‘The ignorance of these two needs to be studied’: Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively get roasted for claiming they grew up ‘very working class’

As one of Hollywood’s biggest power couples, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively know how to rake in the rewards, but one thing they seem to struggle with is reading the room. For example, 2024 has seen them star in two of the year’s biggest films — Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends With Us, respectively — and yet both of them have also come under fire online for things they’ve said and done. And, whoops, wouldn’t you know it, it’s happening again.

Reynolds, fresh off his Actors on Actors interview with Andrew Garfield turning social media against him, has put his foot in it again with some comments he made about his and his wife’s upbringing. Reynolds was reflecting on how different a childhood he’s able to give his kids in comparison to his own when he said something that may not be entirely factually accurate.

“We try to give them as normal a life as possible,” the Canadian star mused to The Hollywood Reporter. “I try not to impose upon them the difference in their childhood to my childhood or my wife’s childhood.” So far so harmless, but it was his following comments that raised eyebrows:

“We both grew up very working-class, and I remember when they were very young, I used to say or think, like, ‘Oh God, I would never have had a gift like this when I was a kid,’ or, ‘I never would’ve had this luxury of getting takeout,’ or whatever.”

Unfortunately, it only takes a five-second Google search to see that the 48-year-old might’ve been stretching the truth a little there. While Reynolds could be said to come from a working-class background — his father was a Canadian Mountie and his mother worked in retail — he might be projecting when it comes to his wife. Lively, 37, is part of a bonafide tinseltown dynasty. Her father, Ernie, was an actor/filmmaker, and her mother, Elaine, was a talent scout. Her four siblings are likewise actors. Her first movie role came at the age of 10 in The Sandman… directed by her dad. If you looked the term “nepo baby” up in a dictionary, you’d find a picture of Blake Lively.

To say social media roasted Ryan’s remarks to a crisp, then, would be like saying Deadpool is a tad chatty. “Quick search: She grew up in Tarzana and then went to Burbank High. Her whole family was in the entertainment business,” reads one comment on Instagram. “She was cast in Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants while she was a teen,” goes another. “It’s giving at least middle class. Anyway none of that matters because she’s rich and insufferable now. Bye.”

“You keep using that word, ‘working-class.’ I do not think it means what you think it means,” wrote one wannabe Inigo Montoya. “Omg yes like how the working class totally get married on plantations! So casual. So proletariat, comrade!” scorched one more, while Regina George entered the chat: “Stop trying to make Relatable Blake happen, it’s NOT going to happen.”

This is just the latest in a long line of misjudged mutterings and moments on the couple’s part. As the comment above reminds us, they started as they meant to go on by getting hitched in the most controversial setting possible, and this year has seen Lively come under fire for her lighthearted promotion of It Ends With Us, a movie featuring domestic abuse, while Reynolds recently ruffled feathers for mocking the indie film industry. If the pair are campaigning for the Most Out-Of-Touch Couple Award, they might just have it in the bag. As one more comment put it, “The ignorance of those two needs to be studied.”

It’s easy to argue that the hate for this duo is overblown at this point, as a few tone-deaf comments are small-fry compared to some Hollywood heavyweights’ crimes, but Reynolds and Lively definitely don’t do themselves any favors when they misspeak like this. But, hey, that’s one more thing that makes Ryan such a perfect Deadpool — he doesn’t always know when to zip it.