It’s hard to picture a time Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds weren’t together. But remember when Serena van der Woodsen was IRL dating Dan Humphrey? And Ryan Reynolds was married to ScarJo? Yup. That was after his Alanis relationship.
And yet it’s officially been 12 years since the couple wed in 2012, eventually becoming a mainstay Hollywood power couple while raising four children along the way. No matter how much they troll each other online, it’s abundantly clear these two are ride-or-die for their family of six.
Let’s take a look at how they got to where they are, through every major step in Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’s relationship timeline, with the most recent developments up top.
2025
February 16, 2025: Lively and Reynolds attend SNL’s 50th anniversary special, officially marking their first red-carpet appearance since the lawsuits began. Lively even wears another floral dress for the occasion, showing up in a silver Tamara Ralph gown featuring a corseted cage and sparkling flowers.
Lively wore floral gowns throughout the IEWU press tour in honor of her character, Lily Bloom. She even faced backlash for telling viewers to “grab your friends, wear your florals” before seeing the movie.
Reynolds, too, did not shy away from the controversy. During an audience Q&A with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Reynolds was asked how it’s going. “Great,” he replied, before feigning nervousness. “Why? What have you heard?”
Even Meryl Streep broke character during “Close Encounters.”
February 2, 2025: Baldoni’s team launches a website, which features an amended version of his legal complaint as well as a “timeline of relevant events.”
A notable excerpt from the document pertains to an alleged text exchange between Baldoni and Reynolds that took place prior to filming in February 2023. According to the screenshots, Reynolds joked about his nether regions while asking to adjust the film’s timeline to accommodate his schedule. As he said in the text, the pair “never split up.” This tracks with Lively’s previous statements that the pair have a “rule” about filming one project at a time.
Baldoni’s lawyers claim Baldoni and Reynolds were “expressing mutual respect” throughout this exchange, with Reynolds signing off, “Looking forward to seeing you. And thank you again for all you’re doing. I happen to adore you, Justin. xo.”
Listen up!
January 26, 2025: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are spotted out and about together for the first time since the lawsuit drama began. The couple appear in good spirits in an Instagram story shared by actor Michele Morrone.
“Missed you guys! Love you!!” he captioned the pic, tagging both stars.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds hung out with her A Simple Favor 2 costar.
January 16, 2025: Justin Baldoni officially sues Lively and Reynolds, as well as Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane and her firm, Vision PR, for $400 million, accusing the defendants of “extortion, defamation, and further wrongdoing.” You can read Lively’s response to the lawsuit here.
Among the accusations against Lively throughout the 179-page complaint, Baldoni accuses Reynolds of “berating” him during a meeting with the film’s producers, launching into an “aggressive tirade” that Baldoni describes as “traumatic.” The lawsuit also claims Reynolds and a “megacelebrity friend” helped Lively pressure Baldoni into accepting her version of the film’s pivotal rooftop scene. In one alleged text from Lively to Baldoni, she refers to Reynolds and the friend as her “most trusted partners” before seemingly calling them her “dragons.”
“If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi,” Lively allegedly writes to Baldoni, in part. “And like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better, because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really, we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. 😆 you will too. I can promise you.”
Is Swift one of Lively’s alleged “dragons”?
January 7, 2025: During an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, Baldoni’s lawyer suggests Reynolds mocked Baldoni through the Deadpool & Wolverine character Nicepool. Read more about that here.
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2024
December 31, 2024: Justin Baldoni sues The New York Times for “libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract.” In a statement to People, Baldoni’s lawyer seems to describe Lively and Reynolds as “two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites.”
The lawsuit also claims Reynolds pressured the talent agency WME to drop Baldoni as a client, which the company has denied. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client,” the company said.
The statement refutes the claims made by Baldoni in his suit against The New York Times.
December 21, 2024: Blake Lively files her bombshell complaint against Justin Baldoni, accusing the director of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us and embarking on a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation
Per TMZ, the lawsuit claims a meeting was held during filming to address the “hostile work environment,” which was also attended by Reynolds. According to the report, Lively came to the meeting with a list of demands regarding Baldoni’s alleged behavior, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
The New York Times report on the complaint also discusses the alleged meeting and includes a vast number of text messages and emails about Baldoni’s alleged press strategy, which Lively’s legal team obtained through a subpoena. According to the report, Baldoni became nervous after Reynolds blocked him on Instagram in May 2024. “We should have a plan for IF [Lively] does the same when movie comes out,” Baldoni reportedly wrote to a publicist named Jennifer Abel.
You can read more about the complaint here or read the complete report here.
With some stipulations.
December 20, 2024: One day before Lively’s bombshell complaint against Justin Baldoni, Reynolds announces the couple will match any donation to the SickKids Foundation up to $500,000 until Christmas Eve.
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October 2024: Lively and Reynolds get back out there after a brief hiatus from the public eye. The pair enjoy a double date with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in New York City before celebrating Reynolds’s 48th birthday with a family visit to Broadway and dressing alike at an Eras Tour concert.
August 25, 2024: Reynolds and Lively are seen kissing outside of Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island home amid It Ends With Us backlash. At the time, many fans are accusing Lively of ostracizing the film’s director, Justin Baldoni, and downplaying the film’s themes of domestic violence.
August 9, 2024: Lively says Reynolds helped her love her middle name, Ellender, by saying “it sounds like lavender.” Aww.
August 6, 2024: Reynolds playfully hijacks an interview with Lively’s It Ends With Us costar Brandon Sklenar, a PR choice that seems rather on-brand and innocent at the time.… Little did anyone know, this would soon feed into theories and accusations that the couple hijacked the entire film from director Justin Baldoni.
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That very evening, Reynolds poses with Lively at the It Ends With Us movie premiere. In an interview with E! News, Lively even claims her husband wrote the film’s “iconic rooftop scene,” saying, “My husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now.” This is news to the film’s screenwriter, Christy Hall.
Fans also begin to notice that none of the cast posed with Baldoni—who later claimed that he and his supporters were sent to a separate screening in the basement.
July 25, 2024: Taylor Swift pretty much confirms she’s godmother to Lively and Reynolds’s children.
July 22, 2024: Reynolds finally reveals their son’s name during a speech at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. “I want to start by saying thank you to my wife, Blake, who is here,” the actor said, per Page Six. “I want to thank my kids, James, Inez, Betty, Olin, who are here. I hope that, if I’m lucky, this moment will be the most traumatic thing—that is, the contents of this movie—that happens in your wondrous life.”
February 2024: During an appearance on Further Ado, the Substack series of her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costar Amber Tamblyn, Lively explained that she and Reynolds created a “rule” to make sure they never got too busy to spend time together.
“When Ryan and I got together, we made a rule not to work at the same time,” Lively said, per Entertainment Tonight, “so that we could always prioritize our personal life.”
2023
October 22, 2023: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds join Taylor Swift at the Kansas City Chiefs vs. New York Jets game to cheer on her new boyfriend, Travis Kelce. This is our first glimpse at the double dates yet to come.
May 17, 2023: While promoting Wrexham AFC, the Welsh soccer club that Reynolds co-owns with actor Rob McElhenney, he opens up about his dynamic with the players. Specifically Ollie Palmer, a striker who had a tendency to exit the locker room shirtless whenever Lively was in Wales with her husband.
“Every time we’ve come as a family and stuff, we’ll walk down to the locker room, and Ollie’s the first guy that walks out of that dressing room completely shirtless to have a conversation with my wife,” Reynolds said on the Fearless Devotion podcast. “I’m always like, ‘Ollie, put a fucking shirt on and come back out like a gentleman,’” he jokes.
May 1, 2023: Though she is known for her showstopping looks, Lively skips this year’s Met Gala, instead spending the night pumping breast milk in a bathroom, as she shared with followers. Later that month, she once again thirsted over her husband on main.
April 2023: Reynolds opens up about their long-standing plans to have a big family, saying, “You know, two to three was a huge jump…three to four less so…. I cannot speak for my wife, but it’s just from what I’ve observed. But we love it. You know, we would be idiots to do this again if we didn’t love it.” He noted that they are both from larger families, adding, “I come from four; Blake comes from five…. Both of us are the youngest.”
February 2023: Baby number four arrives! The Gossip Girl alum, in her typically say-much-while-saying-nothing manner, doesn’t so much announce the birth as casually reveal her not-pregnant body, uploading a picture from the “puppy bowl” (on Super Bowl Sunday) in which she doesn’t seem to be pregnant.
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2022
September 2022: Lively reveals that she and Reynolds are expecting a fourth child by showing up with her bump at a Forbes Power Women’s Summit on September 15, 2022.
May 2022: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds walk the Met Gala 2022 red carpet together as cochairs of the annual event. They embrace the “Gilded Glamour” thing in style, wouldn’t you say?
March 2022: Lively, a Met Gala queen, and her husband are chosen as cochairs for the 2022 Met gala alongside Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Will anything top her 2018 Versace dress on the carpet, though? Probably not.
February 2022: For their ninth Valentine’s Day as a married couple, Lively shares a sweet selfie of the pair on his Instagram, writing: “Find me a better friend. ♥️ I’ll wait…”
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2021
November 2021: Reynolds shares the secret that’s made his nine-year marriage to Lively so wonderful. “We don’t take each other too seriously, but we’re also friends,” he told ET Online. “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. 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.”
April 2021: The couple gives fans a rare look into one of their date nights. On April 30, they venture out to a Yankees game and clearly have a blast together. Lively referred to the date as the start of “Mom&Dad Girl Summer.”
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Reynolds also shared a sweet selfie from the evening to his feed.
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February 2021: Blake Lively lets Ryan Reynolds dye her hair during quarantine. Wow, remember those days?
2020
November 2020: Reynolds shares the secret to raising three daughters with Lively. “We don’t split up,” he said in an Access Hollywood interview. “I shoot movies and my wife shoots movies and we go travel all over the place and we just all go together. I think that’s been the best part of it is that we really don’t spend a lot of time apart. I get to spend a lot of time with my girls.”
He also revealed he “never in a million years would have imagined” raising all girls. “I come from all boys. I have three older brothers. I’m the youngest of four boys, so for me to have three daughters has been such a ride,” he said. “I love every second of it.”
July 2020: Fans speculate that Taylor Swift revealed the name of their third daughter with her song “Betty.” Both “James” and “Inez” were the other characters in the song, so it’s a natural conclusion.
2019
October 2019: The world learns Lively had given birth to the couple’s third child, but it reportedly happened two months prior and they’d kept it a secret from the public. Though Reynolds revealed on Twitter that he and Lively had welcomed another daughter, they didn’t share her name at the time.
“I love B.C. 🇨🇦 I want my daughters to experience the same natural playground I grew up in. On Oct. 21, the candidate you vote for will SHAPE CLIMATE POLICY. I’m proud of the climate progress made the last 4 years. Click http://Elections.ca for voting info. #Capilano,” he wrote.
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August 2019: Reynolds is back to his trolling ways in honor of his wife’s 32nd birthday—and in the process gives the world some new pregnancy photos.
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May 2019: On May 2, the couple announces they are expecting their third child on the red carpet for the Detective Pikachu premiere.
2018
May 2018: They troll each other to promote their projects, like Lively’s movie A Simple Favor.
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February 2018: Another way Reynolds and Lively keep their relationship fresh is their constant trolling of each other. Like when he posted a pic of the Valentine’s Day cake he made—with “glue” as the icing.
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2017
October 2017: Lively talks with People about what makes their marriage work. “My husband and I don’t work at the same time, so we all go together as a family,” she said. “If we’re away as a family, it’s never more than for a day. We stay together.”
2016
December 2016: Though Lively and Reynolds keep their kids’ lives pretty private, both of their daughters make a rare public appearance when Reynolds gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Proud is a pitiful word to describe how I felt today,” Lively wrote on Instagram at the time. “@vancityreynolds The permanence of your impact is undeniable …Always has been, but now we have a fancy [star] to show for it.”
November 2016: Ryan Reynolds reveals how he knew wife Blake Lively was “the One.”
“No, we were hanging out at this little restaurant in Tribeca that’s open really late, and this song came on and I was just like, ‘Want to dance?’” he told British GQ. “No one was in there, so it was just totally empty. And it was just one of those moments where halfway through the dance, it was like, ‘Oh, I think I just crossed a line.’
“And then I walked her home. And, uh, you know, I don’t really need to go into what happened after that.”
September 2016: The couple’s second daughter, Inez, was born.
July 2016: Lively talks about the couple’s close relationship with Marie Claire. “I knew he would always be my best friend for my whole life,” she said. “That was the biggest thing to me. I’d never known anything like the friendship that I had with him. I could like him as much as I loved him.”
April 2016: Baby number two is on the way, Us Weekly reports after the actor was photographed sporting a baby bump in a fitted wetsuit on the set of The Shallows.
February 2016: Reynolds opens up about the couple’s first date for Entertainment Weekly. “We were buddies then. I remember it was funny because for about a year after Green Lantern had come and gone and all that stuff, we were both single,” he recalled. “We went on a double date. She was on a date with another guy, and I was on a date with another girl. That was the most awkward date [from their perspective] probably because we were just like fireworks coming across.”
2015
May 2015: Reynolds shared the first photo of baby James’s hand.
“Thumb wrestling isn’t always fair,” he captioned the photo. “Curiously, my hand is the small one.”
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March 2015: Reynolds finally reveals the name of his daughter. “It’s James. Everyone knows,” he told the Today show. “I didn’t want to be the first guy screaming it out to the media, because as we know, little girls turn into teenage girls and little teenage girls sometimes scan through the archives and go, ‘Why did you do that?’”
January 2015: Daughter James arrives. “The baby came early but everyone is happy and healthy,” a source told Us Weekly. “The Bedford house is all prepared. They’re going to stay up there for the baby’s first days.”
2014
October 2014: Lively announces her pregnancy with the couple’s first child on her now defunct lifestyle website, Preserve.
September 2014: For the first time, Lively mentions the idea of having kids with Reynolds. “He’s my best, best friend. What do you do with your best friend? You do nothing. If I could spit out a litter of kids, I would,” she told Marie Claire.
August 2014: In an interview with Vogue, Lively gushes about her partnership with the Deadpool actor. “Everything we do in life, we do together,” she said. “I get to share my life with the person he’s become, and we get to grow from there.”
2013
September 2013: Lively opens up about married life to Lucky magazine. “I was recently asked how my style has changed since I got married, as if I was living under some sort of dictatorship,” she said. “I should hope I dress differently at 25 than I did when I graduated high school. I hope I never stop changing.”
She also said of her husband, “I’m very lucky to be with someone who has better taste than me. We influence each other in different ways. With film and TV, you don’t see the results for months. Building a home, you get immediate gratification.”
2012
September 2012: On September 10, Lively and Reynolds pull off their secret wedding ceremony at the Boone Hall Plantation in South Carolina. (Uhhhh, yeah. Plantation wedding. Not the best—which they have since acknowledged.) People reported that Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, performed at the reception.
“Ryan and Blake wanted the event to look and feel like home,” wedding planner Tara Guerard said. “We created the charm, elegance, and magic of times past. It was a truly beautiful celebration.” The bride wore Marchesa, while the groom chose Burberry.
“When Ryan first saw her, his face broke into a huge smile that crinkled his eyes,” a source said. “They just stared at each other with absolute love. Their faces were lit up with the candlelight, and it looked like something out of a romance movie.”
2011
December 2011: Paparazzi caught the new couple holding hands in Vancouver while visiting Reynolds’s family during the holidays.
October 2011: Dating rumors began after Lively was spotted leaving Reynolds’s Boston apartment with the actor early in the morning.
2010
December 2010: Reynolds files for divorce from Johansson.
September 2010: Lively and Badgley call it quits. “They’re still good friends and hang out on the set,” a source told Us Weekly at the time.
July 2010: Lively and Reynolds appeared together at ComicCon to promote their film, Green Lantern. They weren’t yet a couple, though: He was married to Scarlett Johansson, and she was dating her Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley. The movie would come out the following June and be a flop, but it’ll always be the event that brought these two together.
