Top Story: Ryan Reynolds’ History of Marriage Before Blake Lively
April 7, 2025 — Before Ryan Reynolds became one-half of Hollywood’s golden couple with Blake Lively, the Deadpool star navigated a series of high-profile romances and a notable marriage that shaped his path to his current family life. As Reynolds and Lively mark over a decade together, raising four children—James, Inez, Betty, and Olin—his earlier relationships, particularly his union with Scarlett Johansson, remain a fascinating chapter in his journey.
Reynolds’ most significant pre-Lively relationship was his marriage to Johansson, the Black Widow actress who was then at the peak of her fame. The pair began dating in 2007, a year after Reynolds ended a five-year engagement to Canadian singer Alanis Morissette. Sparks flew quickly, and by May 2008, Reynolds, then 31, and Johansson, 23, were engaged. They tied the knot in a secretive ceremony that September at a wilderness retreat near Vancouver, attended only by close family and friends like Johansson’s Iron Man 2 co-star Gwyneth Paltrow. “It was small and intimate, very them,” a source told People at the time.
The marriage, however, was short-lived. By December 2010, after just over two years, the couple announced their split in a joint 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.” The divorce was finalized in July 2011, with no children and a mutual agreement to keep details private. Reynolds later reflected on the breakup in a 2011 Details interview, saying, “Anyone who gets divorced goes through a lot of pain, but you come out of it. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’m okay.” Sources cited their busy schedules—Johansson filming The Avengers and Reynolds working on Green Lantern—as a strain, though neither has publicly pointed fingers.
Before Johansson, Reynolds’ romantic history included a serious engagement to Morissette, whom he met at Drew Barrymore’s 2002 birthday party. The pair got engaged in 2004, with Morissette, then 30, calling Reynolds, 27, her “muse” in a Cosmopolitan interview. Their split in 2007 was mutual, with a rep stating, “They remain close friends and continue to have the utmost love and admiration for each other.” Earlier flings included 3rd Rock from the Sun’s Kristen Johnston in 1999-2000 and a brief 2001 romance with She’s All That star Rachael Leigh Cook, though neither progressed beyond casual dating.
Reynolds’ marriage to Johansson overlapped with his first meeting with Lively on the Green Lantern set in early 2010, though both have insisted their romance didn’t ignite until October 2011—months after his divorce. “We were buddies for a long time,” Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly in 2016, recalling an awkward double date with other people that sparked their chemistry. By September 2012, they were married, a swift move that raised eyebrows given the timing but has since proven enduring.
Today, as Reynolds and Lively navigate parenthood and blockbuster careers—his Deadpool & Wolverine and her It Ends With Us topping charts—his past with Johansson feels like a distant footnote. Yet it’s a reminder of the twists that led him to Lively, a journey fans still dissect on social media, marveling at how Hollywood’s heartthrob found his match after a few detours.
