Ryan Reynolds has returned to Wrexham for the first time since his wife Blake Lively’s high-profile legal battle against Justin Baldoni was delayed.
The Deadpool star, 49, was spotted alongside the club’s co-owner Rob Mac, 48, as they watched Saturday afternoon’s Championship action at the Racecourse Ground against Watford.
Reynolds took the applause of the home crowd, who stopped to take pictures and selfies with the Hollywood A-lister as he paired beige chinos with a green gilet, a buttoned brown scarf and cream-coloured sweater.
It is his first visit to the ground since September, and Reynolds was noticeably without his wife Lively, 38, who last accompanied him to the stadium in north-East Wales in April this year.
The Daily Mail revealed this week that Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni took another dramatic twist when a New York federal judge pushed the trial back by two months.
The case over alleged misconduct on the set of the 2024 film It Ends With Us will now begin May 18 instead of March 9, after Judge Lewis Liman cited a packed court calendar with two criminal trials already slated for March 2026.
‘As important as this case is, criminal trials take precedence,’ the judge said.
In a further twist, Judge Liman referred both sides to a magistrate judge for settlement talks, even though both sides have indicated they want to go to trial.
Lively was the first to sue Baldoni and claimed sexual harassment on set of the film which they both starred in and he directed.
She is demanding $161million (£120million) for personal and financial losses due to the alleged retaliation and smear campaign against her.
Baldoni denies the allegations and responded with a $400million (£300million) defamation suit against Lively, Reynolds and the New York Times, which reported on the actress’s claims, but a judge dismissed it.
He is now trying to have Lively’s case dismissed by arguing that they were ‘minor grievances’ that didn’t rise to the level of harassment.
During the hearing, Judge Liman said that he had tried to avoid delaying the trial but had no choice.
He said: ‘With respect to trial, unfortunately, and I’ve tried hard to avoid this, I’m going to have to push back the trial from the scheduled trial date.
‘I have two criminal trials scheduled for March. As important as this case is, criminal trials take precedence.’
Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb said that he had a trial due to start in Texas on May 18, the new date of the trial, but he would try to make himself available. Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said the date was no issue for him.
Judge Liman said he wanted to refer both sides to a magistrate judge at the court for ‘settlement purposes’.
He said: ‘I don’t have a view with respect to settlement, I’m here to resolve legal issues and to try cases. But you are directed to contact her chambers for settlement purposes.’
Reynolds met Lively in 2010 on the set of the movie Green Lantern and the pair married in 2012. They now have four children together and live in New York, where Lively was spotted at an event on Tuesday.
The actress looked like the legal battle was the last thing on her mind as she wore a beaming smile while leaving Stoney Clover Lane in a crimson corset-style dress and bow-adorned heels.
She has regularly supported Reynolds’ takeover of Wrexham and the club’s director Humphrey Ker says he feels sorry for the pair.
‘Ryan and Blake have obviously been slightly through the ringer over the last 18 months with all of that business and are still going through that in some ways,’ Ker told The Telegraph in November.
‘It waxes and wanes in the public interest but things still continue to rumble on in the background.
‘I think what they love about coming to Wrexham is that no one there gives two s**** about [their celebrity status]. What they care about is whether he’ll buy them a new centre back. It’s an escape. But yeah, I feel for them.’
