US Vogue hail her as 'the Gossip Girl turned Internet entrepreneur' and there's no doubt Blake Lively is tackling a whole new venture. She's spent the last two years building her new website, Preserve, and in celebration, the magazine has shot Blake for its cover story. The actress poses against a mountain range wearing faux-fur, fringed skirts and Burberry's hand-painted sheepskin trench coat, with that famous blonde mane looking more wonderfully wild than ever.
As for the accompanying interview, it's a fascinating insight into the world of the dreamy A-lister. We now know that she calls Ryan Reynolds 'darling' (uh-huh) and she would simple 'recite' the lines in Gossip Girl. Also Florence Welch burnt her wedding dress. Just don't call her the next Gwyneth Paltrow, okay?
Read on for the highlights...
Blake is a serious foodie
Blake says she's like a perpetual growing boy: always hungry. “You know that old saying, A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach—that’s me.” What's more, “food to me is love. When the whole family comes together, my mom makes a big meal, usually a family dish that was passed down”.
She's NOT the next Gwyneth Paltrow
Unlike Goop, Blake is quick to point out that she is “not trying to show you the perfect life or the aspirational life. It’s real life. It’s the thing that blindsides you on an idle Tuesday that’s tragic but that also makes you who you are. It’s not about me. And it’s not about watching my journey of learning how-to, it’s about me sharing that with you so we all sort of learn together.”
Martha Stewart acted as her wedding fairy godmother
Speaking about her wedding to Ryan Reynolds, Blake says it "was becoming a disaster, and we didn’t know what to do, so we called Martha! She said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.’ She sent her team down to save us. And then she called her friends who have a home in South Carolina and set us up at the most amazing getaway. This is the day of our wedding!”
Florence Welch's sparklers burnt Blake's wedding dress
“Florence Welch was singing at the reception, and they brought out these sparklers, and I’m watching her sing. I look down and my wedding dress has a big burn mark from one of the sparklers. Right on the front! And it was just so heartbreaking to me. And later, my dress was hanging up and Ryan said, ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’ I said, ‘What?’ And he pointed to the burn. My heart just stopped, because it was such a sensitive little subject. And he said, ‘You’ll always remember that moment with Florence singing and the sparklers. You have that forever, right there, preserved.’ Now that’s my favourite part of the dress.”
Blake Lively has a unique sense of humour
The writer says her 'laconic stare' can make it difficult to figure out whether she's joking or not. “When I say something funny, I don’t laugh so my friends are always like, ‘Hahahahaaaa!’ so people know. When I’m not with them, I always think, This person doesn’t know I’m funny; they just think I’m a jerk.” When the waiter asks if she’d like something to drink, Blake says, “Can I have the French onion soup to drink?”
Blake Lively is a tough editor
Move over, Wintour! Reading through an article written for her website, Blake is not impressed. “I think the writer should just scrap it and start over. Because this guy’s work is beautiful . . . but what’s the story? Why bags? Why leather? Why the European military influence?” She pauses for a moment. “And one small thing, which shows up in every piece: the word things. My dad was an English professor. There’s always a more eloquent, descriptive word.”
Ryan Reynolds will also be a part of Preserve
“He’s a part of it because everything we do in life we do together. If I’m working on a movie, he helps me with my character; I do the same with him. Picking out a coffee table. What we’re going to eat. He’s a beautiful writer—he’s written a lot of stuff for us. And he’s got a great barometer and he knows me, so he will tell me if it’s not as good as it can be.”
...Ryan Reynolds is going to make an excellent dad too
“He’s going to be a great father and leader and patriarch—he’s so meant to be all of those things. The fact that he lived so much before we got together, he’s the exact realized person that he should be. And so I get to share my life with the person he’s become, and we get to grow from there.”
After* The Town*, every role she gets offered is as a prostitute
“You do a movie to change the way people think about you, and then they never see you any other way. It didn’t help matters that I followed it up with Savages and another sexually charged, drug-addled young woman.”
She wasn't “really acting” in Gossip Girl
“We had to produce so many episodes so quickly. And when you’re working fifteen-hour days, ten months a year, the only time you have for real life is between takes. So you’re not really acting anymore. You’re reciting. I could have fought harder and made* Gossip Girl* something different, but I also needed to have a life, you know? So I wanted a break to figure things out.”
Jane Fonda is her new BFF
“I said to Ryan, ‘Darling, I made a new friend.’ And he’s like, ‘You only make friends with senior citizens!’ Young people try to heighten their experiences, and I do it, too: This is what makes me interesting. But Jane Fonda is quiet. You know how interesting she is. It’s who she is in every fiber.”
Read the full interview on www.vogue.com