Ryan Reynolds is firmly in his wife Blake Lively’s corner as she prepares for trial.
“You really see kind of the illusion behind so much of this stuff, you know? Digital life versus real life,” Reynolds, 49, told Willie Geist on the Sunday, April 19, broadcast of Today when asked about coping with the fallout from Lively’s legal battle against It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni. “I’ll just say, I’ve never in my life been more proud of my wife.”
Lively, 38, named Baldoni, 42, in a lawsuit in December 2024, accused the director of sexual harassment and allegedly trying to ruin her reputation via a coordinated media campaign. Baldoni vehemently denied the accusations, filing a defamation lawsuit in response. Baldoni’s suit was dismissed last year.
Ten of Lively’s complaints involving harassment, defamation and conspiracy were dismissed in April. The remaining allegations will be heard in trial, which is scheduled to begin in May.
“People have no idea what’s really going on, you know?” Reynolds said on Sunday. “I’ve just never in my life been more proud of someone with that level of integrity that brings that with them and carries that with them in everything that they do.”
Reynolds and the Gossip Girl alum have been married since 2012, during which time they welcomed four children.
“My wife and kids are everything. I mean, that’s it,” he said on Today. “When we finally close our eyes to this mortal dumb show, those are the ones that are going to matter, you know?”
Reynolds got a new lease on mortality after his father, James, died in 2015 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“I can’t think of anything more isolating or lonesome than no longer being a reliable narrator in your own life,” the Deadpool actor added. “[There are] many moments I have in my life now, where I wish my dad could see.”
Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that both Lively and Reynolds are set to testify in the upcoming trial. In an April 11 pretrial motion, the couple are set to detail Baldoni’s alleged “misconduct related to the film, post-production of the film, the film’s promotion and marketing campaign.”
Lively previously expressed her hopes to take the witness stand.
“I am grateful for the Court’s ruling which allows the heart of my case to be presented to a jury next month, and for the ability to finally tell my story in full at trial, for my own sake, but also for those who don’t have the same opportunity to … many of whom I have known and loved deeply in my life,” she wrote in an April 3 social media statement. “The last thing I wanted in my life was a lawsuit, but I brought this case because of the pervasive RETALIATION I faced, and continued to, for privately and professionally asking for a safe working environment for myself and others.”
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