Blake Lively’s beverage empire is reportedly going flat.
The actress, 39, is winding down operations at Betty Buzz and Betty Booze, with the brands potentially heading toward a complete shutdown, a source confirmed on Thursday. The move marks a swift reversal for a company that debuted to considerable fanfare just three years ago.
Lively launched Betty Buzz in 2021 with five flavored nonalcoholic bottled drinks positioned as both standalone refreshments and cocktail mixers. At the time, she said, in part, “I don’t drink because I don’t like the effects of alcohol, but I like being a part of it.”
That sober-curious positioning made her 2023 pivot all the more jarring. Lively introduced Betty Booze that year, a line of bourbon- and tequila-based sparkling canned cocktails that drew immediate backlash from fans who accused her of hypocrisy.
“Drinking isn’t my thing. But for f* sake, flavor is. Homemade recipes. Real fruit. Real ingredients. Quality booze. No crap. Also a real time-saver. Which is why I really did it. @bettybooze,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
Social media users pounced on the apparent contradiction. “Really tired of the celebs milking alcoholism when they know it’s toxic and dangerous and don’t drink themselves. Money grab from the celebs,” one commenter fired back.
The brands took their name from Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds’ now 7-year-old daughter, Betty. The couple are also parents to daughters James, 11, and Inez, 10, and son Olin, 3.
Trademark records reveal a mixed picture of the company’s intellectual property. While marks for Betty Buzz and Betty Booze remain active, several related applications have been abandoned, including those covering “beer-based products, nonalcoholic carbonated beverages and other products.”
The business retreat lands as Lively remains locked in a high-profile legal battle with Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director in 2024’s “It Ends With Us.” That dispute has already overshadowed her professional ventures in recent months.
The outlet has reached out to Lively’s representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
What began as a personal brand extension — Lively framing Betty Buzz around her own lifestyle choices — ultimately became a flashpoint about celebrity authenticity in the wellness space. The 2023 introduction of Betty Booze, with its explicit profanity and defiant tone, only sharpened that debate.
The canned cocktail line arrived as the ready-to-drink alcohol market was booming, yet Lively’s entry carried the baggage of her earlier statements. Critics questioned whether an entrepreneur who disavowed drinking could credibly sell spirits, regardless of recipe quality or time-saving convenience.
Neither Lively nor Reynolds has publicly addressed the reported shutdown. The couple, who married in 2012, have built separate business portfolios — Reynolds’ Aviation American Gin and Mint Mobile among the most prominent — that have generally avoided the kind of personal-narrative entanglement that complicated Betty Buzz and Betty Booze.
The trademark abandonments suggest a strategic retreat rather than an immediate disappearance from shelves. With core brand marks still active, a future revival or sale remains possible, though no such move has been reported.
Lively’s next scheduled public appearance has not been announced.