Ryan Reynolds Confirms Baby No. 4 with Wife Blake Lively Is a Boy While Connecting with Father Who Lost His Son

The ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ star shares four children with his actress wife

Bailey Richards is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023 and interned with the brand in 2022. Her work has previously appeared in digital publications like Paper Magazine and TV Insider.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s fourth baby is a boy!

The Deadpool & Wolverine star, 47, confirmed the news in a post shared on Instagram, in which he documented his bond with John Bell, a Wrexham AFC fan who turned his grief over the death of his late son Jake into something positive.

In the clip, which was shared on Friday, July 26, Reynolds introduces Bell, who dresses as Jake’s favorite comic book character, Deadpool, and carries a bathtub to raise awareness about mental health struggles.

After giving Bell “the proper Hollywood Deadpool treatment,” makeup and all, Reynolds sits down with the father, who details of his late son, “Where do I start? He was just so funny, so comical — and we did everything together. He was my firstborn son. He was just absolutely everything to me.”

After he lost Jake, Bell goes on to say, he was “in a very dark place.”

“I was planning my own death and talking myself into staying because my family needs me, my kids need me,” he continues. “What I do now keeps me alive daily because I’ve made my peace with death. I’m gonna be reunited with him at some point, but it damn right ain’t now.”

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s Relationship Timeline

After commending Bell’s efforts to raise money and awareness for mental health struggles, Reynolds then reveals that he also has a son.

“The resilience it takes to, you know, put one foot in front of the other as many times as you’ve done it, and transmute that much grief into something powerfully useful,” the actor says. “I’m very grateful that you shared his story.”

“I want to share with you that I too have a son and that if … boy, John, if I love him one-tenth as much as you love Jake, I feel like I’ve done a pretty damn good job,” he adds.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively with daughters James and Ines in 2016.Eric Charbonneau/Getty

Reynolds revealed his and Lively’s fourth and youngest child’s name while taking the stage for the New York City premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine on July 22.

There, the actor thanked Lively, 36, before sending love to their four children. The couple shares daughters James, 9, Inez, 7, and Betty, 4, and son Olin, whose birth PEOPLE announced in February 2023.

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.