Why did Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson fade from public memory so fast? They married in 2008 and split in 2010. Even Gwyneth Paltrow admitted in 2023 that she’d forgotten the marriage.
In brief: Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson began dating in 2007 and married on September 27, 2008, near Tofino. They announced their split on December 14, 2010, and the divorce became final on July 1, 2011. Reynolds then married Blake Lively in 2012, while Johansson wed Colin Jost in 2020.
They have no children together. Reynolds turned 50 on October 23, 2026, and Johansson is 41.
Ryan Reynolds Biography: From Vancouver Kid to Hollywood Founder
Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He’s the youngest of four brothers. His older brothers are Jeff, Patrick and Terry.
His father, James “Jim” Chester Reynolds, was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who became a food wholesaler. His mother, Tammy, worked in retail sales. His grandfather, Chester Reynolds, sat in the Alberta legislature from 1940 to 1944.
Home wasn’t gentle. Reynolds has said humor kept him safe, and he links his anxiety to that strict upbringing. The family lived in Vancouver’s Kitsilano area.
He began acting at 13. His first lead role came on the Canadian teen soap Hillside, which aired in the United States as Fifteen. It ran from 1991 to 1993.
By the late 1990s, he’d moved to Los Angeles. ABC cast him in Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place in 1998. The sitcom, later renamed Two Guys and a Girl, ran until 2001.
Then the film roles arrived. Here are the main steps:
- 2002: Van Wilder became a cult hit.
- 2004: Blade: Trinity put him in a comic-book franchise.
- 2009: He starred in The Proposal and, as Deadpool, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
- 2010: People named him Sexiest Man Alive.
- 2011: Green Lantern cost about $200 million and grossed $219 million.
- 2016: Deadpool earned $782 million worldwide on a $58 million budget.
- 2018: Deadpool 2 added $785 million.
- 2024: Deadpool & Wolverine passed $1.3 billion.
- 2026: Mayday arrived on Apple TV on September 4.
Those hits gave him real bargaining power. He pushed for years to make an R-rated Deadpool film. Fox finally approved it in 2015.
The bigger money came from business. He bought a stake in Aviation Gin in 2018. Diageo bought the brand in August 2020 for a reported $335 million upfront.
Earn-outs could lift that deal to about $610 million. He bought into Mint Mobile in 2019. T-Mobile bought it in 2023 for $1.35 billion.
With Rob McElhenney, he bought Wrexham AFC in February 2021 for about £2 million. His company, Maximum Effort, began with partner George Dewey. In 2023, he also joined the group that bought a stake in the Alpine Formula 1 team.
Our Ryan Reynolds net worth article puts his fortune at $350–400 million. That figure comes mostly from business exits, not film salaries. So his money story and his marriage story run on separate tracks.
Reynolds has served on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation since 2009. His father had Parkinson’s disease and died on October 25, 2015, at 74.
In 2007, Reynolds also traveled to Malawi with Friends of Mulanje Orphans.
Scarlett Johansson Biography: The Actress Reynolds Married
Understanding ryan reynolds and scarlett johansson means knowing where each started. Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984, in New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is an architect from Copenhagen.
Her mother is Melanie Sloan. She has an older half-brother, Christian. Her grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was an art historian, screenwriter and film director.
She’s best known as Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow. That role began with Iron Man 2 in 2010. In 2025, she made her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great.
Before ryan reynolds and scarlett johansson: The Alanis Morissette Years
Reynolds dated Canadian singer Alanis Morissette for years. Reports say they met at Drew Barrymore’s 2002 birthday party. They became fiancés in 2004 and split in early 2007.
In June 2008, Newsweek asked Morissette about Reynolds’ plans to marry. She laughed and said, “I’m really happy for him.”
How ryan reynolds and scarlett johansson Described Meeting and Falling in Love
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson haven’t told a how-we-met story. We found no interview where either one describes their first conversation. That silence is the finding.
Some websites claim they met on a film set. Others say a Golden Globes party. None cites the stars themselves, so we don’t repeat those claims.
The documented part is the timing. People reported that they’d dated since February 2007, soon after Reynolds and Morissette ended their relationship. Their romance stayed quiet, and few photos circulated.
In May 2008, People reported that the couple had become fiancés. A month before the wedding, Johansson said they were “just taking it easy.” Then they married.
Reynolds’ publicist confirmed the wedding to People. Privacy was the point. Reynolds later said the media wasn’t invited to the marriage, so it wouldn’t be invited to the divorce.
That privacy changed how the world saw the pair. Few red carpets, few joint interviews and almost no candid photos meant fans had little to remember.
What This Relationship Means to Them, In Their Own Words
The joint statement from ryan reynolds and scarlett johansson came first. On December 14, 2010, they said, “we’ve decided to end our marriage.” They added that love began it and kindness would end it.
Reynolds spoke next, in a May 2011 interview with Details. He said, “I don’t think I want to get married again.” He called the divorce painful.
He also said tabloid stories didn’t match what happened privately. That line didn’t last long, though. About 15 months later, he married Blake Lively.
About two months after the interview, Reynolds grew emotional on The View. He spoke warmly about Johansson there. So his tone stayed kind even while he was hurting.
Johansson took longer to open up. She told the German magazine Gala she was “quite depressed” for about a week. She added that she may have been too hard on him, and she wouldn’t discuss specific reasons.
In December 2011, she told Matt Lauer she felt lucky and had learned a lot. In early 2012, she told Vogue the two stayed “comically amicable.” She also called divorce one of the loneliest experiences of her life.
Her fullest hint came later, in Cosmopolitan. She said, “The logistics of being with another actor are challenging.” She didn’t name Reynolds.
She added that careers moving at similar speeds can breed competition. So the quote reads as a general lesson, not a verdict on one man.
On Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast in April 2023, Johansson laughed about the marriage. She said they weren’t married very long. Of Reynolds, she said, “He’s a good guy.”
Those lines are the clearest record of how Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson talk about each other. They show two people who spoke kindly and gave few reasons.
What Reporters Found That Wasn’t in the Interview
Interviews about ryan reynolds and scarlett johansson gave short answers. Reporters added details. Some of those details don’t match.
First, the wedding. People reported that the Saturday ceremony took place at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort near Tofino. About 40 guests got text-message invitations.
Us Weekly named Johansson’s mother and brother among the guests. Treat the guest count as an estimate. The couple never shared a full list.
Second, the place and date. CBS Los Angeles placed the wedding in Vancouver. Marie Claire UK later said it happened in January 2008.
Both are off. The resort sits on Vancouver Island, and the date was September 27.
Third, the start date. Some outlets say February 2007, and others say April. Our Ryan Reynolds wife article says spring 2007.
All can fit if the romance began privately and went public later. That’s our reading, not a confirmed fact.
Fourth, the length. Outlets say two years, almost three, or three. The math is about two years and two months to the split.
It’s two years and nine months to the final decree. So “three years” rounds up, and “two years” rounds down.
Fifth, the filings. AP reported that divorce papers followed about a week after the announcement. They cited irreconcilable differences, and AP said both actors filed.
Court records listed December 14 as the separation date. That matches the joint statement.
Sixth, a fake interview. After the wedding, Johansson’s representative said a UK Cosmopolitan piece quoting her on the marriage was invented. She hadn’t given that magazine an interview.
Last, the anonymous insiders. Tabloids ran theories from unnamed sources. Neither star confirmed them, so we don’t repeat them.
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson: Timeline of Key Dates
- 2002: Reynolds and Alanis Morissette begin dating.
- 2004: Reynolds and Morissette become fiancés.
- Early 2007: Reynolds and Morissette split, and the romance with Johansson begins.
- May 2008: People reports that Reynolds and Johansson are fiancés.
- September 27, 2008: They marry near Tofino.
- Summer 2010: Reynolds meets Blake Lively on the Green Lantern set.
- December 14, 2010: They announce their split.
- May 2011: Reynolds gives his Details interview.
- June 15, 2011: Reynolds and Lively walk their first red carpet together.
- July 1, 2011: The divorce becomes final.
- September 9, 2012: Reynolds marries Lively.
- 2014: Johansson marries Romain Dauriac, and their daughter Rose is born.
- January 2017: Johansson announces her divorce from Dauriac.
- October 2020: Johansson marries Colin Jost.
- April 2023: Johansson calls Reynolds “a good guy” on Goop.
Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson Today: Two Full Second Acts
Since the divorce, Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have built very different public lives. Reynolds and Lively have four children: James, Inez, Betty and Olin. [INTERNAL LINK: Ryan Reynolds wife → Blake Lively marriage article] [INTERNAL LINK: Ryan Reynolds kids → Ryan Reynolds family article]
Johansson married French journalist Romain Dauriac in 2014. Their daughter Rose Dorothy was born that August. They announced their divorce in January 2017.
Her relationship with Jost became public in 2017. They became fiancés in May 2019 and married in October 2020. Their son Cosmo was born in August 2021.
The two exes rarely talk about each other now. Still, their names meet in headlines. In February 2026, Extra reported that an audio recording filed in Blake Lively’s case against Justin Baldoni mentioned Johansson.
She isn’t a party to that case. The parties settled on May 4, 2026.
As of October 2026, Reynolds and Lively are publicly still married. So are Johansson and Jost. We found no public record of either marriage ending.
Both stars have new work out this fall. Reynolds’ Mayday arrived in September. Johansson’s Paper Tiger opens in the United States on November 13, 2026.
The Bottom Line on Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson
The story of Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson is short on detail and long on grace. Reynolds called the split painful. Johansson called the aftermath lonely.
Still, neither one named a villain. Both stayed civil, and both built families with other people. In the end, Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson left each other with respect.
At 50, with a fortune we put at $350–400 million, Reynolds has said little about her since. That restraint may be the clearest record we have.
More on This Topic: Ryan Reynolds Kids: Inside the Family Life of a Dad of Four
FAQ: Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson
How long were Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson married?
They married on September 27, 2008. They announced their split on December 14, 2010, and the divorce became final on July 1, 2011. That’s about two years and nine months from wedding to decree.
Where did Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson get married?
They married at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort near Tofino, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. About 40 guests attended, according to People. Reynolds’ publicist confirmed the news.
Why did Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson divorce?
Neither star has given one reason. Court papers cited irreconcilable differences. Johansson later hinted that two actors’ schedules and careers can strain a marriage.
Do Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have children together?
No. Reynolds has four children with Blake Lively. Johansson has a daughter, Rose, with Romain Dauriac and a son, Cosmo, with Colin Jost.
Are Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson still friends?
They’ve both described the relationship warmly. Johansson called it “comically amicable” in 2012 and called Reynolds a good guy in 2023. We found no recent joint appearance.
Who are Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson married to now?
Reynolds is married to Blake Lively, and they wed on September 9, 2012. Johansson is married to Colin Jost, and they wed in October 2020.
Disclaimer: Narrative constructed exclusively from historical press, legal registries, and public archives. This publication does not speak on behalf of the subjects, nor does it claim to represent their unverified private perspectives.
Sources: CBS News Los Angeles, “Reynolds, Johansson: ‘We’ve Decided To End Our Marriage’” (Dec 14, 2010) · Marie Claire UK, “Ryan Reynolds: ‘I don’t think I want to get married again’” (May 27, 2011) · CTV News, “Johansson, Reynolds nuptials held at B.C. resort” (2008). Also drawn on: People, Us Weekly, AP, Newsweek, Gala, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Goop podcast coverage, Extra, Britannica, The Canadian Encyclopedia.
