Ryan Reynolds wishes his late father could’ve met his and Blake Lively’s daughters.
Ryan Reynolds attended Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ Parkinson’s Awareness Month event in New York City to share a heartfelt message. He expressed that his late father, James “Jim” Chester Reynolds, who battled Parkinson’s for nearly 20 years and passed away at 74 in 2015, would have greatly benefitted from knowing his grandchildren – James, 10, Inez, 8, and Betty, 5 (Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively, also have a son named Olin, 2).
Reynolds reflected on how his father, a dad to four boys, would have been deeply impacted by the presence of his three granddaughters. He believed that meeting them would have had a positive effect on his father’s life and possibly even improved his health. Reynolds shared his conviction that his girls have had a profound influence on him, and he wished his dad could have experienced that as well.
Reynolds also shared a special memory he and his brothers — Jeff, Terry and Patrick — cherish of their dad.
One cherished tradition Ryan Reynolds shared was how his father would annually purchase a set of coins from the Canadian Mint for his sons. This simple yet meaningful gesture, costing around $15, continues to hold sentimental value for Reynolds and his brothers. He now upholds this tradition and passes it on to his own children, keeping the familial connection alive through generations.
“My youngest daughter, Betty, is kind of obsessed with it. That’s sort of our thing,” he said. “We actually traveled to the Canadian Mint, [and] … I felt like I was taking my dad with us and I do the same thing. I get them [a] package. They don’t even know. I mean, they know, but they don’t care yet. They will later, maybe.”
Reynolds has had a busy week — in addition to the Parkinson’s disease panel, the actor attended the Time 100 Gala on Thursday and the English League One soccer match between his team Wrexham AFC and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, Wales, on Saturday.
Lively was honored at the Time event, and Reynolds was there to support her amid their tense legal battle with her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni. Reynolds was seen giving his wife what looked to be a pep talk before she took to the stage for her speech.
Before he returned to his seat, Lively held his face as the two shared a sweet kiss. The pair also looked loved-up on the red carpet earlier in the evening, with Lively placing her hand on Reynolds’ chest and him wrapping his arm around her waist.
She returned the favor on Saturday as she attended the Wrexham match.
“The love and respect that pours out of you each and together exponentially grows and creates more joy, more possibilities, more magic, more history,” Lively wrote via Instagram Story of Reynolds and club co-owner Rob McElhenney. She added in a post on Sunday, April 27, “My favorite ‘crazy ones, misfits, rebels, troublemakers, round pegs in the square holes… ones who see things differently.’ Thank you for the community and elation you bring me, your family’s and so many.”
