Blake Lively shot to superstardom as Serena van der Woodsen on “Gossip Girl,” a character who changed boyfriends as often as she changed clothes. But in real life? Lively is the exact opposite. While her bestie Taylor Swift has turned her love life into chart-topping anthems, Lively has kept her dating history refreshingly low-drama. She’s never been one to play the field, and her list of exes is surprisingly short — not to mention filled with men who, to this day, have nothing but kind words about her.
Of course, these days, everyone and their mother knows she’s happily married to Ryan Reynolds, who she met on the set of “Green Lantern” in 2010 and wed two years later. And by all accounts, they’re the perfect match. “We’ve never gone a week without seeing each other. There’s no major decision that I make without him. The best part is when we turn off our phones and just talk and hang out,” she told Marie Claire in August 2014. “He’s my best, best friend. What do you do with your best friend? You do nothing.” And Reynolds is just as smitten with her. “Quite frankly, you’re my heart, you’re my hope, you’re my happiness,” he said of Lively on the stage at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards. “I joke that my family exhausts me, but in reality, you give me more strength than any man could possibly deserve.”
Clearly, Lively is thriving in her marriage and family life, but looking back, she didn’t exactly have a rough time with her exes either. She’s had a handful of long-term relationships, and while they’re obviously no longer as close as they used to be, none of them seem to have a bad word to say about her — which, in Hollywood, is practically a miracle.
Kelly Blatz said that their careers got too busy, which might have led to the split
If there’s one thing to know about Blake Lively, it’s that she’s a textbook serial monogamist. In a 2012 interview with Elle, she made it clear that casual dating was never her thing, so you can’t expect her to partake in flings or so-called situationships. “I’ve had four boyfriends my whole life. I’ve never been with anyone that’s not a boyfriend,” she said at the time. “If I spend time with a man, it’s because there’s somebody that I know well who has been a friend for a while.”
That’s exactly how things played out with Kelly Blatz, one of her first serious boyfriends, whom she got the chance to work with on the film “Simon Says.” The two started dating in 2004 and stayed together until 2007, but Lively had been swooning over him long before that, waiting for him to “finally come around.” Not much is known about their relationship (which is probably for the best), but they did what all high school sweethearts do: attended prom together.
Eventually, reality — and Lively’s skyrocketing career — got in the way. Right around the time “Gossip Girl” made her a household name, things fizzled out between them. Blatz, once hyped as “the next Zac Efron,” later admitted to the BBC that they barely saw each other anyway. And, well, we all know how that story ends.
Penn Badgley claimed that Blake helped him turn his life around
Penn Badgley may not be Blake Lively’s most high-profile ex, but their relationship was definitely a fan favorite — mostly because they were a couple both on and off “Gossip Girl.” Their characters, Dan Humphrey and Serena van der Woodsen, were each other’s endgame, but in real life Badgley knew exactly where he stood. Lively’s star power outshined his, and he was totally fine with it. “Beyond our relationship, I don’t think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly,” he admitted to Variety in an interview.
Still, he has no hard feelings about their three-year romance — if anything, he seems grateful. As it turns out, Lively may have saved him from veering into full-blown Hollywood cliché territory. While he wasn’t exactly a trainwreck like some of his contemporaries, he admitted his life was “fun and fast-paced” at the time, with a “dark undercurrent” that eventually caught up with him later. But, thanks to Lively, he never spiraled. “To be honest, I never struggled with substance,” he explained. “Blake didn’t drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.”
As for Dan and Serena? We can’t say the same. But, at least in real life, Badgley and Lively managed to avoid the kind of messy drama their TV counterparts thrived on.
And when they split, there was no animosity between them
For a show that thrived on drama, “Gossip Girl” fans might be shocked to learn that Blake Lively and Penn Badgley’s real-life romance was, err, refreshingly low on it. Their relationship lasted about three years — tops, but thanks to their characters’ never-ending on-screen entanglement, it felt like they were together forever. In reality, they spent more time as exes than as a couple — awkward for most, but apparently, not for them.
“I sure don’t think it was awkward for anybody. From my memory, I’m pretty sure we were exes for nearly half of the run of the entire series,” Badgley shared in a “Podcrushed” episode. “It lasted for nearly six years, and I don’t think we were together longer than two? Something like that.” But if you were expecting behind-the-scenes tension, think again. “We were always very professional,” he recalled. “We had to do all kinds of nutso stuff. Having a fake marriage by the end of it. … I don’t even think, in my memory, there was not one bit of strangeness. It wasn’t even a thing.”
And sure, they didn’t stay BFFs, but there was no bad blood either. Badgley was genuinely happy for Lively when she married Ryan Reynolds, and he has nothing but gratitude for their time together. “We were very much caught up in the show, which itself was a six-year endurance test. Our relationship was a part of that and helped us through it,” he told Elle. “I mean, like anything valuable, it was good and it was bad and it was a learning experience.”
Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly smitten with Blake
Leonardo DiCaprio may be a serial dater, but he’s no serial over-sharer. The man has been through more models than a Paris Fashion Week runway, yet you’ll rarely hear a peep about his love life from him. But according to insiders, his short-lived romance with Blake Lively? That was different. The two met when Lively auditioned for “The Great Gatsby,” and while she didn’t snag the role (Carey Mulligan did), she walked away with DiCaprio. And apparently, he was obsessed. “I’ve never seen him like this with a girl,” one insider told Us Weekly, while another confidently declared, “I bet they get engaged in the next six months.” Bold of them to assume Leo would ever put a ring on someone over 25!
What really set Lively apart was her, let’s say, creative approach to keeping things interesting. “Gossip Girl” executive producer Joshua Safran dished to Vanity Fair that while filming, Lively would send DiCaprio photos — not of herself, but of a doll. “When I think about shooting the L.A. episodes, Blake was dating [DiCaprio] at the time, and she had this thing where she had a doll that she took photos of that she sent to Leo,” he said. “Blake was way ahead of the curve. It was pre-Instagram. She was documenting her life in photographs in a way that people were not yet doing.”
In the end, their whirlwind romance fizzled out after a year, with reps insisting they remained “great friends.” But hey, we all know what that means.
Meanwhile, Blake and Ryan Gosling just kept things casual
It’s almost impossible to picture Blake Lively with any Ryan other than her Ryan, but once upon a time, she was briefly linked to the other famous Ryan — Ryan Gosling. Their rumored romance kicked off when they were spotted hanging out at Disneyland (where they even apparently shared ice cream), and Lively later attended the premiere of “Blue Valentine,” where the two reportedly got very cozy.
“They weren’t obviously all over each other, but it seemed like they were together,” they told E! News (via Cosmopolitan). There were times when they would be sitting down, and he would kind of lay his hand on her knee. They were smiling, laughing, they looked happy!” Whatever was going on, they definitely weren’t just discussing cinematography.
Unlike her other high-profile romances, though, Lively’s time with Gosling didn’t seem all that serious — assuming there was even anything to take seriously. Gosling himself was quick to shut down the speculation, insisting they were just good pals. “She’s an incredible actress; she’s a good friend,” he clarified to People before throwing in a slightly dramatic rant about being involved in Hollywood friendships. “You’re not allowed to have friends in this business.”
