05 August 2020

Ryan Reynolds labels his wedding on a plantation to Blake Lively a ‘giant f***ing mistake'

Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds has said having a former slave plantation as the venue when he married Blake Lively in 2012 was a ‘giant f***ing mistake’.

The pair wed at Boone Hall, South Carolina which has also been used as a location for films such as The Notebook. 

However, the site also has a museum chronicling its history and nine slave cabins remain on site.

“What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy,” Reynolds told Fast Company.

"It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. Years ago we got married again at home — but shame works in weird ways.

"A giant f***ing mistake like that can either cause you to shut down or it can reframe things and move you into action. It doesn’t mean you won’t f*** up again. But re-patterning and challenging lifelong social conditioning is a job that doesn’t end."

Last year campaign group Colour for Change labelled weddings at plantations as ‘inappropriate and disrespectful’. They wrote to several wedding planning websites to request they do not advertise former plantations as venues.

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