Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Keep Escaping to Wrexham — Where Fame Doesn’t Follow
Amid a mounting legal fight with director Justin Baldoni, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are finding refuge off the pitch. Wrexham AFC, the Welsh club Reynolds co-owns with Rob McElhenney, has become their go-to escape, according to executive director Humphrey Ker.
When Hollywood gets loud, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively hop a flight to North Wales. That is basically the read from Wrexham AFC executive director Humphrey Ker, who says the club Ryan co-owns with Rob McElhenney has turned into the couple's pressure-release valve after a rough stretch of headlines tied to the movie It Ends With Us.
Why Wrexham is their reset button
Ker told The Telegraph that the appeal is simple: among Wrexham fans, star power does not count for much. What matters is the football.
"What they love about coming to Wrexham is that no one there gives two sh*ts about their celebrity. What they care about is whether he'll buy them a new centre back. It's an escape."
Hard to argue with that. In a place where promotion races trump premiere chatter, Reynolds and Lively can just be part of the crowd.
The fallout they are still carrying
Ker did not sugarcoat how the last year and a half has felt for them. He said the two have been through the wringer over roughly 18 months of drama surrounding It Ends With Us, and while public interest spikes and fades, the stress does not just vanish in private. In his words, the noise "waxes and wanes" in the media, but the situation keeps rumbling in the background. He also noted that even though he meets a lot of very famous people, their day-to-day reality is not a life he envies.
Worth noting: a lot of wild claims have ping-ponged around the internet about that film and its fallout. However you slice the rumor mill, Ker's point is that the pile-on took a toll, and it has not fully let up.
What Wrexham gives them right now
- Normalcy: Ker says the trio will slip out to village pubs outside town for a quiet pint, like anyone else.
- Perspective: in the stands, nobody is grading their celebrity; they're debating the squad and asking if a new centre back is coming.
- Visibility on their terms: Welcome to Wrexham keeps catching them around town, meeting locals, cheering with fans — a very public snapshot of a low-key, likable version of themselves.
If you are looking for the couple's soft reset, this is it: a football club in Wales, some pints in a quiet pub, and a fanbase that cares a lot more about the table than Tinseltown.