A Complete Timeline of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ Nearly 10-Year Relationship

Spotted: Gossip Girl’s Serena van der Woodsen falling in love with Deadpool, marrying him, and roasting him periodically on social media. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ relationship has captivated the public ever since the two first started dating in 2011. In 2012, the couple took things up a notch and tied the knot.

Since then, the duo has expanded their family, welcoming three daughters James, Inez, and Betty. But how did the former Green Lantern co-stars become real-life partners? Here’s the complete history of Lively and Reynolds’ love story.

July 2010

After being cast as the lead roles in Green Lantern, Lively and Reynolds made their first appearance together to promote the film at Comic-Con in San Diego. The two weren’t romantically involved at the time: Lively was dating her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley, while Reynolds was married to Scarlett Johansson.

September 2010

Badgley and Lively ended their three-year relationship in mid-September. A source told Us Weekly in October that they remained friendly post-split. “They’re professionals,” the source explained. “They’re still good friends and hang out on the set.” The two initially didn’t share their breakup news publicly: “[They] kept this news to themselves for a while.”

December 2010

In late December, Reynolds filed for divorce from Johansson a few weeks after People confirmed the two were separating in a joint statement they released.

They said in the statement, “After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we’ve decided to end our marriage. 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.”

June 2011

On June 15, 2011, Lively and Reynolds attended the red carpet premiere of Green Lantern in Hollywood. At the time, Lively was rumored to be dating Leonardo DiCaprio. Lively and DiCaprio reportedly spent the summer together and were first photographed alongside each other in Cannes, France that May. According to E!, they ultimately called it quits at the end of summer.

October 2011

People reported that Lively and Reynolds were dating after she was spotted leaving his Boston apartment early in the morning on his birthday weekend. A source told People that the two are “very much a couple,” and “they’re really happy together.”

December 2011 to January 2012

In late December, paparazzi spotted the couple holding hands in Reynolds’ hometown of Vancouver. They were visiting his family for the holidays.

The following month, PopSugar reported the two taking a romantic getaway in New Orleans. Reynolds owned a house there in the country.

May 2012

Things started to get serious between the couple, with Lively spending more time with Reynolds’ family. Lively and Reynolds were photographed back in Vancouver, according to PopSugar. The two took a ferry ride in Nanaimo, British Columbia, to meet his brother.

September 2012

On September 9, 2012, Lively and Reynolds tied the knot at Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The duo exchanged their vows in a secret ceremony in front of friends and family.

Lively wore a couture gown designed by Marchesa, and Reynolds wore a Burberry suit. “When Ryan first saw her, his face broke into a huge smile that crinkled his eyes,” a source told People. “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.”

Reynolds later spoke about regretting his and Lively’s venue choice, as Boone Hall is a former plantation. During an August 2020 interview with Fast Company, Reynolds said,“It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest.” The actor explained they realized only after the event that Boone Hall was “built upon devastating tragedy.”

October 2012

In an interview with Allure magazine, Lively opened up about her relationship with Reynolds and expressed how happy she is. “Right now, I’m so peaceful. I’ve never been happier in my life,” she said. The actress also shared she wanted kids and would have “30” if she could.

December 2012

Daily Mail ran photographs of the newlyweds in Paris on a romantic getaway, and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

June 2013

Lively and Reynolds did their first big red carpet event since getting married. The two looked smitten with each other while attending The Sound of Change Live concert at Twickenham Stadium in London.

September 2013

During an interview for Lucky magazine’s September cover, Lively shared details about her love life with Reynolds and explained how she is able to make her own decisions in her marriage.

“I was recently asked how my style has changed since I got married, as if I was living under some sort of dictatorship,” she joked. “I should hope I dress differently at 25 than I did when I graduated high school. I hope I never stop changing.”

Lively also spoke about how she and Reynolds influence each other. “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.”

November 2013

The couple looked stunning while attending the A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To Cure Parkinson’s event benefiting The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in New York City.

May 2014

On the first Monday of May, Lively and Reynolds make their debut as a couple at the Met Gala in New York City. They both wore looks from Gucci.

August 2014

In an interview with Vogue, Lively got candid about her husband and shared that they’re basically joined at the hip. “Everything we do in life, we do together,” she said. The actress added that she saw her husband being a wonderful dad someday. “He’s going to be a great father and leader and patriarch—he’s so meant to be all of those things.”

September 2014 to October 2014

In the September issue of Marie Claire, Lively touched on her hope to have kids with Reynolds. “He’s my best, best friend,” she said. “What do you do with your best friend? You do nothing. If I could spit out a litter of kids, I would.”

Next month, on her lifestyle website Preserve, Lively announced that she and Reynolds were expecting their first child together with a maternity photo.

January 2015

Three months after her pregnancy announcement, Page Six and Us Weekly both reported Lively had given birth to her first child, daughter James. “The baby came early but everyone is happy and healthy,” a source told Us Weekly. The baby’s gender and name were not revealed initially.

Becoming a mother, “it’s something that I’ve always wanted ever since I was a little girl,” Lively told Us Weekly back in October.

March 2015 to May 2015

Reynolds revealed his daughter’s name during an interview on the Today Show. “It’s James. Everyone knows. I didn’t want to be the first guy screaming it out to the media,” he said. “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?”

In May, Reynolds shared a photo of baby James’ hand. He captioned it, “Thumb wrestling isn’t always fair. Curiously, my hand is the small one.”

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

December 2015

Reynolds posted a photo of the strange but adorable Christmas present that he received from Lively, captioning the post: “Mrs @blakelively had this made by AdoraWools. Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a felt #Deadpool, holding a chimichanga while riding a Unicorn dressed in ass-less leather chaps. Amaright fellas?”

It’s safe to say this is where the trolling on social media began for the Hollywood couple.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

February 2016

The couple hit their first red carpet event together since becoming parents for Reynolds’ film Deadpool.

A few days later, the couple attended the amFar New York Gala, where Reynolds shared with Entertainment Weekly what his first date with Lively was like. The two originally started as “buddies.”

He said, “About a year after Green Lantern had come and gone and we were both single we went on a double date–she was on a date with another guy and I was on a date with another girl and it was like the most awkward date for the respective parties because we were just like fireworks coming across.”

March 2016 to April 2016

Lively and Reynolds had a major fashion moment as they attended a State Dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C.

A month later, Us Weekly reported the pair was expecting their second child. The confirmation came after Lively was photographed on the set of The Shallows wearing a fitted wetsuit. The pictures sparked pregnancy rumors.

July 2016

In the July issue of Marie Claire, Lively opened up about her marriage, saying she knew Reynolds “would always be my best friend for my whole life.”

She continued, “I’d never known anything like the friendship that I had with him. I could like him as much as I loved him.”

Lively also shared how protective she is over her family and mentioned her and Reynolds’ parenting style. “My family: That’s the thing that I feel most protective of and the thing that I feel is the most exposed when I feel exploited,” she said. “Ryan had a nice, normal upbringing, and we want our kids to have the same normal life that we had. We don’t ever want to rob them of what we had, because we’d feel really selfish.”

September 2016

Page Six confirms the couple has welcomed their second child. Months later, Us Weekly revealed Lively and Reynolds named their second daughter Inez.

November 2016

During an interview for GQ’s December cover, Reynolds revealed how he knew that Lively was “the one” for him. “Probably after the sex,” he joked.

Then he said more seriously, “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?’ 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.”

December 2016

The family of four made their first appearance together to celebrate and honor Reynolds for receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

May 2017

Lively glowed in gold alongside her husband at the Met Gala in New York City.

October 2017

Lively spoke to People about the secret to making her marriage work. The former Gossip Girl star said that she and her husband never work at the same time. Also, they travel with their kids whenever they’re filming projects.

“My husband and I don’t work at the same time, so we all go together as a family,” she told People. “If we’re away as a family, it’s never more than for a day. We stay together.”

She also mentioned that she is lucky to bring her kids on set. “I’m not in an office where I can’t do that, so she’s either with me or when I’m shooting a scene, she’s one room away. If she really needs me, I can pop over there.”

February 2018

Lively and Reynolds kept their relationship largely private but occasionally, they’d pop online to troll each other.

While celebrating Valentine’s Day, Reynolds posted a photo of a delicious and beautiful-looking cake he made. Then he joked the icing was glue in the caption.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

March 2018

Rumors begin that Lively and Reynolds were experiencing trouble in their relationship. However, it didn’t take long for Reynolds to shut down the false claims. He tweeted, “I wish. I could use a little ‘me time.’”

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

May 2018

The online trolling continued between the couple to promote Lively’s new movie, A Simple Favor.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

May 2019

And then there were three babies: The couple announced they’re expecting their third child while attending the red carpet premiere of Reynolds’ project Detective Pikachu.

August 2019

Reynolds posted on Instagram to thank his wife Lively for giving him the best present he has ever received from her. The actor shared a photo of himself next to a painting of a paperboy delivering newspapers to a suburban house. Lively had the artwork commissioned for her husband by American artist Danny Galieote. The artist stated he was “honored, humbled and proud” to create an exquisite masterpiece.

In the caption, Reynolds revealed that the house in the painting is a replica of his childhood Vancouver home. He also shared that delivering newspapers for the Vancouver Sun was his first job.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

A few weeks later, Reynolds wished his wife a happy birthday—in a trolling fashion of course, given his photo choices. Lively turned 32.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

October 2019

Lively and Reynolds welcomed their third child. According to People, Lively gave birth two months prior but kept it a secret.

July 2020

Taylor Swift fans speculated that Reynolds and Lively’s friend Swift revealed the name of their third daughter with her folklore song titled, “Betty.” In the song, Swift name drops Betty’s other two siblings, James and Inez.

October 2020

Lively posted a photo of her and Reynolds both voting. She explained in the caption that it’s her husband’s first time doing so. Reynolds is Canadian and had just gotten American citizenship.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

November 2020

In an interview with Access Hollywood, Reynolds said he loves “being a girl dad.” He also talked about how he and his wife raise their daughters.

“I try to be as present as possible. I shoot movies, and my wife shoots movies, and we go travel all over the place, and we just all go together,” he said. “I think that that’s been the best part of it. We really don’t spend a lot of time apart. I get to spend a lot of time with my girls.”

He went on to say, “never in a million years” would he imagine being the father of three daughters. “I come from all boys. I have three older brothers,” he said. “So for me to have three daughters has been such a ride, and I love every second of it.”

March 2021

The couple both posted photos of themselves getting their COVID-19 vaccinations.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

April 2021

Lively gave the world a glimpse into a date night for her and Reynolds. The married couple went out to a Yankees game:

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

May 2021

Reynolds posted a photo of him and Lively cuddled up. He took the time to wish his wife a happy Mother’s Day in the caption. Reynolds wrote that Lively was the “heart and soul of every moment their family shares.”

This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io