Ryan Reynolds believes hosting his wedding to Blake Lively on the grounds of a former plantation was a “giant mistake”.
The ‘Deadpool 2’ star tied the knot with Blake in 2012 at Boone Hall in South Carolina, which was formerly a plantation site on which slaves worked and died.
And following years of backlash, Ryan has now admitted it was wrong of him and his wife - who have James, five, Inez, three, and a nine-month-old third daughter, who’s name is believed to be Betty, together - to hold a celebratory event at the site of a “devastating tragedy”.
The 43-year-old actor told Fast Company: “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.
“Years ago we got married again at home - but shame works in weird ways. A giant f****** 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.”
Ryan and Blake, 32, have since joined the fight for racial justice following the death of unarmed Black man George Floyd, as they donated $200 000 in May to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
They said at the time of their donation: “We’ve never had to worry about preparing our kids for different rules of law or what might happen if we’re pulled over in the car. We don’t know what it’s like to experience that life day in and day out. We can’t imagine feeling that kind of fear and anger. We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.
“That’s the least we can do to honour not just George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, but all the black men and women who have been killed when the camera wasn’t rolling.
“We stand in awe of this organisation, their empathy and leadership in, Sherrilyn Ifill. Their work is essential to the integrity of democracy.”
The couple have also donated another $200 000 to a leadership initiative for indigenous women in Canada.