How Blake Lively rants at weary husband Ryan Reynolds and he just ‘listens’ in silence… his four-word demand for her to settle with Baldoni… and REAL reason he wasn’t at Met Gala

As she blinked sherbet yellow up the stairs to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, there was little sign of any trauma from the past 18 months.

Even more extraordinary, it had only been a few hours since Blake Lively decided to finally settle her long-running legal dispute with director and star of It Ends with Us, Justin Baldoni, whom she accused of sexual harassment, among other things.

In fact, the 38-year-old actress, who was once a Met Gala mainstay but has been noticeably absent in recent years, looked almost unfazed as she posed for photographers in an archival Atelier Versace gown with a train that stretched meters from the famous entrance carpet.

She teamed the whimsical look with a specially designed Judith Leiber bag with watercolor paintings of her four children: James, 11, Inez, nine, Betty, six, and Olin, three.

“They’re with me because I’m shy too, so I like to have my kids with me,” she told Vogue magazine in an interview about the stairs. ‘Just like my little consolation.’

And given that her husband of almost 14 years, Ryan Reynolds, 49, wasn’t there to lend a calming hand, it was undoubtedly the comfort she was looking for.

Predictably, such an absence, particularly notable in the wake of Lively’s shock settlement, has caused a resurgence of unrest in the celebrity marriage.

After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find a couple who wouldn’t succumb to the pressure these two have put on both mentally and financially over the past few years.

So where was Reynolds?

But Lively, 38, walked the famous stairs alone, while her husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, was noticeably absent (pictured together in 2025).

An insider told the Daily Mail: ‘Ryan didn’t go with Blake because they both felt this moment should be hers.

‘When he started to think the deal was a very real possibility, that’s when he decided to go to the Met Gala. To him, if things go well, this could be a victory lap of sorts, a way to show that he’s got everything behind him and is ready to move forward.

‘He has not let this court battle define his life and wants to get back to work and rebuild his career. Being there gave him an ego boost and he still loved being part of the conversation.’

But her smiles with A-list pals, including Anne Hathaway, appear to be masking the rumored impact on Baldoni’s marriage to Deadpool star Reynolds, who is said to be pushing for this week’s deal.

The actor found himself dragged into a fiasco with Baldoni, 42. In his countersuit, filed later, Baldoni accused Reynolds of ‘swearing’ and ‘berating him in an offensive tirade’ during a meeting at the couple’s New York penthouse in 2023; Reynolds was there as his wife’s ‘representative’ to discuss Baldoni’s behavior on the set of It Ends with Us.

In a series of text messages that later emerged during the he-said-she-said lawsuit battle, Reynolds was seen attacking the ‘idiot-idiot’ Baldoni.

In a text message with an executive at the WME talent agency in July 2024, Reynolds allegedly referred to Baldoni as a “full-blooded, predatory hustler” and an “inexplicably toxic asshole.”

But such aggressive displays of loyalty don’t always tell the whole story, another insider said.

‘Ryan and Blake were always together throughout this process but they didn’t always see eye to eye,’ the insider said.

‘She would support him no matter what but always kept in mind that he needed to calm down and move forward. This was bad for him and bad for their careers. It was a huge stress for both of them. He almost raised his hands and they were pulled away.

‘He wanted to prove something. I have never met anyone who believed so much that he was right. He was 100 percent convinced he was on the right side here. And he wanted to prove it.

Lively’s solo outing (pictured with Anne Hathaway at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) fueled speculation about the status of her 12-year marriage to the Deadpool actor

On December 31, 2024, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, the star and director of the movie It Ends With Us, which was released that summer (pictured on set)

‘By the way Ryan said ‘let it go’. But he was determined. She’s learned to just let him be himself once she’s this way, but I’m sure he’s a little annoyed that it’s also affecting his standing in Hollywood. I mean, it’s so closely associated with it that it’s become toxic, too. That’s why I’m sure you don’t like it.’

The insider added that the couple had stopped talking much about the trial lately, with Reynolds instead just ‘listening’ as his wife ejaculated.

‘There was a time, like maybe a year ago, when she was upset and talking and he was just sitting there silently,’ the insider said. ‘I’m sure it got worse and worse.’

With over a decade of Hollywood marriage—four children, numerous blockbuster movies, lucrative brand deals and businesses, and a combined net worth of nearly $600 million—Lively and Reynolds seemed to have it all.

But on December 31, 2024, the shine began to fade when Lively filed a sensational lawsuit against Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.

A 4,000-word statement from the New York Times followed soon after, basing most of his claims.

Baldoni, who was quickly ousted by talent agency WME and production company Wayfarer Studios, responded in kind with a bitter countersuit against Lively and Reynolds, accusing their team of defamation and attempting to bring down her career, and demanding $400 million in damages.

All parties denied the accusations against them.

What followed was a series of acrimonious pre-trial hearings. Baldoni’s team has launched an online archive of all of his side’s evidence. Lively and Reynolds served several subpoenas. The couple’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, wanted to leave, and the actress hired crisis PR veteran Nick Shapiro. Unsealed emails and messages reluctantly dragged famous pals into the saga, including Taylor Swift, who was once Lively’s best friend and was subpoenaed before being taken down days later.

Another insider added: ‘Ryan and Blake were always together throughout this process but didn’t always see eye to eye. ‘He would support her no matter what but always kept in mind that she needed to calm down and move forward’ (Pictured together in May 2025)

The actress narrowly avoided a court battle on Monday, when she finally reached a settlement with Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, and her PR agency (she was captured live in court in February).

Baldoni’s case was dismissed outright in June 2025. There was hope of a solution last December, but these talks failed.

The trial date was set for March 9 this year, but was later postponed to May 18.

Then in April, a judge dismissed most of Lively’s lawsuit and all of the personal allegations against Baldoni, including allegations of sexual harassment. But still, the actor seemed to keep moving forward.

Until Monday, a court battle had been narrowly avoided thanks to an 11th-hour settlement between Lively and Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, and her public relations agency over several remaining retaliation and breach of contract claims related to their 2024 film It Ends With Us.

Lively and Baldoni said in a joint statement that the film remains a “source of pride” for those who worked on it, but acknowledged that “the process presents challenges” and that “the concerns expressed by Ms. Lively deserve to be heard.”

The statement did not include an apology from either side. Instead, both Baldoni and Lively’s teams said it was their ‘sincere hope that this will bring closure and allow everyone involved to move forward constructively and peacefully, including in a respectful environment online’.

And Lively wasted no time in proving she was ready to move on, using the celebrity-studded Met Gala on Monday night to stall and begin the difficult process of rebuilding her reputation.

Blake was in a positive mood [at the Met] “People seemed more open to being seen with him than they have in years,” a third insider said.

‘He was a cheerful person and made a point of going out to people he hadn’t seen for a while. She was really friendly with Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Heidi Klum.

‘The case kind of made him an outcast, especially when people learned that Taylor had grown distant with him. There’s a sense that this event is his way of signaling that he’s back among us. ‘He seemed really relaxed last night.’

Last month, the Daily Mail reported how the vindictive legal battle had affected his career – a number of projects disappeared from his IMDb – and damaged his marriage; an insider told us that Lively and Reynolds are “not as fun as they used to be” or “too social.”

And social media was flooded with critics saying their fairytale marriage was crumbling.

But it looks like there’s no chance of divorce, at least for now.

‘He loves her and supports her, of course, but he knew a year ago that he had to settle,’ the second insider said. ‘He just had to get there in his mind. He won’t be the type to say “I told you so” but… that’s what he told her.’