Ryan Reynolds Smiles in NYC: A Star’s Day Out in the Big Apple

For the first time since Blake Lively filed her complaint against Justin Baldoni, Ryan Reynolds is beaming as he goes out.

In his first appearance on the red carpet since his wife Blake Lively sued Justin Baldoni, Ryan Reynolds was beaming.

On Tuesday, January 7, the 48-year-old Deadpool & Wolverine star went out in New York City for the National Board of Review Annual Awards, where he gave Wicked the Best Film honor.

On the red carpet, Reynolds looked dapper in a gray suit with black satin lapels. The celebrity added a stylish set of reading spectacles to complete his ensemble.

As he gave them the Best Film award at Cipriani Wall Street, Wicked stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Ethan Slater joined the actor on stage. As Grande and Erivo took the stage, Reynolds was seen giving them both hugs.

Months before the It Ends With Us co-stars filed lawsuits, news of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s alleged disagreement made headlines. Rumors about an alleged quarrel between Lively and Baldoni started to circulate in August 2024 when they were promoting the movie.

The red carpet appearance on Tuesday follows Hugh Jackman, Reynolds, and Lively’s decision to skip the Golden Globes on Sunday, January 5, due to Lively’s continuing legal dispute with her director and co-star of It Ends With Us.

On Saturday, January 4, a source told Us Weekly that Ryan and Hugh were not confirmed to attend and that the choice had nothing to do with the [sic] legal dispute.

Deadline Lively claims that Reynolds and Jackman made the decision to skip Sunday’s awards event well in advance of the It Ends With Us legal troubles, and that neither actor’s absence had anything to do with the ongoing scandal.

On December 31, Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, alleging that he had sexually harassed her and created a hostile work environment on the set of their film version of Colleen Hoover. In a lawsuit filed that same day, Baldoni accused The New York Times of libel and false light invasion of privacy, among other things, for its coverage of a previous complaint Lively had filed with the California Civil Rights Department.

Last Monday, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, announced that the actor/director intends to sue Lively separately.

For his part, Reynolds has become involved in the legal dispute between the costars. According to Baldoni’s lawsuit against the New York Times, Reynolds and Lively reprimanded him for “fat-shaming” Lively and gave him a “inappropriate and humiliating berating” during a supposedly contentious meeting at their residence in New York City before to the filming of It Ends With Us. Baldoni claimed that other famous friends were entering and leaving their penthouse when the altercation was “delivered, perhaps purposely.”

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, December 31, Justin Baldoni is defending himself against the charges made by Blake Lively, his co-star on It Ends With Us. For a piece published on December 21, Baldoni, 40, is suing The New York Times for $250 million, claiming libel and invasion of privacy due to misleading light.

At the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere in New York City last year, Baldoni also said that Reynolds tried to “destroy Baldoni’s career and personal life” by pressuring his agency to stop representing him. (WME terminated Baldoni as a customer last month.)

According to Baldoni’s complaint, Reynolds allegedly put pressure on Baldoni’s agent during the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere, WME told The Hollywood Reporter on January 1. This is untrue. Reynolds and Lively never put any pressure on Baldoni to stop being a client, and his previous agent did not attend the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere.