The short marriage between Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds is sparking fresh attention as his new wife Blake Lively’s increasingly messy legal battle with Justin Baldoni unfolds.
While the Deadpool star and Lively have become something of a Hollywood power couple, some older fans may recall Reynolds was married to Johansson (best known for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinelomatic Universe) for two short years in the late noughties.
Ryan, 48, and Scarlett, 40, started dating in Spring 2007 – shortly after he ended his two year engagement to singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette.
They became engaged in May 2008 and were married in an intimate ceremony in Vancouver, Canada, that September.
According to reports at the time they announced the split, the stress of being apart due to conflicting schedules so much was too much for Scarlett to take, and she was the one who initiated the divorce, ending the relationship in December 2010. They divorced in 2011.
Scarlett later admitted she ‘didn’t really have an understanding of marriage’ at the time as she was only 23 when they tied the knot – while Reynolds was 31.
The couple released a statement saying: ‘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.’
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson (pictured at the 64th Annual Tony Awards in New York City in 2010) wed in September 2008 and split in December 2010, divorcing in 2011)
A source said at the time: ‘They are being very civil about it. The big problem with their relationship is the distance. They spent a lot of time apart when they are working… She’s been unhappy for a while.’
While Ryan once gushed that marriage was the ‘best part’ of his life, Scarlett was less than enthusiastic when talking about relationships to Glamour magazine in 2009.
She said: ‘I don’t profess to know anything about marriage that anybody else doesn’t know, or how to make it right.’
And in September that year, Ryan admitted that marriage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
The actor told GQ magazine that things had ‘changed’ since they got married.
He said: ‘I’m a little more guarded, I think. I’m a little bit more wary of having my relationship turning into a soap opera.’
In September 2012, Ryan tied the knot with Blake Lively, with whom he now shares four children (James, 10, Inez, eight, Betty, four, and Olin, one).
Appearing on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast in April 2023, Scarlett made a rare comment about Ryan.
According to reports at the time, the couple (pictured in Los Angeles in 2009) was initiated by Scarlet
‘You’ve been married two times? Three times?’ Gwyneth asked Scarlett, who confirmed it was the latter.
Gwyneth then gushed excitedly: ‘Oh that’s right! I forgot that you were married to Ryan Reynolds! Goals!’
Giggling in the background, Scarlett responded: ‘Yes! We weren’t married very long….’ as Gwyneth chimed in, ‘It still counts!’
‘We love a good Ryan Reynolds in our home,’ Gwyneth continued, as Scarlett’s famously husky voice continued to laugh, and she wrapped the topic up by saying: ‘He’s a good guy!’
After her divorce from Ryan, Scarlett wed Romain Dauriac. They were married between 2014 and 2017.
She then tied the knot with Colin Jost, now 42, in October 2020.
New York City native Scarlett is mother to two children – daughter Rose, 10, with Dauriac, and son Cosmo, three, with Colin.
During the podcast, she then spoke about her current husband, actor Colin, giving insight into what makes it work.
While some said the split was down to Scarlet finding the large amount of time the two spent apart too stressful, others have alleged that there was jealousy in the relationship
‘I didn’t know what I wanted or needed from somebody else,’ Scarlett said.
‘I never realized, “Oh, it’s really important for me – I need to be with a compassionate person.”
‘That’s a fundamental characteristic that has to be there,’ she revealed about her relationship.
On the podcast, Scarlett added, ‘I think that understanding what those fundamental things are that you need in a partner is a must, I think — for longevity, anyway.’
Loosely referencing her past relationships, the beauty said: ‘I think identifying those things was a game-changer for me.’
She said that with her current husband she ‘was finally able to step back and actually respect myself enough to know what those [fundamental] things were and be okay with it, you know? That was a life lesson.’
While Ryan and Scarlett’s split appeared amicable, reports emerged at the time suggesting there was animosity between the pair behind the scenes.
Despite suggestions that Scarlett initiated the split because of the stress of spending so much time apart, a source close to Ryan claimed there were many things wrong with the relationship for a long time.
The couple appeared on Saturday Night Live together in 2009 (pictured L-R: Fred Armisen, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds)
‘They’re both strong-willed and stubborn people. There was a lack of warmth between them, that was troubling,’ a source alleged to InTouch in December 2010.
Scarlett was allegedly angry all the time and found it hard to hide her feelings towards Ryan.
‘He said it sounded like she was yelling every time she talked to him. When Scarlett visited Ryan when he was filming The Proposal, she was screaming at him in his trailer – going nuts,’ said the source.
But it certainly wasn’t all Scarlett’s fault, rumours suggest – it has been alleged that like Ryan’s behaviour wascontrolling and selfish at times.
The source added: ‘He can be an overbearing control freak. He’s more traditional and she’s more independent.’
But although Ryan initially enjoyed Scarlett’s independent streak, even taking advantage of it to go motorbiking around Europe alone this summer, it led to friction.
‘When he wanted her there, he expected her to drop everything and come to him. She got tired of the double standard.’
At the time, there were also allegations that the relationship was affected by jealousy, with Ryan never really getting along with Scarlett’s male musician friends and Scarlett concerned about Ryan’s relationship with his then-Green Lantern co-star Blake Lively.
Blake Lively (pictured in London for the UK gala screening of It Ends With Us) sued Baldoni for sexual harassment just before Christmas
A waitress who saw Blake and Ryan having dinner in New York said the pair looked more like a couple than just friends – and indeed the two would go on to wed.
She said: ‘It was just the two of them and they were laughing and flirting. It looked like a date. If you didn’t know who they were, you would definitely assume they were a couple.’
Interest in the former couple has resurfaced amid Ryan’s wife Blake Lively suing Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment after they worked together on the film It Ends With Us.
Lively alleged that Baldoni entered her trailer while she was topless, showed her graphic video of his wife giving birth and bit and sucked on her lips during an improvised kissing scene in a suit filed last December.
She further accused him of conspiring to smear her reputation, citing a text message from Justin’s publicist Melissa Nathan which read: ‘We can bury anyone.’
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on her legal filing that accused him of orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Justin then sued the Times, claiming it failed to vet Blake’s sexual harassment and retaliation allegations and ‘relied almost entirely on Blake’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims.’
The newspaper plans to ‘vigorously defend against the lawsuit,’ per its spokesman.
Next, Justin countersued Blake and Ryan, turning the narrative on its head by claiming it was their team doing the smearing and asking for $400 million in damages.
He accused her of twisting the meaning of his texts and emails and working in tandem with Leslie Sloane, a powerful Hollywood publicist, to plant damaging stories about him in the media.
Blake and Ryan’s legal team have requested a gag order, citing ‘improper conduct’ by Justin’s attorneys in the ongoing case.
In a letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman on Friday evening, the couple’s lawyer reiterated the need for the protective order to prevent ‘extrajudicial statements’ by Justin’s legal team, according to Deadline.
‘Requiring counsel to heed the ethical rules that bind them is not a gag order; it is a mechanism that would ensure the proceedings in this Court are not prejudiced by counsel’s conduct outside of the courtroom,’ attorney Esra Hudson wrote on behalf of the couple, per the outlet.
‘The Wayfarer Parties are attempting to draw a dangerous false equivalence that may have profound consequences not just for this case, but for other women who are sexually harassed in the workplace given the high profile of this matter,’ the four-page letter continued.
Hudson also suggested that Justin’s alleged smear campaign against Blake may still be ongoing.
Justin accused Lively of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career (Blake and Ryan seen in 2024)
In turn, Justin Baldoni (pictured in 2023) sued The New York Times for defamation and launched a $400m lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds Baldoni
Earlier this week, Blake and Ryan’s legal team had requested a gag order to curb what they called ‘improper conduct’ by Justin’s attorneys, citing an alleged ‘harassing and retaliatory media campaign’ against the couple.
In response, Justin’s attorney, Kevin Fritz, rejected the couple’s request for a gag order in a letter to Judge Liman shortly after Tuesday’s filing.
The initial gag order request came after Baldoni’s lawyer released a bombshell video showing Lively and Baldoni on the set of It Ends With Us.
The explosive video, exclusively released by DailyMail.com, showed all three takes of a dance scene between Blake and Justin – which suggests the pair were on apparent good terms before the actress accused him of sexual harassment.
Blake in turn hit back at the clip’s release, saying it proved that she was uncomfortable during the scene.
‘Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,’ her legal team shared in a statement with DailyMail.com.
Blake Lively (pictured attending the New York premiere of It Ends With Us in August 2024) has made several accusations against Justin Baldoni, which he denies
According to a suit Blake file against Justin last December, he entered her trailer while she was topless, showed her graphic video of his wife giving birth and bit and sucked on her lips during an improvised kissing scene. He has denied the claims and filed a countersuit
Her team claims the video ‘shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.’
‘Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.’
Blake’s lawyer also added that none of the intimacy shown in the video from the film — which Justin directed and starred in alongside Blake — was choreographed.
‘Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.’
‘Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss.’
Blake’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Justin during the scene was not acting, and that the clips shows her ‘repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk’.
‘Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort,’ her lawyer stated.
‘They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.’
Her team claims that releasing the video to the media ‘is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public’ and ‘a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign.’
‘We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his associates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts.’
It was one of the biggest bombshells in a lawsuit packed full of them – that Baldoni sexually harassed Lively while filming a dance scene by dragging his lips down her neck and telling her ‘it smells so good’.
