With four children, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are currently happily married, while Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost tied the knot in 2020. However, before all of that, Reynolds and Johansson were married for three years, from 2008 to 2011, parted ways in December 2010, and got divorced in July 2011. Although it is wonderful that both have moved on and found love again, why did they break up? As it happens, timing and maturity might have been the deciding factors.
Both stars have admitted that their marriage was incredibly short, even though not many details have come to light to explain what happened. However, the actress once claimed that her former marriage to the Canadian-American actor did not work out because she was in a less mature stage of life at the time. (For the record, she was only 23 and he was 31 when they exchanged vows.)
How Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson Met?
In 2007, Scarlett Johansson started dating Ryan Reynolds, who had recently called it quits with his then-fiance Alanis Morissette. Likewise, the Project Artemis actress had broken up with Josh Hartnett, her co-star in Black Dahlia, following a year of courtship.
After Johansson and Reynolds’ romance intensified, they got engaged a year later. In a secluded wilderness retreat on Vancouver Island, Canada, they exchanged vows in September 2008 (source: US Weekly). In an interview with Glamour, the actress said she would never question someone about their marriage if she did not know them:
“I would never ask somebody about their marriage if I didn’t know them. I don’t profess to know anything about marriage that anybody else doesn’t know, or how to make it right.”
Johansson stated to Time Out New York (via E! Online) in 2009 that her and Reynolds’ hectic schedules prevented them from going on dates:
“We have no time for dates. We work and then go home and I, anyway, just stare at the wall for a few hours before I go to sleep. Like in any profession, it’s difficult. You want to make sure you have time to invest in your family. It’s a challenge, but it’s worth it.”
Due to work commitments, the two were living apart at the beginning of 2010. Rumors started to surface by March of that year, suggesting that they had broken up. Johansson later assured fans that she and Reynolds were still together (via HuffPost):
“I mean, you’re married and suddenly you have your own family. There’s a nice comfort in that. That part of your life is certain, in a way. You’ve got your home in that other person.”
Reynolds finally addressed the breakup rumors in September, informing GQ:
“Things change when you get married in general. But in terms of being a couple that’s in a public situation and speculated about and all that nonsense, it’s changed a little bit..I choose to remain as private as possible without being secretive.”
They did, however, get divorced in July 2011 after parting ways in December 2010.
The Insights on Scarlett Johansson’s Divorce from Ryan Reynolds
Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds eventually announced their divorce to the public in 2011. Fans finally found out why the former and her ex-husband broke up after Johansson revealed in 2015 that her success may have threatened the Deadpool actor.
In Parade’s April issue, she revealed:
“[Marriage] takes a lot of work. It takes a man who’s not only confident in the love that you have for one another, but confident in what he has going on in his own career. He has to be in a field that’s completely different from yours. My husband’s also involved in art. What’s important to him is the recognition that he gets from his job, and that has nothing to do with my job.”
Johansson hinted in an interview with the Goop podcast that she is now in a more mature stage of life, which is why her current marriage is succeeding, unlike her previous two marriages. She started dating Romain Dauriac in 2012. They had a daughter in 2014 after getting engaged in September of that year. In 2016, they got married, but they later got divorced in 2017.
The mother of two is currently happily married to Colin Jost.
