When you’re young, your friends help to define who you are as a person . They help us to grow and navigate the perils and pitfalls of childhood and early adolescence. But somewhere along the way, specifically, when speaking about adult men, our dedication to our friends starts to wane and eventually disappears entirely .
This is why it’s a good thing that we have Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds to remind us all that men need important friendships, too.
Friendship is a vital component of the human experience.
It shouldn’t come as a shock to hear that friendship is good for you ! Friends help to celebrate the good times, they improve our own self-confidence, and they pick us up when we’re feeling sad or stressed.
However, as we get older, real friends are incredibly hard to come by.
According to a poll published by the Barna Group, roughly 1/5 of Americans regularly/often feel lonely. Adult men, in particular, have the fewest friendships of all social demographics .
A lack of friendship is one of the biggest factors when it comes to mental health issues.
In Canada, men account for more than 75% of all reported suicides — that’s 50 men dying every single week. Educational drop-out, unemployment, and loneliness are among the biggest determinators.
Men need help, they need guidance. And what better example is there of healthy male friendship than Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman?
Ryan and Hugh first met back in 2009, while working on the film X-Men: Origins . Hugh was a close friend of Scarlett Johansson — whom Ryan was married to at the time.
“So when he came on set I was like, ‘Hey, you better be on your best behavior here, pal, because I’m watching,’” Hugh joked.
From there, Ryan and Hugh’s playful on-set ribbing quickly evolved into a fast friendship, and soon after that — an all-out faux-feud!
Ryan drew first blood when he uploaded an impersonation video of Hugh Jackman campaigning for ‘People’ magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”
Donning his Deadpool prosthetics, Ryan put on his best fake-Australian accent and made an “earnest” plea for all his fans to vote for Hugh.
Hugh retaliated by poking fun at Ryan when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hugh (as Ryan) makes sure to point out that Hugh Jackman is his all-time favorite actor. He also mentioned that fans should feel free to urinate on the section of the sidewalk that bears his (Ryan’s) name.
In 2018, Ryan decided to make a smear campaign video, “decrying” Hugh’s performance in ‘The Front Runner’.
In the video, Ryan alleges that Hugh speaks with a fake accent and is really from Milwaukee. He also asserts that Hugh’s decision to “walk off the job” after filming Logan contributed to rising unemployment rates.
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Hugh responded the only way he could: by filming a smear campaign of his own.
“Don’t let the facts get in the way of the truth,” Jackman warns in the video. “The truth? He’s been riding Hugh Jackman’s coattails since 2009.”
Ryan and Hugh called a truce in 2019 after agreeing to make commercials for one another’s respective businesses.
Ryan’s commercial for Laughing Man Coffee was genuine, complimentary, and completely lacking in malicious intent. However, in Hugh’s commercial for Aviation Gin, he calls Ryan “A complete and total [expletive] asshole” and proceeds to dump the contents of the bottle on the floor.
All joking aside, it’s clear to see just how much Ryan and Hugh truly love and respect one another.
Being vulnerable isn’t easy for the majority of men, which is why most of us resort to ribbing one another instead of saying how we truly feel. There’s no strength in silence and no joy to be found in stoicism. So get out there, speak your truth, and make a friend today.
