In 2015, Blake Lively shared an amusingly awkward experience from her first encounter with then-President Barack Obama. Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the actress recounted how nerves got the best of her during their meeting, leading to a series of unexpected and embarrassing exchanges.
Lively explained to Meyers how she felt overwhelmed when meeting Obama, describing how she broke into a cold sweat. “I… hope,” was all she could muster when Obama introduced himself to the audience, as reported by Vanity Fair. Things quickly spiraled from there. Trying to steady herself, Lively mentioned to Obama that he had left a voicemail for her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, during his 2008 presidential campaign.
She awkwardly continued, “So I said, ‘You left my husband a voicemail!’ And he was like, ‘…Cool!’ And I said, ‘And he deleted it!’ It was just like, why did I say that?” As Lively told it, the situation only got more cringe-worthy. “I was like, ‘He deleted it because you were just a senator then!’ And then I was like, ‘That was bad.’ So I was like, ‘Well, he didn’t know you would be president.
I mean, who thought that… you would… be pres… ummm… Can you leave my husband a voicemail?’ It was just getting worse.” Despite the awkwardness, Obama graciously agreed to leave another voicemail for Reynolds. However, when he asked for Lively’s phone, she had to admit it had been confiscated for the event. According to US Weekly, Obama called out to the crowd, “Someone gets Blake’s phone!” Lively concluded, “He ended up leaving my husband an incredibly funny and ball-busting voicemail.
I didn’t get to take the picture with him shaking his hand and talking about the change we’re gonna make in the world, ’cause I was just like dying.” While Lively’s encounter with Obama was uniquely memorable, her husband had his own charming interaction with the Obama family. In 2016, during a state dinner attended by dignitaries and celebrities including Justin Trudeau and Michael J. Fox, Reynolds met Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha.
A photo of Malia giving Sasha a thumbs-up while she chatted with Reynolds went viral, capturing the internet’s heart. TIME reported that this picture was taken during the Obama daughters’ first state dinner, where the Canadian guests included Reynolds and Lively. Social media users adored the candid moment, with one sharing on X, “Look at Malia’s thumbs up to Sasha fangirling over Ryan Reynolds I love the Obama family so much.” Another echoed, “This picture of Malia giving Sasha the thumbs up while she talks to Ryan Reynolds is giving me every feeling.”