Blake Lively reveals 'rule' she and husband Ryan Reynolds made when they began dating

When it comes to celebrity power couples, there are hardly any that boast a more successful love story than Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

The Hollywood couple first came face-to-face 14 years ago when Ryan - who was previously married to fellow actor Scarlett Johansson - was cast in superhero hit Green Lantern alongside Blake.

Their friendship developed into something deeper during the course of filming, and by 2011, they went public with their newly-loved-up romance - just a year after Blake called off her relationship with Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley.

Flash-forward to today, the silver screen superstars have tied the knot - after secretly marrying in secret at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina in 2012 - and welcomed four beautiful children.

It turns out, however, that the loved-up couple's relationship isn't always as plain sailing as it looks, and balancing their often hectic work schedule with mum/dad life can sometimes take its toll.

But luckily for Blake and Ryan, they planned ahead, and came up with a means of ensuring that they'd always reserve time to focus on their marriage.

In fact, when they first started dating, the pair decided on one specific rule that they'd have to obey throughout their lives together.

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And speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Blake finally opened up on her and Ryan's secret to a happy marriage.

"When Ryan and I got together, we made a rule not to work at the same time," she explained. "So that we could always prioritise our personal life."

The actor went on to admit that this isn't always as easy as you might imagine, and that, it certainly took some time to implement their rule after they'd welcomed their children.

"That takes working really hard when we're not. Just like financial planning and sustaining that; it takes balance," Blake, who shares daughters James, nine, Inez, seven, Betty, four, and another, born in February 2023, with Ryan.

"I'm used to working hard and going and going and going and going and not stopping. Especially, Gossip Girl was six years of my life, and we were sometimes shooting three episodes at once."

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And according to Ryan, this secret 'rule' has been working well for them so far.

Speaking to Access Hollywood, he also lifted the lid on how they manage to keep the spark alive amid the chaos of working in the movie industry and raising four kids.

"We don’t split up. Like, I shoot movies and my wife shoots movies and we go travel all over the place, and we just all go together," Ryan said.

"I think that’s been the best part of it is that we really don’t spend a lot of time apart. I get to spend a lot of time with my girls.”