovered soon after on a train ride. "Next thing you know, she was going to Boston, and I was going to Boston," Reynolds said. "So we got on a train and rode together and then, you know, I was just begging her to sleep with me." Sheesh! Blunt comments aside, the train ride to Boston led the couple to marry in 2012. Reynolds and Lively have since welcomed three daughters – James, Inez, and Betty – and are clearly full steam ahead.

So what is the secret behind their almost decade-long marriage? Here is what both actors have recently said is the key to their relationship success.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in November, Ryan Reynolds gushed about his relationship with his former co-star Blake Lively, revealing the key to their marriage is friendship. "We don't take each other too seriously, but we're also friends," Reynolds said. "Falling in love is great, but do you like each other? That's kinda the question you gotta ask yourself, you know, going into it." The actor continued, "we've always liked each other. We grow together. We learn from each other. So yeah, I'm lucky to have a buddy in that."

Lively shared similar sentiments back in 2016 in an interview with Marie Claire, telling the outlet "I knew he would always be my best friend for my whole life." The star continued, "that was the biggest thing for me. I'd never known anything like the friendship that I had with him. I could like him as much as I loved him."

In 2017, the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" star revealed to "Good Morning America" that having an actor has a husband was a huge benefit. "It's nice to have somebody who understands what you're doing," Lively said. "Especially because our job is so weird — we have to, you know, like be married to other people, and it's all so strange. It's still strange. It's never normal, even when we're both doing it." These two are clearly grounded and have a very solid foundation of love.