Despite Ryan Reynolds’ best efforts to slam Hugh Jackman at every opportunity amidst their faux feud — even making a dig at Jackman’s divorce in their 2024 blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine — those around the Australian actor continue to be utterly charmed by him. That apparently includes members of Reynolds’ own household, as the actor recently admitted his daughter Betty is absolutely obsessed with all things Jackman, and The Greatest Showman is involved in the best way.
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds have been friends for years, although they have a strange way of showing it. (The Wolverine star even threw a jab into a birthday tribute to Reynolds’ mom.) It’s a good thing nobody has to actually pick a side in this false rivalry, because it turns out Reynolds’ 5-year-old daughter Betty — yes, the one Taylor Swift named her song after — knows exactly where her loyalties lie, and it’s not with her dad. The Free Guy actor told EW:
Hugh is the altar at which Betty Reynolds worships. She is obsessed. She constantly has her own little vision board wishing he was her new dad.
That is pretty intense, but given that her love apparently stems from watching The Greatest Showman — aka one of the best movies on Disney+ right now — who could blame her?
Ryan Reynolds has said that his four children, who he shares with Blake Lively, have been known to rock out to the musical, and he shared the sweetest story, saying:
It started because I walked into my apartment one day and The Greatest Showman was playing, I could hear The Greatest Showman playing. As I turned the corner, Hugh was watching it with my kids and acting it out in real time with them. And if that doesn’t make your kids realize they picked the wrong dad from wherever they came from, well, I don’t know what will.
What a fantastic experience for Ryan Reynolds’ kids! I fully see how little Betty Reynolds would become obsessed with Hugh Jackman after that. The Tony Award winner admitted that re-enacting his own movie for his buddy’s kids might sound like a strange thing for a person to be caught doing, and he joked:
I go into a lot of houses and just turn that movie on. To see if anyone wants to watch it with me.
Ryan Reynolds shared another story of just how deep Betty’s love for the X-Men actor is from when the duo were filming Deadpool & Wolverine. He recalled:
We were shooting, and she woke me up one night in the middle of the night because there were shadows on the ceiling. And she said, ‘Dad, Dad,’ and I looked and was like, ‘What?’ ‘Just look.’ And there’s these three lines on the ceiling, a shadow, and she goes, ‘Wolverine scratches! He was here!’ So she’s obsessed with Wolverine, obsessed with Hugh, and I think it’s so sweet.
Yeah, that is sweet, and Ryan Reynolds is never getting his daughter back. Betty fully belongs to Hugh Jackman. Or is it the other way around? Jackman laughed:
She owns me. I’m terrified.
Ryan Reynolds obviously has the utmost respect for the Wolverine star, and I love that the whole family is close. If you want to watch these best friends battle it out on screen, Deadpool & Wolverine can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, and that might just be the inspiration you need to start watching all of the Marvel movies in order.
