Ryan Reynolds apologises for ‘giant f***ing mistake’ of getting married at a former slave plantation

Ryan Reynolds has formally apologised for marrying Blake Lively on a former slave plantation in 2012.

The Deadpool actor said his wedding at the Boone Hall Plantation in South Carolina was a “giant f***ing mistake” and he is “unreservedly sorry” for it.

Speaking to Fast Company, Reynolds said:

It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.

The 43-year-old Canadian said it was a “mistake” but he and Lively are continually “challenging lifelong social conditioning”:

Years ago we got married again at home — but shame works in weird ways. A giant f***ing mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action. It doesn’t mean you won’t f*** up again. But repatterning and challenging lifelong social conditioning is a job that doesn’t end.

The admission comes about after the pair made an announcement at the height of Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd.

In June, they pledged to be better allies to the Black community and made a $200,000 (£159,000) donation to racial justice organisation, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

In lengthy Instagram posts, they wrote about their “complicity” in systemic racism, as well as their past “mistakes” – but people were quick to notice no specific mention of the slave plantation wedding venue in 2012.

In the couple’s June announcement, they vowed to raise their three kids “so they never grow up feeding this insane pattern” of “bias” and “blindness” to racism.

This is a commitment Reynolds reiterated in his latest interview on Tuesday:

We want to educate ourselves about other people’s experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it… especially our own complicity.

Since George Floyd’s tragic killing at the hands of a white police officer, videos have emerged of police firing tear gas at peaceful protestors, violent protests outside the White House and countless injuries sustained by police brutality.

An unarmed black man was also killed by police, even though he wasn't actually participating in the protests.