Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have long been the toast of Tinseltown. Whether it be their reliably well-dressed joint Met Gala appearances or Reynold’s commitment to posting “bad” pictures of Lively on Instagram to embarrass her, the A-listers have held on to the “couple goals” moniker long after the term left common parlance.
But now, for the first time since the genesis of their relationship, their standing in public opinion is starting to falter. The first cracks began to show during Reynolds’ mega press tour for Deadpool & Wolverine which, in typically Marvel fashion, put him everywhere and anywhere for the best part of a month.
He ate increasingly hot chicken wings on Hot Ones; played with puppies for Buzzfeed’s cutesy YouTube segment; had a Chicken Shop date with Amelia Dimoldenberg; hit the headlines in the UK after finally meeting This Morning presenter Alison Hammond; and had a joint profile with Hugh Jackman in the New York Times.
Then came the It Ends With Us press tour, so Reynolds tapped out and Lively took over the running wheel. But not completely — Reynolds was still deployed for It Ends With Us marketing stunts, interviewing Lively’s love interest in the film and arriving with Jackman for the New York premiere.
It was all a familiar part of Reynolds’ long-running “wife guy” persona — the doting, zany husband just happy to be there to watch his wife shine. If you need a visual reference, conjure up that image of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2007 SAG Awards when Smith cast his arms wide to draw attention to his wife.
It’s a funny “bit” for a while, and deflecting to your wife was a welcome departure from type in Hollywood circles. But people have become inured to it now — and Reynolds’ ‘wife guy’ persona is starting to give people the ick. “Not that I‘m wishing for it to happen but Ryan Reynolds will be the next wife guy to fall I can feel it,” wrote one X user. Another added: “Every day I wake up [and] lose more of my fellow brothers and sisters to a soulless Ryan Reynolds marketing gimmick.”
Lively has also taken heat, with the cast drama behind It Ends With Us vastly overshadowing its release. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a rift occurred between Lively and Justin Baldoni, the film’s director, after Lively brought in an editor from Deadpool & Wolverine to develop a separate cut of It Ends With Us. Baldoni has hired a crisis management PR firm to handle the reputational fallout.
Moreover, Lively’s status as a fashion icon has come into question, with many critiquing her It Ends With Us press tour outfits, which she has proudly styled herself. One of these was a Versace gown first worn by Britney Spears to Milan Fashion Week in 2002, which Lively pulled out of the archives for the New York premiere of It Ends With Us. The look attracted a mixed reception, recalling when Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s sequined “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress to the 2022 Met Gala.
Then there are Lively’s recent interviews, which people have described as flippant and uncaring of the film’s serious nature — it revolves around a theme of domestic abuse. “Blake Lively forgetting her character is a victim of domestic abuse and instead trying to give the entire press run a silly goofy Barbie moment while Justin Baldoni is using his press time to talk about the importance of stopping the cycle of abuse is why I’m always on his side,” said one X user.
This unexpected change in attitude towards Lively and Reynolds proves no celebrity is safe from over-exposure. Margot Robbie made a self-aware judgment about this during her Barbie press tour, where she mentioned taking a break from acting after Barbie because, she reckoned, “Everyone's sick of the sight of me.”
Robbie’s move to never trust the fickle public was a wise one. Sadly, Lively and Reynolds have bought so many shares in their own “couple goals” stock that they’re now barging full steam ahead with no idea that the track is running out beneath them.
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