Ryan Reynolds Recalls the Moment He Realized Blake Lively Was the One

Deadpool star also addresses his relationship with his late father in GQ Men of the Year issue

By Francesca Bacardi Nov 14, 2016 3:47 PMTags
Ryan Reynolds, GQ Men of the Year IssueAlasdair McLellan/GQ

Ryan Reynolds is living a cliché—and he's very OK with it.

The Deadpool star has been named one of GQ's Men of the Year (Usain Bolt and Warren Beatty also nabbed covers), and while he seems to be living the perfect life with his perfect wife Blake Lively, it turns out not all is as it seems. "When [filming Deadpool] finally ended, I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. I literally had the shakes," he tells the magazine. "I went to go see a doctor because I felt like I was suffering from a neurological problem or something. And every doctor I saw said, 'You have anxiety.'"

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Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds' Quotes on Parenthood
Alasdair McLellan/GQ

Fortunately Reynolds could return to his secluded house with Blake, where he and the Gossip Girl alum are raising two daughters. The two stars always have been candid about their love for each other, but Reynolds tells GQ about the exact moment he knew she was The One.

"Probably after the sex," he jokes. "No, we were hanging out at this little restaurant in Tribeca that's open really late, and this song came on and I was just like, 'Want to dance?' No one was in there, so it was just totally empty. And it was just one of those moments where halfway through the dance, it was like, 'Oh, I think I just crossed a line.' And then I walked her home. And, uh, you know, I don't really need to go into what happened after that."

Oh la la! 

Alasdair McLellan/GQ

Like all of the couple's fans, they, too, know they're living the dream. "I'm on the precipice of having a real American family," Reynolds tells GQ. "I mean, I always imagined that would happen, and then it happened. Every idiotic Hallmark-card cliché is true."

Reynolds also opens up about the estranged relationship he shared with his late father, telling the magazine that they were able to mend everything as best they could before he passed away. 

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Ryan Reynolds Confirms His Second Child With Blake Lively Is a Girl
Alasdair McLellan/GQ

"I had a rough 10-year patch with my father. So we were estranged. Now we're really estranged. But I actually had that sort of epic moment that only happens in films, where I saw him before he died and closed the loop as much as I could," he explains. "At some point, you just kinda gotta live and let go. I always wanted that father that was like Wilford Brimley, who would put me on his lap and just dispense incredible life advice and guidance, and I would go out into the world and execute it beautifully."

He continues, "From my earliest memory of him, my father was that stereotypical tough guy. But it was just a veneer. The hardest part for me is that he was always kind of a mystery. I just don't feel like I ever had a real conversation with him."

And if you're wondering whether Reynolds remembers the song that made him fall head over heels in love with his wife...

"I do, but I'm not gonna say," Reynolds says. "You're shut out."

The 2016 GQ Men of the Year issue will be available on newsstands in New York and L.A on Nov. 15 and nationwide on Nov. 22.