How Ryan Reynolds is scrambling to protect his ‘nice guy’ image as Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal battle turns ugly – from ‘staged’ paparazzi shoot to ‘focus-shifting’ Wrexham announcement

In his 34 years in the spotlight, there’s no denying Ryan Reynolds has made being Hollywood’s ‘nice guy’ a key part of his personal brand.

Having started his career as a teenage soap opera heartthrob in the 1990s, the father-of-four has worked with a wide range of charities over the years – famously donating $1 million to Ukrainian refugees in 2022.

Since buying Welsh football club Wrexham with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney in 2020, Reynolds has also helped the flagging sports club secure over £475 million in investment – prompting adoring fans to dub their FX docu-series the ‘real Ted Lasso’.

Only two months ago, the Deadpool actor received Officer of the Order of Canada, which is the country’s highest civilian honour, for his philanthropic work.

But for the first time in his hugely successful career, it seems the tides are turning against Ryan Reynolds and his carefully curated image – as his wife Blake Lively’s legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni turns ugly.

In December, Blake Lively sued Justin Baldoni, his production company and lead producer Jamey Heath. As part of the legal proceedings, Lively accused her co-star and director of sexual harassment and for spearheading a smear campaign launched in retaliation for speaking out against his alleged misconduct on the set

Although Reynolds was not officially involved in the Colleen Hoover adaptation, Baldoni has accused Lively and her husband of kicking him off his own film in his $400 million countersuit – and claims the TV and movie power-player Reynolds tried to destroy his career.

Amid this ongoing legal drama, Reynolds has now been accused of ‘staging’ a paparazzi outing in New York – where he was pictured being swarmed by fans brandishing homemade Deadpool posters last week.

In addition, Reynolds unveiled Wrexham’s stunning new stadium plans yesterday – around the same time his wife’s attorney was going head-to-head with Baldoni’s legal representatives for the first time in court.

Here FEMAIL reveals how Reynolds is scrambling to salvage his ‘nice guy’ image amid one of the most public legal battles in Hollywood history – as one PR expert says the A-Lister is ‘losing control’ of how the public perceives him.

‘Staged’ fan appearance 

Last Thursday, Ryan Reynolds was photographed signing autographs for dozens of fans outside of The Paley Center in New York.

However, it didn’t long until online commentators grew suspicious over whether it had been part of a carefully planned media approach to rehabilitate Ryan’s image.

Labelling the appearance ‘fake’, TikTok user Tenille – who boasts 95,000 followers – highlighted how all of the ‘homemade’ Deadpool posters looked incredibly similar – having been made out of old cardboard and colourful tape.

She asked: ‘Why does everybody have the same sign? The exact same pens? Everybody’s sign looks like it was made by the same five-year-old […]

‘You’re telling me that all these people randomly went out, bumped into Ryan Reynolds and all happened to have the exact same random signs?

‘And where is everybody’s phones? Why is nobody recording? This is 2025. I knew celebrities called paparazzi on themselves but this is too far Ryan!’ 

Speaking exclusively to FEMAIL, Emily Austen – who is the CEO of PR agency Emerge London – said the appearance ‘projects an image of likability’ and proves Ryan has a ‘loyal supporters’.

The PR expert explained: ‘The staged pap shots [could have likely been] a plan to generate up to date imagery of Ryan that doesn’t specifically link to the lawsuit, in order to try and nudge the news agenda on.

‘As seen in his televised Wrexham documentary, Ryan generally is an upbeat, funny and thoughtful man. 

‘The most recent press questions this, and so it’s entirely possible that he wants to secure more positive press as part of his character perception as the trial begins.

‘Most celebrity public personas are carefully controlled and planned. Commercial deals, sequencing of publicity, messaging, documentaries are all part of a larger strategy. This relies on control, something Ryan Reynolds is beginning to lose.’ 

Unveiled Wrexham stadium plans

Yesterday, attorneys representing Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni met in court for a 90-minute hearing – marking the official start of the stars’ legal battle.

But that same afternoon, Ryan made a move to reinstate the public’s perception of him as a ‘nice guy’. 

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman pleaded with the judge to move the case forward as quickly as possible because his client was ‘suffering greatly’.

However, Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb vehemently denied the claim that Lively was purposely dragging her heels in the lawsuit. 

Judge Lewis Liman denied a move from Lively and Ryan Reynolds to gag Team Baldoni following the series of bombshell claims made by his legal team.

But Gottlieb said they intend to hit Baldoni with fresh allegations in Lively’s sexual harassment case, and insisted that protecting the couple’s celebrity friends was going to be ‘very important’. 

Gottlieb told the court during the hearing that they intend to add ‘both claims and parties’ to a revised complaint which will be filed by Valentine’s Day.

That same afternoon, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney unveiled their plans for Wrexham’s new stadium, which Emily argues could have been part of a press strategy to draw focus back to Ryan’s work with this Welsh community.

The expert – who is the author of Smarter: 10 Lessons for a More Productive and Less-Stressed Life – explained: ‘I imagine the Wrexham stadium reveal will have been part of a major plan and it could have been timed in order to shift the focus.

‘Welcome to Wrexham generated a lot of likability for him and his business partner Rob so it could be a strategic move to announce them at the same time, and try to dilute the negativity of the trial story.’

As Blake’s attorney went to court, Ryan and Robert submitted a new planning application to Wrexham Council on Monday for the 5,500-capacity development. 

Wrexham’s historic ground only holds around 12,600 fans at present, with a temporary stand currently behind one goal.

More than £17million of public funding has been secured from the Welsh government to support the new design, which has been created by Populous, who worked on Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

The proposals include safe standing, hospitality suites, and accessible seating. The architects said the roof design aims to boost the atmosphere on match days by amplifying sound from supporters towards the pitch. 

Asked court to drop Justin’s $400m suit 

The day after Ryan’s alleged ‘staged’ paparazzi appearance, the star and his wife expressed their intention to ask a federal court to drop a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the It Ends with Us director.

‘The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint,’ an attorney for the Hollywood power couple, Michael Gottlieb, told Judge Lewis Liman in a letter, Variety reported Thursday after reviewing legal documents in the case.

Judge Liman had previously requested the lawyers to send a written notice to ‘indicate in one sentence the Defendant’s intent to make a motion to dismiss.’ 

The judge is expected to schedule a deadline date for them to submit the paperwork in the request, the outlet reported. 

Lively and Reynolds’ publicist Leslie Sloane, who Baldoni also named in his lawsuit as a defendant, on Wednesday submit a similar statement to the court.

According to the PR expert, this move from Ryan and Blake was another means of trying to salvage their reputations, which have been tarnished by this scandal.

Emily continued: ‘The negative speculation by commentators online, and on social media, has been that Ryan Reynolds has intervened, and alleges since he hasn’t got his way, he’s turned nasty.

‘Ryan has always been a family man, and at the heart of this trial is his alleged desire to protect his wife.

‘The reality is that it’s difficult to control your public persona when a lawsuit such as this captivates social media. Celebrities in the A-list league are fascinating and as fractures begin to show in the perception of them, speculation breeds. 

‘As such, the questions and allegations grow, and it becomes far more difficult to control the perception of the individual; people are taking the information they have and making their minds up.

‘I can’t help but think that all of this should have taken place behind closed doors, and that there won’t be any public facing winners at the end of it.’

During the press tour for the film, Blake gushingly revealed Ryan had helped write the ‘iconic rooftop scene’ in It Ends With Us, which left the movie’s screenwriter baffled. 

‘My husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now,’ Blake, who is the star and producer of the film, told E! News at the New York City premiere on Tuesday. 

The actress — who made a cameo in Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine movie — added: ‘We help each other. He works on everything I do; I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his.’

This morning, MailOnline exclusively published text messages between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, which gave extraordinary insight into their working relationship.

In one Blake allegedly texted Justin: ‘It’s my love language. Spicy and playfully bold, never with teeth’ in a flirty exchange about one raunchy scene in It Ends With Us and repeatedly calls herself a ‘ballbuster’.

In another chat Justin dismisses any suggestion she won’t look ‘amazing’ in ‘body scenes’ when she asked for them to be delayed to the end of the shoot.

Justin is the the midst of legal warfare and his team set up a website revealing the actor and director’s contact with Hollywood royalty Lively and Reynolds.

His lawyers lay out a timeline from January 2019 to January 2024. This includes 168 pages of emails, text messages and WhatsApps, mostly between him and Blake as well as some extraordinary interactions with her husband.

It reveals that Ryan Reynolds told him that he and Lively are ‘big fans’ and that the Deadpool star told him: ‘I happen to adore you Justin.’