Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Face Backlash for Saying They Grew up ‘Very Working-Class’

Hollywood power couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are under fire for comments about their upbringing that social media users say misrepresent their privileged backgrounds. The controversy erupted after Reynolds, 48, discussed raising his four children in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“We try to give them as normal a life as possible. I try not to impose upon them the difference in their childhood to my childhood or my wife’s childhood,” he said, adding, “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.” He later added that he “realized that that’s not really their bag of rocks to carry.”

The statement quickly drew criticism online, particularly regarding Lively’s background. The 37-year-old actress, daughter of Hollywood actor Ernie Lively and talent agent Elaine Lively, made her acting debut in Sandman, directed by her father. Her entertainment industry connections reportedly helped secure her breakout role in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants at age 16.

Social media users were quick to challenge the couple’s characterization of their upbringing. “Quick search: She grew up in Tarzana and then went to Burbank High. Her whole family was in the entertainment business,” one person commented, per The Independent. “She was cast in Sisterhood for the Traveling Pants while she was a teen. It’s giving at least middle class. Anyway none of that matters because she’s rich and insufferable now. Bye.”

Critics were particularly pointed in their responses, with one noting, “You keep using that word, ‘working-class.’ I do not think it means what you think it means,” while another stated, “I thought Blake Lively was a nepo baby…she’s very privileged.”

Even Reynolds’ claims about his own background faced scrutiny. While his mother Tammy worked in retail sales and his father Jim served in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver, some questioned his depiction of a working-class childhood.

“Reynolds grew up and went to school in a pretty expensive neighborhood in Vancouver. Definitely not a place working class people afford,” one commenter noted (via HuffPost). Another observed, “More and more I’m learning that rich people say ‘working class’ when they mean ‘had a salary.’”

The controversy comes amid multiple reports warning that the number of performers from working-class backgrounds has reached historic lows in the entertainment industry. The conversation about nepotism and “nepo babies” has also intensified recently, as other actors attempt to distance themselves from their privileged upbringings.

In the same interview, Reynolds discussed his children’s understanding of privilege: “Those are the things that I would think [would indicate] we’re doing an OK job — if our kids can empathize with other people and other kids. But yes, it’s different. When I was a kid, you would just suck it up, get out of the house and be back by sundown, which I just can’t even imagine now.”

The couple, who married in 2012 and share daughters James, 10, Inez, 8, Betty, 5, and one-year-old son Olin, were previously celebrated on social media for their playful online banter and exchanges. However, they’ve recently faced challenging times after a series of what critics call “tone-deaf” gaffes.