Ryan Reynolds Says His Wedding Was A 'Giant F*cking Mistake' & Shared What He Learned From It

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively tied the knot back in 2012 but you won't find any pictures of their happy day posted on their Instagram grids.

The famous couple has a complicated relationship with how they chose to celebrate their wedding, according to an interview Reynolds gave with Fast Company in 2020.

Reynolds and Lively said their vows at Boone Hall in South Carolina, which is a former plantation.

According to the outlet, Reynolds was called a "hypocrite" after praising the 2018 film Black Panther on Twitter and using the hashtag #WakandaForever when he held his wedding at a place where, historically, many Black people suffered.

"It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for," he said of the location of his nuptials. "It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest."

However, the couple learned of the error in their decision.

"What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy," he explained.

In 2022, Boone Hall markets itself as "a must-see stop on any trip to Charleston" and offers house tours, plantation tractor tours, and "a historical look at the living quarters, historic relics, and lifestyle of slaves that lived at Boone Hall."

While Reynolds and Lively had another ceremony years later at their home, he said that "shame works in weird ways."

"A giant f*cking mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action," Reynolds said.

"It doesn’t mean you won’t f*ck up again. But repatterning and challenging lifelong social conditioning is a job that doesn’t end.”

In 2020, the couple donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and both posted identical lengthy messages on Instagram acknowledging their privilege.

"We've never had to worry about preparing our kids for different rules of law or what might happen if we're pulled over in the car," they wrote.

"We don't know what it's like to experience that life day in and day out. We can't imagine feeling that kind of fear and anger.

"We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.

"We've been teaching our children differently than the way our parents taught us," they continued. "We want to educate ourselves about other people's experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it... especially our own complicity.

"We talk about our bias, blindness and our own mistakes. We look back and see so many mistakes which have led us to deeply examine who we are and who we want to become. They've led us to huge avenues of education."

If you or someone you know has been the victim of racism, or if you are interested in learning more about how you can fight racism in your community, refer to these supports and resources across Canada.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.