Samuel L. Jackson Gave Scarlett Johansson, Ex Ryan Reynolds Bees for Their Wedding: They 'Abandoned the Hive'

"One day the bees abandoned the hive or they abandoned the queen or some s---," Jackson told "Vulture" about what became of the exes' honey supply

Scarlett Johansson Samuel L Jackson Ryan Reynolds beehive
From L: Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds. Photo:

Getty Images

Samuel L. Jackson is one sweet wedding-gift-giver.

The Secret Invasion actor gave a wide-ranging interview to Vulture in which he recalled bestowing a beehive upon now-exes Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds for their 2008 wedding.

Calling his Hitman's Bodyguard costar "a savvy motherf---er," Jackson, 74, revealed he knew Reynolds, 46, through his Marvel costar Johansson, 38, who "was always talking about nature."

"So I had my assistant go out and buy 10 pounds of bees and then I bought them bee suits and the whole thing," the actor recalled. "They kept bees for a while. They got honey for a couple of years while they were married."

"And then one day the bees abandoned the hive or they abandoned the queen or some s---," Jackson added.

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Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds
Scarlett Johansson; Ryan Reynolds. Monica Schipper/Getty ; Stephen Lovekin/Getty

Johansson and the Deadpool star divorced in 2011. Reynolds later married Blake Lively in 2012, and the two share four children.

The Black Widow actress went on to marry French journalist Romain Dauriac in 2014, but the pair split in 2017. The former couple share daughter Rose Dorothy, 8. She is now married to Saturday Night Live writer and star Colin Jost. The duo tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in October 2020 and welcomed son Cosmo in August 2021.

Referring to Reynolds as "a good guy," Johansson said on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop podcast in April that things changed for her when she realized the "fundamental characteristics" she wanted in the person she was in a relationship with.

"Obviously it's hard to be in a relationship anyway because you have to compromise all the time and sometimes your lives separate and come back together," the Marriage Story actress continued. "I never realized, 'Oh, it's really important for me, I need to be with a compassionate person. That's a fundamental characteristic that has to be there.'"

"Understanding what those fundamental things are that you need in a partner is a must, I think — for longevity, anyway," Johansson said. "I think identifying those things was a game-changer for me."

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios' Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Secret Invasion (2023). Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

Johansson added to Paltrow, 50: "We weren't married very long, but we were when I first met you, for Iron Man [2] or whatever."

Jackson, meanwhile, is currently appearing as his longtime Marvel character Nick Fury in Secret Invasion on Disney+, which drops its season finale on Wednesday.

Set in the present-day MCU, the show follows Fury as he learns of the invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls, an alien species that audiences will remember from 2019's Captain Marvel.

"In Secret Invasion, with Olivia Colman, when I walked in that room and she was there, we both just looked at each other and started laughing: This is going to be that kind of day. This is going to be a great day. And it was," Jackson told Vulture.

Elsewhere in the interview, he also praised his former costar Reynolds as someone "who's an enormous amount of fun to be with."

"I don’t think The Hitman’s Bodyguard is an A-list movie in anybody’s category. But I also know that if it’s me and Ryan and we’re having a good f---ing time, a lot of people are going to watch it and they’re going to be like, This is f---ing great," Jackson said. "We changed the tone of that material because we did it."

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