Ryan Reynolds Says Wife Blake Lively Has ‘Higher Standards’ for Parenting Their 3 Daughters: ‘Blake Runs the Show’
Actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds routinely make headlines for their powerhouse film projects and humorous couple moments. They’re prone to poking fun at one another on social media while also supporting each other in their careers. The couple is fairly private, but Reynolds did offer some recent insight into how his wife “runs the show” in the home where they raise their daughters.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have delighted fans with their relationship
Lively and Reynolds met on the set of Green Lantern, but it took a while for the romantic sparks to fly. Some time later, the pair finally went on a date — a double date, in which they were each paired up with someone else. It may have taken a while to move from colleagues to friends to lovers, but once they did take the plunge, the relationship sped up. They were married just a year later, in 2012. Since then, they’ve delighted fans with their banter.
While Lively is better known to some for her performances in dramas, you’d never know it by the way she can hold her own with her jokester husband. The pair famously roast one another online. Notable instances include Reynolds using Lively’s birthday — which happens to be the same as Billy Ray Cyrus’ — to wish the singer a happy birthday while barely mentioning his wife. Lively, in response, “lovingly” posted a picture of Reynolds on his birthday — but chose one that featured his finger up his nose.
The back-and-forth has become fans’ favorite part of the relationship.
Ryan Reynolds says Blake Lively ‘runs the show’ when it comes to their daughters
After tying the knot in 2012, Reynolds and Lively started growing their family. They welcomed their first daughter (James) in 2014. In 2016, their second daughter, Inez, was born. In 2019, news of their third daughter’s birth was announced when Reynolds was away promoting his film Free Guy. Rumors flew that he missed the delivery, but the truth was that they simply kept her secret for months. Via their good friend Taylor Swift, the third Lively-Reynolds girl’s name became public knowledge: Betty.
This bit of privacy is in keeping with their general approach to parenting in the public eye. They only share brief moments and details about their personal life. But Reynolds did provide some interesting information about their home life in an appearance with David Letterman (above).
As Letterman and Reynolds stand over a spread of food, Reynolds looks a little confused and frazzled. “Blake, full disclosure, really showed me how to do all this,” he explains. “Who runs the show here?” Letterman quips. Without missing a beat, Reynolds emphatically points to his wife’s skills: “Blake runs the show. I would kind of really phone things in if it wasn’t for her.” “[She has] higher standards,” he adds.
When Letterman asks Reynolds how he would fare for a few weeks alone with his three girls, Reynolds says it would be “exciting” at first, but he would quickly miss the “division of labor” he and his wife have set up.
How did their childhoods shape Reynolds’ and Lively’s parenting style?
If we want more insight into how Reynolds and Lively parent their daughters together, Glamour points to their childhoods. Reynolds reveals that parenting all girls is a bit of a surprise after coming from a family of four boys, where he was the youngest. “I just try to be as present as possible,” Reynolds says, pointing out how he and Lively travel together and take turns filming projects.
As for Lively, she certainly draws on her own experiences as a child growing up in an entertainment family. Her father, Ernie Lively, is known for TV shows like The West Wing, while her sister starred in the ’80s comedy Teen Witch. Getting to see what it takes to make working in entertainment balance with the rest of life gave Lively a blueprint for the success we’re seeing in her own family.
