After the Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds texts leak, Hollywood execs reveal the messages they're desperate to keep hidden from 'the next lawsuit'... as humiliating extent of couple's exile is laid bare: ROB SHUTER

For years, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were Hollywood's golden couple. Beautiful, funny, enormously wealthy and seemingly untouchable. They had the careers, the friendships, the money and the kind of marriage that made everyone else look ordinary.

Now, Hollywood insiders tell me, much of the luster has worn off.

'Two years ago, having Blake and Ryan at your party made you look important. Today, having them there might make people uncomfortable,' an A-list Los Angeles party planner tells me. 'They're still famous. They're just not the social prize they used to be.'

It's a stunning reversal for the twosome, who appeared to have successfully navigated Tinseltown's complicated quasi-professional popularity contest, but after Lively's failed legal crusade against her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, I'm told, heavyweights are thinking twice about associating with them.

'The question isn't whether Blake and Ryan are talented. It's whether working with them comes with complications,' says a veteran casting director.

The bitter court battle dragged on for nearly a year and a half, exposing private communications and straining relationships.

Newly unsealed court records obtained by the Daily Mail Friday appear to show Reynolds harshly criticizing Sony Pictures, in a conversation with talent agent Warren Zavala, for failing to adequately defend his wife, as she received criticism for apparent missteps during the promotion of the movie.

'[Sony] need[s] to frame it the right way! This isn't hard… They just need to go f***ing straight at this,' Reynolds wrote.

'They have to stop bullsh***ing us and get in front of this,' he continued.

Zavala replies: 'They are covering their ass. It's about exposure.'

My casting director source shakes their head at the breach and says: 'Nobody wants their private texts appearing in the next lawsuit. Executives have careers to protect, too.'

The newly released messages evoke another dramatic episode from the Lively-Baldoni trial: the release of Lively's private messages appearing to reference her then-friend and godmother to her daughters, Taylor Swift.

'I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really, we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you,' Lively allegedly told Baldoni about Swift.

Swift was served a subpoena during legal wrangling and a source in Taylor's circle told me at the time that she 'wanted to keep as much distance from the controversy as possible.'

It's no real shock that Lively's friendship with the notably career-minded Swift eventually disintegrated.

Now, the couple who once seemed to have everyone on their side may be discovering an uncomfortable truth: Hollywood has absolutely no problem abandoning them.

Having spent years representing some of entertainment's biggest names, I know that the industry is far less sentimental than its glamorous public image suggests. Success typically buys you influence, not loyalty.

'The Baldoni controversy has introduced something Hollywood hates almost as much as a box-office flop: uncertainty,' says a veteran entertainment executive.

Perhaps the most surprising casualty of the chaos is Reynolds' reputation.

For years, he was Hollywood's ultimate businessman. He could sell gin, mobile brands, soccer teams and superhero movies while making audiences feel like they were sharing an inside joke. His marketing company, Maximum Effort, turned that charm into a commercial empire.

Yet the man who built a fortune understanding public perception appears to have struggled to control the narrative surrounding himself

'Nobody needs to announce they're distancing themselves,' says an industry insider. 'They just stop calling, stop inviting and stop defending you. Hollywood doesn't always slam the door in your face. It just stops opening it.'

Of course, that doesn't mean Lively and Reynolds have lost every friend or that their careers are finished. If the industry has any defining quality, it's hypocrisy.

'Give Ryan another Deadpool-sized blockbuster or Blake a major hit and watch what happens,' says another industry insider. 'The executives who are nervous today will be fighting to have dinner with them tomorrow. Suddenly, everybody will remember how much they've always loved Blake and Ryan.'

Right now, the controversy is fresh, the legal battles remain a distraction and the couple's next major commercial triumph has yet to arrive. But give them a win and the calculation likely changes overnight.

'They don't necessarily need to win back every former friend, silence every critic or convince everyone they behaved perfectly. They need to deliver the one thing Hollywood values above everything else. A hit,' adds a talent who has worked with them both.

Until then, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are no longer the couple everybody wants to be. They're the couple Hollywood is watching cautiously, weighing the potential rewards against the possible headaches.

'Hollywood's loyalty has never been about friendship, fairness or principle. It follows the money,' says a top executive. 'Right now, Blake and Ryan are discovering just how quickly the winds can change.'

In Hollywood, loyalty doesn't last forever. Neither does disgrace.