Ryan Reynolds Didn't Want to Remarry After His Divorce from ScarJo

Who

Three-time Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson, 37, and Golden Globe nominee Ryan Reynolds, 46.

How They Met

It’s unclear precisely when and where the in-demand actors first laid eyes on each other (they both strived to keep those details private), but we do know that it was soon after Reynolds and then-fiancée (and fellow Canadian) Alanis Morissette called off their engagement in 2007 that he and Johansson were first romantically linked. A year later, Reynolds and Johansson were engaged, and in September 2008 they wed.

When They Peaked

The couple who does SNL together stays together (or, you know, ideally should). Perhaps this was a bit of foreshadowing of Johannson's current relationship (more on that, below).

Why We Loved Them

This may have had something to do with their ultimate demise, but we loved how upfront they were about the logistical challenges of marriage. In 2009, Scarlett told Time Out New York that she and Ryan didn’t have time for dates, candidly explaining, “We work and then go home and — I, anyway — just stare at the wall for a few hours before I go to sleep." Same, Scarlett, same.

The Breakup

After months of media speculation, the pair quelled rumors in December 2010 when they released a statement announcing their separation: "After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we've decided to end our marriage. We entered our relationship with love and it's with love and kindness we leave it. While privacy isn't expected, it's certainly appreciated."

Six months later, Reynolds reflected on the “pain” of divorce, telling Details, “I don’t think I want to get married again.” Of course, a year-and-a-half later he and Blake Lively were tying the knot.

Johansson has also discussed the difficulty of divorce, calling it “the loneliest thing you’ll ever do.” The actress told Cosmopolitan, “Relationships are complicated, and being married is a living, breathing process. I think I was not fully aware of the peaks and valleys. I wasn't prepared to hunker down and do the work.”

While we’ll never know the exact details of how the end of their marriage came to be, we’ve gathered that both career competition and the stars’ busy schedules contributed to the friction.

About a year-and-a-half after their split, Johansson spoke of the importance of “time” for a relationship: “I’m not saying more time in the marriage, but just having more time with my ex and really clocking those hours of face time with the person you love, really live together and not having the pressure of two people that have these careers.” She also told Cosmo that both she and Ryan “were extremely busy” during their relationship. “We spent so much time apart. It's very difficult. It's bad,” she continued, noting that she doesn’t regret marrying the actor. “It seemed like a very romantic thing to do, and it was. It was the best thing I ever did."

Like Johansson, Reynolds still has respect for his ex and the marriage they shared. “Departing a relationship and still maintaining the idea that this is still the same person I married is a great luxury that I experienced," he explained. "Thankfully I was in a relationship where two people chose to remain on the high road in every regard.”

In the years since their separation, Johansson has often spoken about the difficulty of being romantically involved with someone in her field. “Acting is a very strange world to be co-existing in,” she told Parade in 2015. “It’s very volatile. There’s always going to be the more successful person. It’s related to rejection. Because actors, if they’re not having success, connect it directly to unpopularity—to the fact that nobody wants them. [Marriage] takes a lot of work,” she continued. “It takes a man who’s not only confident in the love that you have for one another but confident in what he has going on in his own career. He has to be in a field that’s completely different from yours.” Keep in mind, this quote was given when Johansson was married to French journalist Romain Dauriac (with whom she shares a daughter). She’s currently dating SNL’s Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost, who happens to more or less share a profession with her first husband: writer/actor.

Scarlett gave similar quotes in 2016, telling Cosmopolitan, “The logistics of being with another actor are challenging. There has to be a real understanding of how you share your time, especially when two people's careers are going at the same rate. Or even if one person is more successful than the other, that also proves challenging. There may be a competitive thing."

For some perspective, Johansson was one of Forbes’s highest-paid actresses in the final full year of their marriage (2009) and had earned three Golden Globe nominations prior, while Reynolds was just hitting his career stride with The Proposal.

Where They Are Now

Shortly after telling Elle UK that marriage is “really not important to me” and that she’s “not having kids any time soon,” Johansson wed Dauriac and welcomed daughter Rose in 2014.

In early 2017, the Avengers star filed for divorce from her journalist beau. A few months later, rumors began to circulate about Johansson’s relationship with her current partner, Colin Jost, with whom she recently wed.

The years following Reynolds and Johansson’s split were some of the most fruitful of the actress’s career. She went on to land roles in high-profile films like The Avengers, Marriage Story, and Jojo Rabbit.

Reynolds has also been rather busy since the divorce. The actor and his Green Lantern co-star Blake Lively went public with their relationship in late 2011, covertly wedding in a private South Carolina ceremony in September 2012. After a decade of marriage, Blake and Ryan are the proud parents of three children (James, Inez, and Betty).

With his role as the titular lead in the Deadpool franchise, Reynolds’s star power is higher than ever. He most recently starred in The Adam Project, a sci-fi film released on Netflix. He is also the owner of Aviation Gin, which he founded in 2018.