‘Very working class’: Ryan Reynold’s comment about Blake Lively’s childhood ignite debate

Ryan Reynolds has ignited a furious debate after he made a bold “working class” claim about his wife in a recent interview.

Ryan Reynolds has divided by claiming that he and his wife, Blake Lively, grew up “working class” even though she’s from a Hollywood family.

Deadpool star Reynolds, 48, married Gossip Girl alum Lively in 2012 and the couple are now incredibly rich.

Reynolds, who found unfathomable success with Deadpool and in romantic comedies like The Proposal, is reportedly worth over $300 million, partly because he has diversified.

He owns the alcohol brand Aviation Gin, the wireless carrier Mint Mobile, which he bought in 2019, and a string of other businesses, like a software password management company.

Alongside fellow actor Rob McElhenney, he joined a group of investors backing the Formula One racing team Alpine in 2023 in a deal worth over $200 million.

In comparison, Lively’s estimated net worth is a more modest $30 million, which has been made from brand deals and for big roles in the smash hit television series Gossip Girl and movies like It Ends With Us.

The pair have four children together: James, 9; Inez, 8; Betty, 5; and their son, Olin, whom they welcomed in 2023.

The pair got married in 2012. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Blake became famous from Gossip Girl. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds discussed his desire to keep his children “as normal as possible” and how raising them surrounded by so much privilege can be jarring when he grew up more humbly.

“I try not to impose upon them the difference in their childhood to my childhood or my wife’s childhood,” he said.

“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.”

Reynolds said that over the years, though, he has worked out that his children shouldn’t feel guilty for growing up privileged, and what is most important is that they develop a “strong sense of empathy”, which he said they all have.

He said both he and Lively grew up ‘very working class’. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images/AFP

The 48-year-old star’s comments raised eyebrows.

He grew up Canada in a working-class household. His dad was a police officer, his mum worked in retail, and he has two brothers.

Lively, 37, however, grew up in California. Her mum, Elaine, was a talent agent, and her dad, Ernie, who passed away in 2021, was a working actor with over 114 credits to his name.

In 2006, Lively told Entertainment that she’d “grown up on sets” and explained that her mum was always “coaching” child actors and helping them win auditions.

Her childhood was so ingrained in Hollywood that her dad cast her in the 1998 film Sandman, which he was directing, and her older sister Robyn was also a teen star and snagged the role of Teen Witch.

One fan called his comments ‘tone deaf’. Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Netflix

Online people debated Ryan’s comments. Picture: Tatiana / BACKGRID

Online, while most people agreed that Reynolds grew up relatively normal, fans thought it was a stretch to call Lively “very working class” when she grew up on movie sets.

“What does he think working class means?” one questioned.

“I’m confused. When did either of their parents live pay cheque to pay cheque?” another asked

Someone else wrote, “simply tone deaf”, one called the comments “laughable”, another claimed Reynolds was clearly “out of touch” if he thought that was the right thing to say, and someone called his comments “entitled”.

Another person pointed out that calling Lively working class was a misstep because, by age 10, “she was in her first movie, which was also directed by her dad”.

“One Google tells you Ryan Reynolds actually is working class, the working class of the working class with a policeman dad and a retail sales mum. Blake not so much,” another noted.

“Blake Lively is not from a working-class family. OMG the gaslighting here,” someone else wrote.

“By working class he means ‘working actors’,” someone tried to clarify.