The end of Ryan Reynolds and Alanis Morissette's engagement caused a lot of pain, but it also inspired some great music. From career envy to quick rebounds, here's what caused the Canadian stars to split.
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00:00The end of Ryan Reynolds and Alanis Morissette's engagement caused a lot of pain,
00:04but it also inspired some great music. From career envy to quick rebounds,
00:08here's what caused the Canadian stars to split.
00:11Singer Alanis Morissette and actor Ryan Reynolds might be happily married to other people now,
00:16but once upon a time, they were engaged to be married. The Canadian transplants initially
00:20met at a birthday party for Drew Barrymore back in 2002, eventually getting engaged in 2004.
00:26However, by 2007, it was all over. If Alanis Morissette's music is anything to go by,
00:32the breakup wasn't her idea. In fact, the singer-songwriter has openly admitted that
00:36her 2008 album Flavors of Entanglement was inspired by the split. Discussing the song
00:41Torch, Morissette told Access Hollywood,
00:43"'It's really about my grief. I think the most painful,
00:46sort of suffering-oriented moments in my life are when I'm resisting something.
00:50If I just say, it's true, I'm unbelievably insecure, really broken, devastated,
00:55then I can move through it, toward the next place. But if I keep resisting it,
00:58I'll stay there forever."
01:00The lyrics to Torch seem to indicate that Morissette didn't see the split coming,
01:03for as each refrain comes to a close, she sings,
01:06"'I never dreamed I would have to lay down my torch for you like this.'"
01:10All told, Alanis Morissette and Ryan Reynolds were together for around four years before
01:14announcing their split in February 2007. Despite the seriousness of their relationship,
01:19Reynolds seemed to have no trouble moving on after the breakup. In fact, E! News reports
01:24that the Deadpool star went public with his budding relationship with Scarlett Johansson
01:28just two months later. Naturally, the timing of this new romance raised some eyebrows. Whereas
01:33Morissette seemingly remained grief-stricken by the split, Reynolds publicly moved on without
01:37much of a grace period. To make matters even worse, Reynolds' new romance was far from a rebound.
01:42Reynolds and Johansson confirmed their engagement in May 2008,
01:46and then tied the knot in September of the same year.
01:50"'We'll see about that.'"
01:51Much like his relationship with Morissette, Ryan Reynolds' marriage to Scarlett Johansson
01:55wasn't meant to be. E! News reports the pair announced their split in December 2010.
02:00The Marriage Story star reportedly blamed their divorce on the competitive dynamic
02:04that arose between them due to their similar careers. In April 2015, she told Parade,
02:09"'Marriage takes a man who's not only confident in the love that you have for one another,
02:13but confident in what he has going on in his own career. He has to be in a field
02:17that's completely different from yours."
02:19Although she didn't name him directly, it's widely believed she was reflecting on her
02:23failed marriage to Reynolds at this point in the interview. While Reynolds and Morissette
02:27enjoyed separate careers, it's unclear if the Red Notice actor was impacted by Morissette's
02:32accomplishments in Hollywood at the time. Not only had she earned a recurring TV role on Nip Tuck,
02:37but in 2006, she snagged a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song
02:42with Wunderkind from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
02:47Considering it would take more than a decade for Reynolds to receive his own
02:50Golden Globe nomination, there may have been some competition brewing in the couple's relationship.
02:55Morissette seemed to confirm as much when she later discussed her successful marriage to Mario
02:59Treadway, also known as MC Soul Eye. She told People,
03:03"'Relationships go from infatuation to power struggle and then most people break up.
03:07I think it's getting juicy as we're going on the third phase of helping each other heal and grow.'"
03:12It seems that the public nature of their relationship contributed to why Alanis
03:16Morissette and Ryan Reynolds didn't last. While promoting her album Flavors of Entanglement,
03:21Morissette hinted that the pressure of having a relationship with another celebrity may have
03:25been damaging to both of them. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the Hands Clean singer
03:29explained,
03:30"'Public romance? I'm going to be avoiding that in the future. I think the only time I'll talk
03:34about any guy I'm with will be when I'm married with six kids. That guy who's with me all the
03:39time? Yeah, he's my husband.'" After things went south with Reynolds, Morissette also reflected
03:44that she may have jumped into romance headfirst a few too many times. Speaking to the Los Angeles
03:49Times, the Thank You singer reflected,
03:51"'I was a full-blown love addict. So it was like, I can't keep doing this. My body can't
03:55take it. Breakups are a horrible thing for almost everybody I know. For someone who is
03:59a love addict, it's debilitating.'"
04:02"'Well, I think happiness is a state, and it's a temporary state.'"
04:06Before their separation, Alanis Morissette seemed to be on Cloud Nine while engaged to
04:10Reynolds. At the time, Morissette told People,
04:13"'He's just such a supportive creature. I feel so loved by him, in a trampoline kind of way.
04:17He's always very happy for me.'"
04:19However, the two never seemed to want to progress from the engagement period to a
04:23full-blown marriage. Morissette told People they particularly enjoyed being engaged,
04:27with Reynolds elaborating,
04:29"'We feel like we're already married.'"
04:31Even though Reynolds and Morissette had agreed to get married, their intention to actually
04:35tie the knot may not have been very strong after all.
04:38Years later, Alanis Morissette and Ryan Reynolds have fully moved on from one another. While
04:42Morissette is happily married to MC Soul Eye, Reynolds tied the knot with Blake Lively in
04:47September 2012. Since their split, Morissette has even publicly wished her ex well, telling
04:52the Associated Press in 2008,
04:54"'I have enough distance, so to be perfectly honest I'm not really that focused on it.
04:58I wish anyone whom I love, whether I hang out with them or not, great success and love in
05:03their life. So, Godspeed.'"
05:05Meanwhile, Reynolds returned the friendly sentiment in a very different fashion. In
05:092016, he appeared on The Today Show to promote the release of Deadpool and unexpectedly broke
05:14out into a rendition of his ex's iconic hit, Ironic. Even in the face of so much pain and
05:19confusion, at least the former partners can laugh about their messy split all these years later.