We love Blake Lively a lot here at Brit + Co but just because she’s been our number one since The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants doesn’t mean we know EVERYTHING about her. Ahead of her new movie It Ends With Us, here are some facts you might not know about the mom, actress, and Betty Buzz founder.
Her First Date With Ryan Reynolds Was A Double Date — And They Were With Other People
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Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are a match made in Heaven now, but their first date actually wasn't with each other. “For about a year Green Lantern had come and gone, we were both single,” Ryan tells Entertainment Weekly. “We went on a double date; she was on a date with another guy, and I was on a date with another girl. That was the most awkward date for the respective parties, because there was just fireworks coming across [between us].”
She Doesn't Drink
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Blake Lively has been vocal about her sober lifestyle, and even founded the delicious mixer company Betty Buzz! "I don't drink, because I don't like the effects of alcohol, but I like being a part of it," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2021. "I like being social, and I like people coming together."
High School Musical's Coach Bolton Is Her Brother-In-Law
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Blake Lively's sister Robyn (who you'll recognize from movies like The Karate Kid Part III) is married to Bart Johnson, who played Coach Bolton in High School Musical! "Happy Birthday to my original dance partner," she says on Instagram. "Bet you all didn’t know I was the original WILDCAT. 😆🎉🥳 Love you brother."
She's An Excellent Guitar Hero Player
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The Gossip Girl season 1 episode "Seventeen Candles" features Serena playing Guitar Hero, which was actually added to the episode because Blake Lively is so good at the game! "The reason they wrote it in was because I’m such an amazing Guitar Hero player," she told Telegram & Gazette in 2007. "I saw clips of it. It doesn’t really debut my skills so well, which I was very disappointed about."
Blake Lively Went To Disneyland All The Time As A Kid...And Ended Up In Disney Jail
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Like all of us, Blake Lively is a huge Disney fan, and she actually grew up going to Disneyland every week. “I grew up going to Disneyland like twice a week," she says in an interview with David Letterman. "My mom would take me out of school and take me to Disneyland. But I was banned from Disneyland for a year because I went to Disney prison. I was really young, so I was not responsible for this."
Her First Dog Was Named 405
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Blake revealed in a game of Fact or Fiction that her first dog was named 405 — after the LA freeway! "I found him on the 405 freeway," she says.
Blake Lively Almost Didn't Book Serena
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Gossip Girl's casting director David Rapaport told BuzzFeed in 2015 that the production team wasn't so sure Blake had the Serena vibe they wanted. "Blake was the front-runner," he says. "We did a screen test with her and the note we got back was that she was 'sunny California' and they said, 'I don't think we'll buy her as an Upper East Side debutante.'"
"So, we did another screen test with Blake and all we did was straighten her hair to make her look a little more sophisticated, so to speak," he added. "What's ironic is, in the pilot, she ends up having the wavy hair. From there on out, so much of the casting on Gossip Girl became about the hair because Leighton Meester is naturally blonde and the way we got her the job was we dyed her hair."
She's Known Penn Badgley Since They Were Kids
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Speaking of Gossip Girl, Blake's co-star (and ex-boyfriend) Penn Badgley revealed in an on-set interview that they've known each other since they were kids. "Our families sort of interacted, you know?" he says. "We did not know each other that well. I think we got much closer after having shot the pilot."
She Had Her First Kiss Onscreen
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"I was 16 [for my first kiss], and it was on camera," Blake Lively says during a game of Fact or Fiction. "My first kiss was in a movie...I was so terrified."
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Lead image via Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME
