Ryan Reynolds Thinks His Daughters Would’ve ‘Improved’ His Late Dad’s Health Amid Parkinson’s Battle

Ryan Reynolds wishes his late father could’ve met his and Blake Lively’s daughters.

The actor appeared at Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ New York City panel for Parkinson’s Awareness Month on Friday, April 25, and explained that his dad James “Jim” Chester Reynolds — who died in 2015 at age 74 after living with Parkinson’s for nearly 20 years — would have “benefited” from getting to know James, 10, Inez, 8, and Betty, 5. (Reynolds, 48, and Lively, 37, also share son Olin, 2.)

“I think my dad, being a father of four boys, if he had met these three little girls that we have, I think it would’ve changed profoundly,” Reynolds told People of his father’s life. “Obviously they changed me profoundly, but he really would’ve benefited. I think, actually, I know this sounds maybe [like] a stretch … but I think his health would’ve improved if he’d been able to spend some time with them.”

Reynolds also shared a special memory he and his brothers — Jeff, Terry and Patrick — cherish of their dad.

“The one thing I do have is every year he sent away to the Canadian Mint and he would buy the packet of coins. It was probably $15 and it wasn’t very extravagant, but every year, all my brothers, we all have from the year we’re born to the last time he did it,” Reynolds shared, adding that he’s passed on the tradition.

“My youngest daughter, Betty, is kind of obsessed with it. That’s sort of our thing,” he said. “We actually traveled to the Canadian Mint, [and] … I felt like I was taking my dad with us and I do the same thing. I get them [a] package. They don’t even know. I mean, they know, but they don’t care yet. They will later, maybe.”

Reynolds has had a busy week — in addition to the Parkinson’s disease panel, the actor attended the Time 100 Gala on Thursday and the English League One soccer match between his team Wrexham AFC and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, Wales, on Saturday.

Lively was honored at the Time event, and Reynolds was there to support her amid their tense legal battle with her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni. Reynolds was seen giving his wife what looked to be a pep talk before she took to the stage for her speech.

Before he returned to his seat, Lively held his face as the two shared a sweet kiss. The pair also looked loved-up on the red carpet earlier in the evening, with Lively placing her hand on Reynolds’ chest and him wrapping his arm around her waist.

She returned the favor on Saturday as she attended the Wrexham match.

“The love and respect that pours out of you each and together exponentially grows and creates more joy, more possibilities, more magic, more history,” Lively wrote via Instagram Story of Reynolds and club co-owner Rob McElhenney. She added in a post on Sunday, April 27, “My favorite ‘crazy ones, misfits, rebels, troublemakers, round pegs in the square holes… ones who see things differently.’ Thank you for the community and elation you bring me, your family’s and so many.”