Ryan Reynolds roasted over 'sickening' TIME cover as fans are suspicious over how he and Blake Lively landed honor

Daily Mail​

4 hours ago

Ryan Reynold's bizarre TIME cover has been roasted by fans who made shock claims about how he landed the prestigious shoot.
The Deadpool star, 48, who along with wife Blake Lively has been embroiled in never-ending lawsuit drama with Justin Baldoni, was spotlighted in a feature titled: 'How Ryan Reynolds Rewrote the Script for Celebrity Entrepreneurs.'
In recent years Reynolds has moved into the world of business - launching production company and marketing firm Maximum Effort - which has landed in the TIME100 most influential companies list.
However, Reynolds' revelations about building successful businesses using his own fame and via 'fastversing' (getting companies he owns to promote each other) were soon ridiculed by fans who wildly claimed he had 'paid' to get on the cover.
Reynolds was also dragged over hot coals for the 'weird' cover which showed only the back of his head - which he credited to not wanting to take the spotlight off his team.
'I insisted they take this photo for soooo many reasons but the chief one is @MaximumEffort is not me' he wrote.
'It's a tiny little pirate ship helmed by the most talented, tireless, and creative team of people on planet earth.'
Fans took to social media to lambast the star with one writing: 'How Ryan Reynolds paid us to put him on the cover of this magazine!" Lol.'
A second typed: 'How Ryan Reynolds rewrote the script with maximum effort' very ironic of them to say this given everything he's been exposed for.
Others penned: 'These two keep on buying themselves good publicity, it's so exhausting and sickening.
'How to boycott everything Maximum Effort does??? God I loathe this man.
'That cash envelope from Reynolds must have been HUUGE.
'Very barf. $$$$$.
Others praised the star's achievements - the companies he co-owns or has sold are valued at over $14 billion, according to Forbes , with a follower writing: 'You are one hell of a businessman. Everything you touch seems to take off.
Maximum Effort was just named one of TIME100's Most Influential Companies. I insisted they take this photo for soooo many reasons but the chief one is @MaximumEffort is not me. It's a tiny little pirate ship helmed by the most talented, tireless, and creative team of people on… pic.twitter.com/dkHgq3OdjZ
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) June 26, 2025
Fans took to social media to lambast the star with one writing: 'How Ryan Reynolds paid us to put him on the cover of this magazine!" Lol'
'Love to see this!!! Maximum Effort really is the best of the best!
The wide-ranging interview also saw Reynolds open up about his family life with Lively and their four young children - with the actor saying his brood help him focus on the only important things in life.
He said his value 'comes from having four kids and a good marriage. My self-worth isn't farmed out to any one thing that isn't under the roof of my home.'
Lively also made an impromptu appearance during the chat, popping in in 'leggings and an oversized shirt' to hunt for her favorite snack of 'sour dried blueberries that taste like warheads.'
She also jokingly scolded her husband for helping her rummage for the snack - saying it was 'chewing into your time' - before checking in with the star to coordinate their schedules for '10 minutes of catch-up time.
Although Reynolds and Lively wouldn't be drawn on the latest stage of their legal battle - Reynolds said he finds it easy to detach from 'meaningless' online chatter.
He said: 'I can read something that says, 'He should be drawn and quartered. I could read something that says I should win a Nobel Prize. Both are meaningless.
'None of us are comprised of our best moments. None of us are defined by our worst moments. We are something in the middle.'
He added: 'Accessibility and accountability are a big part of how I do things. The people that I work with know me, so there's never a question of anything like that. If you operate with some degree of core values and integrity, they're going to help you up. If you're an asshole, they're not. And that's pretty simple.'
The legal saga began in December 2024 when Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of sexually harassing her on set — claims he denied — prompting Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios to sue Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane, and Ryan Reynolds for defamation.
Baldoni later escalated the fight with a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times over its explosive New Year's Eve exposé detailing Lively's allegations.
Earlier this month, a judge dismissed Baldoni's defamation case in a major blow to the actor, though his legal team will still gain access to Lively's private text messages with Taylor Swift — whom Blake infamously referred to as 'my dragon' in an exchange allegedly meant to intimidate Baldoni — after withdrawing a subpoena aimed at the singer directly.
Now, at Cannes Lions, Reynolds took the stage at Stagwell's Sport Beach to promote his soccer team, Wrexham AFC — and raised eyebrows with an unexpected quip.
While handing a water bottle to someone in the crowd, the Deadpool star joked, 'I'm not throwing this. I've been around lawyers. You can walk up here and grab it,' according to Page Six.
He also took a moment to reflect on how sports can bring people together in a world fractured by division, per the outlet.
'We live in a world right now that is so… identity politics… almost a religion,' Reynolds said. 'For that to be checked at the door in sports, in theatrical film, and in music, concerts, we all walk in, we go together.'
Reynolds added, 'We're all feeling the same thing at the same time and the same moment.
'You have this bonding mechanism — and I don't mean to over romanticize it, but it's romantic.
'It's a beautiful thing to watch people come together, especially when we feel so divided in every other aspect of our life.'
The panel comes after DailyMail.com exclusively learned that Baldoni's lawyers will be allowed to peruse a tranche of messages exchanged by Blake and Taylor, with all communications related to It Ends With Us now set for scrutiny.
Swift and Lively's relationship has cratered in recent months, with the singer left furious at being dragged into the case.
And she is not the only Swift to be dragged in: last week the Daily Mail revealed the subpoena against her had been withdrawn because Baldoni's team had managed to acquire the information they were seeking – from none other than her dad Scott, 73.
'Scott Swift did not want his daughter to be dragged into this any further and he voluntarily gave up this information as part of a deal that would include [Baldoni's team] withdrawing their subpoena for Taylor,' the source explained.
The pop star's doting dad - who has played a key role in building Swift's billion-dollar empire as her financial advisor - came to his daughter's rescue after she was allegedly blackmailed by Lively's lawyers.
That 'blackmail' revelation appeared in a legal letter filed last month by Baldoni's lawyers, who alleged that Lively's team had attempted to 'coerce' Swift to issue a public statement in support of her.
The filing claimed Lively's lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, had contacted Swift's team and demanded she 'release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released.'
Swift's team allegedly responded to Gossip Girl star Lively's 'inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication' sent to Gottlieb, according to the letter.