Ryan Reynolds’ Rocky Relationship With Father Resurfaces After Coronavirus Plea on ‘Late Show’

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have become some of the louder voices during the coronavirus pandemic that is affecting the globe currently. While the couple has donated $1 million to food banks and spoke out with humor to raise awareness about protecting yourself against the virus, Reynolds’ Late Show appearance might’ve done the best by putting a human story at the face of the issue.

As Reynolds explained during the interview with host Stephen Colbert, people need to be willing to do “all we can” to battle the virus and protect those vulnerable to it. He also stressed that pneumonia is “very serious” and he’s had experience in it due to his father, James Chester Reynolds, dying from the illness.

“[Pneumonia] can take out the toughest of us, and it certainly got my dad. So coronavirus is a serious thing,” Reynolds said during the interview. “I keep seeing people – particularly young people – talk about it like it’s not really their problem. And, my God, it’s their problem.”

“There are some beloved people who have compromised immune issues. There’s elderly people that are beloved, not just loved in show business, but in life, too,” Reynolds continued. “We’ve got to do all we can. So yeah, scary times. But we’re going to get through this somehow.”

The interview has brought details about the death of his father in 2015 back to the surface. This includes the childhood pain and fractured relationship the actor had with his father for years. According to The Daily Mail, Reynolds described life with his dad as being with a “full-time landmine.”

“This is not meant to be some sob story – everyone carries their own bag of rocks around and I am no different in that regard,” Reynolds said back in 2018. “But growing up in my house, it was never relaxing or easy and I know that, throughout my life, I’ve dealt with anxiety in different ways.”

He added that he deals with depression and anxiety from his childhood, leaning hard into exercise to help in “expelling those demons” from his life. He also credits his close relationship with his brothers.

“My brothers and I are all very, very close and we all share a bit of that type of humour together. I’ll look for the joke in things so that I don’t look for the sadness and the grief,” Reynolds explained according to The Daily Mail.

Luckily Reynolds was able to find peace with his father before he passed away, crediting his wife with helping him reconnect and mend the relationship. “She has a gift for foresight,” he said.