A Look Back At Blake Lively's Star-Studded-Dating History
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have been melting our hearts since they started dating in 2011. Given that they have been together for so long, it's sometimes hard to remember they had separate lives before pairing up. But yes, Lively was in other relationships before meeting her husband. Her list of suitors is pretty short, though. "I've had four boyfriends in my whole life. I've never been with anyone that's not a boyfriend," she told Elle in 2012.
For Lively, it's important to build her romantic relationships on a strong friendship foundation. "If I spend time with a man, it's because there's somebody that I know well who has been a friend for a while," she explained. That was the case with Reynolds. She met the "Deadpool" star while filming "Green Lantern" in early 2010, but they didn't start dating until 2011. "We were friends and buddies, and about a year and a half later, we went on a double date," he said on the "SmartLess" podcast in 2021.
Luckily for Lively, she and Reynolds are on the same page. "I think [it's] the best way to have a relationship, to start as friends," he told People in 2016. That preference means Lively has had a low-key love life, which she's totally OK with. "I've been with very few people. If I'm not with somebody who really excites or inspires me, then I'd rather be by myself," she told Marie Claire. And her selectivity resulted in some high-profile boyfriends on her list.
Blake Lively's least famous beau was Kelly Blatz
Before she shot to fame with her portrayal of Serena van der Woodsen in "Gossip Girl" in 2007, Blake Lively was in a relationship with Kelly Blatz, with whom she co-starred in the 2006 slasher film "Simon Says." In her Elle interview (via Yahoo!), Lively shared that Blatz, who's best known for playing the titular role in the Disney XD series "Aaron Stone," was the first guy she ever dated, starting when she was 17 in 2004. Despite sharing the screen, Lively didn't meet Blatz on-set.
Staying true to herself, Lively had known Blatz most of her life, as they were childhood friends and attended Burbank High School together, according to Marie Claire Australia. In fact, she admitted she had had a crush on him for a long time, but he only became keen on the idea of dating her when they were in their late teens. It looks like Lively really does like being friends with her love interests. While Blatz didn't go on to achieve the same success as his ex-girlfriend, he has starred in several high-profile TV shows, including as Brandon Luke in "Fear the Walking Dead" in 2016.
Lively and Blatz dated for three years, breaking up right when Lively's career was starting to take off in 2007. And the split came not long before Lively started dating the second of her four boyfriends, with whom she also happened to share the screen.
Blake Lively secretly dated Penn Badgley
In 2007, Blake Lively fell for her "Gossip Girl" co-star, Penn Badgley. Lively and Badgley struck up a relationship, but the public was initially none the wiser. That December, the two were seen getting some holiday shopping done, sparking dating rumors, the New York Daily News reported. "No one is really supposed to know that," a source said. "I was told by a friend of the family."
The co-stars sought to keep their relationship away from prying eyes partly because they feared "Gossip Girl" producers might have a problem with it. "We were just afraid of how our personal lives overlapping our work life could be perceived by our bosses," Lively told Vanity Fair in 2017. But they later came to realize they not only had zero problems with it, but that they actually thought it was good for the show. "They wanted us all to date ... because then it fed their whole narrative. People could buy into this world," she said.
Lively and Badgley confirmed the relationship in 2008 and publicly dated for two years until they broke up in late 2010, People reported. The CW hit show didn't end its run until 2012, but the actors were able to separate their personal and professional roles rather well. So much so that their bosses didn't even realize they had split. "They kept the breakup hidden from the crew, which you could never do now," executive producer Joshua Safran told Vanity Fair.
Blake Lively was very briefly linked to Leonardo DiCaprio
A few months after splitting from Penn Badgley, Blake Lively started dating none other than Leonardo DiCaprio. The unlikely pair was first linked in May 2011, when they were seen living their best yacht life in Cannes, E! News reported. They were also seen strolling through Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in nearby Antibes, according to Page Six. "They walked around the grounds together. It looked like they were a couple," a source said.
The outlet reported Lively and DiCaprio had been introduced by director Baz Luhrmann the previous November. Once again, it was work that brought Lively's new beau into her life as the dinner was business-related. Back then, Luhrmann was considering casting Lively in "The Great Gatsby," while DiCaprio had already been confirmed, Us Weekly reported. It's unclear when they started dating but Lively's assertion she was friends with all of her exes before anything happened leads us to conclude it must have been a few months later.
In October 2011, Lively and DiCaprio confirmed the end of their romance, E! News noted. The two were last seen together the previous August, when Lively jetted off to Australia where DiCaprio was shooting "The Great Gatsby." Albeit brief, the fling mustn't have been all that casual, considering Lively's "Gossip Girl" bosses knew about it. "She had this thing where she had a doll that she took photos of that she sent to Leo," Joshua Safran told Vanity Fair.
Did Blake Lively actually have five boyfriends?
Blake Lively confirmed the split from Leonardo DiCaprio the same month she started dating Ryan Reynolds, completing the list of her four publicly acknowledged boyfriends. However, on the heels of her breakup with Penn Badgley, Lively was in a rumored relationship with Ryan Gosling. Speculation started after they hung out at Disneyland in October 2010 and intensified the following December, when they were seen being a bit too friendly at the "Blue Valentine" premiere in December 2010.
Some say there were definitely more than friends. "They've been out a few times and are definitely into each other, but I don't think it's super serious or anything right now," a source told E! News. "Yeah, they're casually dating, but I could see it becoming more." Lively never confirmed any sort of relationship with Gosling. Gosling, on the other hand, suggested nothing was going on between them. "She's an incredible actress. She's a good friend. You're not allowed to have friends in this business," he told People that December.
Lively does seem pretty comfortable with Gosling — comfortable enough to use him to troll her husband. In October 2017, Lively celebrated Reynolds' 41st birthday by uploading a photo of the two Ryans at the Critics' Choice Awards the previous year, with Reynolds half-cropped out of it. "Happy Birthday, baby," she captioned the since-deleted Instagram post. It sounds like whatever happened between Lively and Gosling was innocuous enough that she doesn't even count him as a boyfriend.