The “terrifying” wedding gift Samuel L. Jackson gave to Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds was once married to another actor, Scarlett Johansson. The two tied the knot back in 2008 and were married in Reynold’s native country, Canada, in British Columbia. They were divorced in 2011, but just after their wedding, the couple received a strange congratulatory gift from Samuel L. Jackson.
Speaking back in 2009 on Letterman, Reynold said: “I’ve been married about ten months to Scarlett Johansson. We met at dinner with friends, and we were introduced and hit it off.” When asked whether both being famous actors created any competition at home, Reynolds said: “Not a lot of work talk around the house, it’s not too bad.”
He added, “We don’t wake up and say let’s act the crap out of this day. Let’s get out there”. From then, Letterman held up some strange photographs of Reynolds in a beekeeper’s costume. Reynolds laughed and said, “OK, that’s me. We didn’t do any wedding gifts or anything like that, but occasionally something comes along that you just can’t pass up.”
Pertaining to the strange photo Reynolds continued, “One day, somebody knocks on our door and I open the door, and it’s a gentleman standing there, and he says, ‘I have a gift for you in the trunk of my car from Mr Samuel L. Jackson‘.”
Reynolds must have been excited at receiving a gift from one of the most acclaimed actors of all time. He said: “I’ve seen Pulp Fiction; immediately, you’re thinking, ‘it’s the bloodless corpse of a frat boy’, but no. He comes back from the trunk, and he brings this square box, and it’s humming to an insane degree.”
He added, “He tells me that ‘there are 10,000 bees in here, and Mr Jackson would like you to have this beehive’. So I said, ‘Well, I guess we’ll be putting that in the backyard’. He hands me a couple of beekeeping outfits and a lifetime subscription to the American Beekeepers Journal. I read it for the articles.”
“The next thing I know, I’m making honey and what’s fantastic about this is that you know it’s actually a great security system because a lot of people are afraid of alarms, some people are afraid of guard dogs,” Reynolds admitted. “But I don’t know anyone who’s not afraid of terrible, terrible swarms of bees.”
It’s unknown whether or not Jackson sent the gift as a joke or as a serious gift, but it seems as though Reynolds enjoyed receiving it regardless, claiming at the time that he had harvested a jar of honey from the hive. Although he admitted, “It’s tremendous, but it’s a terrifying experience. You’re thinking, ‘what if those guys decide to freak out in that hive and come and take me’.”
