The Tragic True-Life Story Of Blake Lively

Rising to fame after her role in the television series "Gossip Girl," Blake Lively is now one of the most famous women on the planet. Whether it's her movie career (which has seen her star in films like "The Town" and "The Shallows"), her marriage to Hollywood A-lister and "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, or her high-profile friendship with Taylor Swift, Lively often finds herself in the headlines. However, her journey to the top hasn't been a totally smooth one.

Born on August 25, 1987 in Los Angeles, Lively grew up in a Hollywood family. Showbiz is in her blood, but Lively's transformation from "Gossip Girl" star to mother of four has not been without some tragedy. As well as experiencing a lot of highs during her life, the Hollywood star has had her fair share of hard moments. From early life struggles to recent heartache, we're diving into the tragic true-life story of Blake Lively.

Sadly, bullying is something that many of us experience, especially in childhood. A little known fact about Blake Lively is that she was bullied as a child because of the way she dressed. Lively's mother had a strong interest in fashion and would alter adult clothes to fit her. This meant that she had a unique wardrobe, which she enjoyed. However, it made her stand out among her peers at the Los Angeles private school she attended. "It was the only school where people were just downright mean to me," she told Vogue. "They would make fun of my clothes because I dressed differently than the other kids."

The actor has also spoken about how she was the victim of childhood bullying based on her appearance. In 2018, she posted an image to Instagram of her visiting the set of "Sesame Street," where she was able to get a photograph with the character Big Bird. In the caption, she revealed that kids would refer to her by that name to taunt her. "Kids used to make fun of me in elementary school by calling me Big Bird (because I was 'too tall' and had 'yellow' hair)," she wrote. "Here's to making best buddies with the things that once hurt you."

While it was "Gossip Girl" that propelled Blake Lively to fame, this was not her first on-screen role. The actor had previously appeared in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "Simon Says," among other films. Many of these came when she was still attending school, forcing her to film outside of term time. Despite working as an actor from a young age, Lively had an interest in attending college and wanted to study at Stanford University.

Before landing the role of Serena van der Woodsen on "Gossip Girl," Lively had already deferred her college education for a year and didn't want to put off going to university any further. Producers promised the young actor that she would be able to study part-time while working on the series, an arrangement that suited Lively. However, the show became a hit and Lively had to work harder and for longer, leaving no time for college.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Lively said that she was misled by The CW. Execs reportedly refused to add a clause to her contract regarding college and instead made a verbal agreement that they ultimately didn't honor. "This is advice to anyone: when they say, 'We promise, but we can't put it in writing,' there's a reason they can't put it in writing," she said.

Before she was in a relationship with Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively dated fellow actor Penn Badgley. He's best known for his role as Joe Goldberg in the Netflix series "You" these days, but Badgley also starred in "Gossip Girl" from 2007 until 2012, playing Dan Humphrey. At the time of the relationship, the two television stars were both in their early twenties and they worked hard to keep the fact that they were dating a secret.

The main reason that the two "Gossip Girl" cast members refused to acknowledge rumors that they were dating was because they were afraid that the network and executives behind the series would object. However, the two did eventually reveal that they were indeed in a relationship, in part because they realized that the show's producers actually felt that it would be good publicity.

"I remember there was one point where we were just afraid of how our personal lives overlapping our work life could be perceived by our bosses," Lively told Vanity Fair. "[Later] we were like, 'Oh no, that's exactly what they want.' They wanted us all to date. They wanted us all to wear the same clothes that we're wearing on the show. They wanted that, because then it fed their whole narrative. People could buy into this world."

Blake Lively has never been an actor who is afraid of committing to a role. Whether that means altering her body like she did for "Elvis and Annabelle" (in which she played a beauty queen who dies of bulimia) or doing her own stunts, she's been known to go the extra mile. Take the 2016 survival horror film "The Shallows," for example. Stranded away from the shore and pursued by a shark, Lively's character is forced to improvise using her limited supplies to survive. She did almost all of her own stunts in the film and was determined to make the crew proud of her performance — a decision that took a toll on her body.

"It's such a physical movie," Lively told Entertainment Weekly. "There's a scene where I'm swimming up to the buoy and I crack my face under water and my nose is pouring blood and that was real. That happened. I wasn't supposed to crack my face underwater." While many actors would have bailed on the scene following such an injury, Lively felt like she had a point to prove. "I thought, 'I'm going to keep going during this take unless I pass out because I want them to see what they did to me! I want them to see how determined I am!' I'm very proud of my bloody nose. I was in so much pain for a week."

Unfortunately, gossip is part of the world of entertainment and anyone who enters the film industry has to be willing to put up with a certain amount of prying into their personal life. It simply comes with the territory. While some rumors about actors may well turn out to be true, there are a lot of lies and misinformation out there, with many Hollywood stars having to put up with all sorts of falsehoods about them. For someone like Blake Lively, a successful woman who is half of one of Hollywood's biggest power couples thanks to her marriage to Ryan Reynolds (who has also lived a tragic life), there's a lot of extra attention.

Lively explained how unpleasant the rumor mill can be during a candid interview with Vogue. "There have been so many things written about me that are untrue and horrifying," she said. "I can't even believe that my family has to read this stuff." These have included malicious rumors that she and Reynolds are to split up and divorce. Other rumors have included people spreading lies about her being pregnant earlier in her career and suggestions that certain aspects of her relationship with Reynolds are manufactured by PR teams to make them appear as normal as possible.

In the 2020 action thriller film "The Rhythm Section," Blake Lively plays Stephanie Patrick, a woman seeking to avenge her family after they're killed during a terrorist attack. Stephanie begins training under Jude Law's Iain Boyd to learn how to fight and operate as a spy. Lively had to engage in a lot of action sequences as part of her performance, and this led to the actor suffering a significant injury when a stunt went wrong. During a scene where she and Law are fighting, Lively injured her hand so badly that production was put on hold for six months.

"My hand basically turned to feta cheese," Lively said when she appeared on Good Morning America. "I was like, lunging toward Jude Law with my fake rubber knife. My hand collided with his elbow, and I broke some things and dislocated some things and severed a ligament. It was pretty intense." Lively's hand required two separate surgeries to fix. The actor then had to endure a painful physical therapy regime to regain full use of her hand. The injury was ultimately integrated in the movie: Lively's character can be seen wearing a hand brace.

Outside of acting, Blake Lively has kept herself busy with an array of additional business ventures. These include the Blake Brown haircare line as well as Betty Buzz and Betty Booze drinks, which include non-alcoholic mixers and flavored canned cocktails. However, before she became a successful businesswoman, Lively's first venture outside of acting went up in flames. 

In 2014, Lively launched a lifestyle website called Preserve. Focusing on artisan and unique products from creators across the United States, Preserve aimed to sell things that had been specially selected by Lively herself. It was a real passion project for the Hollywood star, whose mission was "making a difference in people's lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way." Around a year later, Lively shut down Preserve and it has yet to be revived. The reason it all went sideways is that she launched the site before it was ready to properly serve its customers.

The very public and widely-mocked failure of Preserve was a big blow for the A-lister, who had a genuine urge to bring people quality products from talented creators. "We have an incredible team of people who do beautiful work. But we launched the site before it was ready," Lively told Vogue after the website failed. "I never thought I would have the bravery to actually do that, to take the site dark and to say, 'You know what? I haven't created something that is as true and impactful as I know it can and will be.'"

You might think that all actors and entertainers are supremely confident people who aren't afraid of being in the public eye, but that is not necessarily always the case. In fact, some performers experience anxiety or nerves about appearing in public, and Blake Lively is among them. Lively had no real aspirations of entering show business despite the fact that much of her family is part of the industry. Speaking to the Independent, Lively explained that she felt as though she had "fooled" producers when she won her role in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," adding that she is "completely shy" when the cameras aren't rolling.

As the years have passed, Lively has been able to get these emotions under control. The actor has spoken about how having children has helped her feel more secure and open with who she is as a person. "Once I had children, that just became even more profound because my time was even more precious," she said to Forbes. "But also I think having children for me made me feel so much more in my skin. I never felt more myself or at ease in my own body or more confident — not to say that there aren't a bevy of insecurities coming at me a million times a day, but I just feel incredibly settled."

The influence of Blake Lively's parents was essential in helping her establish a career in the entertainment industry. Both her mother and father worked in Hollywood: Elaine Lively worked as a talent scout while Ernie Lively was an actor who had roles in everything from "Turner & Hooch" to "The West Wing." Having grown up in a household that was so involved in show business, it's perhaps no surprise that Blake Lively herself went into acting, especially as she would accompany her parents to the acting classes they taught as they didn't want to pay for a babysitter.

In 2021, Blake Lively and her family were left heartbroken when Ernie Lively died. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that he had passed away at the age of 74 at his home in Los Angeles. He was surrounded by his wife and children, with the cause of death given as cardiac complications. Eight years earlier, Ernie Lively had groundbreaking heart surgery after problems were discovered, which involved injecting stem cells into the organ to help repair tissue. The process allowed him to return to a more active lifestyle and feel healthier than he had previously.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have made it a mission to try and keep their personal lives private. For the most part, this has meant that the couple's four children have stayed out of the public eye. The two actors have made a point of keeping the names and even the genders of their kids secret for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the privacy of their children has not always been in their hands. Lively has experienced a number of upsetting moments with professional photographers who have gone to extreme lengths to try and snap images of her with her children.

Writing in a now deleted Instagram post, Lively explained that having grown men jump out and follow her with her young children was traumatic for them. She went on to say (via Stylist): "My children were being stalked by men all day. Jumping out. And then hiding. A stranger on the street got into words with them because it was so upsetting for her to see." Another instance involving pictures of their children came when one of Reynolds' closest friends was discovered to be trying to sell private images of one of their babies, something that must have shocked both him and his wife. Speaking to GQ, Reynolds described the betrayal, saying: "It was like a death. It was like one of those devastating things to find out."

The sexual harassment and misogyny at the heart of the entertainment industry has come to light in a big way since several allegations were made against producer Harvey Weinstein, who was was sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault in 2022. It quickly became apparent that sexual misconduct in Hollywood was widespread following the initial wave of allegations, with more and more actors feeling emboldened to speak out about their experiences thanks to the Me Too movement. Blake Lively is an example of this, with the star revealing that she experienced frequent sexual harassment from a make-up artist.

While she didn't name the production, Lively did detail some of the abuse she experienced and said that her complaints were ignored for months. In fact, action was only taken against the individual after Lively spoke to a lawyer. The harassment involved unwanted physical touching and non consensual filming. "He was saying things inappropriately, insisting on putting my lipstick on with his finger," Lively told the Los Angeles Times. "I was sleeping one night on location and I woke up and he was filming me. I was clothed, but it was a very voyeuristic, terrifying thing to do."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)

The following slide deals not with a tragic event that happened to Blake Lively, but with the actor's admitted ignorance of historical tragedy. She and Ryan Reynolds met on the set of the box office bomb that was "Green Lantern" and rumors soon began to swirl that the pair were dating, although official confirmation that they were an item didn't come until the following year. They got married on September 9, 2012 after less than a year of dating. The marriage took place at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a location that "features nine slave cabins, referred to as 'Slave Street,'" per NBC. 

The move caused some controversy at the time and the couple were criticized again in 2018 after Reynolds expressed his support for the majority Black cast of Marvel's "Black Panther." It wasn't until 2020 that the couple acknowledged that they had made a mistake by picking Boone Hall Plantation as their wedding venue. "It's impossible to reconcile," Reynolds told Fast Company. "What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy." This came on the back of the couple donating $200,000 to the NAACP legal defense fund. "We remain in awe of the organization," Lively said in a statement shared to Instagram. The couple also revealed that they had renewed their vows in a separate ceremony at their home.