Here's The Real Reason Blake Lively Doesn't Drink Alcohol
Despite portraying party girl Serena van der Woodsen on six seasons of "Gossip Girl," Blake Lively is herself quite the homebody. Although she and husband Ryan Reynolds are perennial head-turners on every red carpet they attend, Lively insists they would rather be home with their two kids. "I love my personal life so much — and my family so much," she told Marie Claire in 2016, via Hello Giggles, emphasizing that "it takes a lot for me to want to leave the house." A source close to her and Reynolds also shared with Us Weekly in May 2022 that the couple's "typical date night is in a restaurant alone or with friends."
With Lively announcing a third pregnancy in September 2022, the "A Simple Favor" star has developed a bit of a reputation for avoiding nightlife and debauchery. She even shared with Cosmopolitan Australia in 2011, per Just Jared, that even at the height of "Gossip Girl" fame, she hardly went clubbing while shooting in New York City. "I don't really find it that fun," Lively said simply.
The actor isn't only a homebody, however, but a teetotaler (someone who abstains from alcohol entirely), as well. This factoid is somewhat miraculous, given that her husband, a gin aficionado, co-owns Aviation American Gin. So why does Lively choose the path of stone-cold sobriety?
Being intoxicatedfff doesn't appeal to Blake Lively
Blackouts and hangovers? Count Blake Lively out. "I don't drink because I don't like the effects of alcohol," she divulged in 2021, per People. Nonetheless, Lively enjoys the social aspect that often accompanies drinking. "I like being a part of it," she admitted. "I like people coming together." However, teetotaling can still be quite isolating for her. "I found that sometimes not drinking, the thing that was interesting was that it was a little alienating, because you don't feel — and maybe it's just in your own head — but you just don't really feel a part of it." The "Age of Adaline" star is hardly in rare, sober company. The list of other A-list celebs who abstain from alcohol include Bradley Cooper, Tyra Banks and Zac Efron, per Harper's Bazaar.
In addition to disliking the sensation of inebriation, Lively also doesn't care for the taste of alcohol, as she told USA Today in 2018. Despite this, she told the outlet she was her household's resident mixologist. Whenever she and Reynolds entertain company, "I'll start to pull out the shaker and the muddler," Lively said, admitting that her guests are usually skeptical of her skills at first. "People are like, 'Wait, why is she making me a drink? She doesn't drink. This is gonna be terrible,'" she joked, winning over her skeptics after their first taste. "I love to muddle berries and shake things up with ice," Lively shrugged.
Teetotaling led Blake Lively to start a mocktail line
Blake Lively has so much fun making drinks (while never drinking them) that she started Betty Buzz, a line of mixers that can be enjoyed on their own or blended with alcohol. "It became clear mixers are the unsung heroes of the drink world and deserve just as much love as alcohol," the brand states on its website. Launching Betty Buzz in September 2021, Lively told Forbes she waited until April 2022 to market the line because she wanted to see if it could "subsist on its own merit, on its own flavors." Apparently, it could. In November 2021, Lively told People that the outpouring of support, especially from "all of the non-drinkers," has been overwhelming.
If anyone is looking for pro-pointers for some mocktail drinks, Lively shared a few in another November 2021 People feature. To give any mixed faux-drink "a flavor experience," she recommended adding just one or two "drops" of liquor (although the actor warned this tip was not for those in alcohol recovery). Additionally, to salt the rim of one's non-alcoholic drink, Lively suggested dabbing the rim with a little liquor. "That would make the salt stay, but you're not actually getting real alcohol content," she noted.