Blake Lively confesses the 'relationship rule' she and Ryan Reynolds have followed throughout their 12-year marriage

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have been married for almost 12 years, and together they share four children. But the Gossip Girl star revealed that early on in their relationship, they made another important vow to one another.

Speaking to her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-star Amber Tamblyn on her Substack show Further Ado, Blake explained the important relationship rule she and Ryan adhere to.

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

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This is a commitment that they've managed to stick to throughout their relationship, but according to Blake, it's not been without its difficulties.

"That takes working really hard when we're not," she explained. "Just like financial planning and sustaining that; it takes balance."

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Despite the difficulties, Blake explained that the rule was particularly important to her as when they started dating, she had been working "nonstop" on Gossip Girl.

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

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Ryan is similarly no stranger to taking on big projects, such as the Deadpool franchise and buying Wrexham A.F.C with actor McElhenney in November 2020.

But the couple has primarily focused on their four children - daughters James, nine, Inez, seven, Betty, four, and their unnamed fourth child who turned one in February.

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Blake has made it clear in the past how dedicated she is to her family, as she told Marie Claire in 2016: "All my eggs are in one basket, and that's my family. That's where my heart is. That's where my everything is. That's the thing that I feel most protective of and the thing that I feel is the most exposed when I feel exploited."

Parenting three girls has certainly made life interesting for Blake and Ryan, as the A Simple Favor star compared herself to the moms she follows on Instagram. 

"Her toddler is giving her reflexology massages", she said about one mom she followed. "What?! My kid is like, playing with explosive devices. I don't know where she found them. She already knows how to drywall because she puts holes in the wall."