Robyn Lively was born into a family of actors in Powder Springs, Georgia;[citation needed] her mother, adoptive father, and all four siblings are or have been in the entertainment industry. She is the daughter of talent manager Elaine Lively (née McAlpin) and her first husband Ronald Otis (Ronnie) Lively.[2] Her siblings are sister Lori and brother Jason, and her half-siblings are Eric and Blake.
After she was cast as Jessica Andrews in The Karate Kid Part III in 1989, producers were forced to modify her role of protagonist Daniel LaRusso's new love interest because Lively was only 16 at the time of filming and still a minor while Ralph Macchio was 27 (although his character Daniel is 17). This situation caused romantic scenes between Jessica and Daniel to be rewritten so that the pair only developed a close friendship.[3] In 2022, Lively reprised her role as Jessica Andrews in the fifth season of Cobra Kai, where it is revealed that Daniel is married to her cousin, Amanda.
Lively married fellow actor Bart Johnson on September 25, 1999.[4] The couple have three children: Baylen, Kate, and Wyatt Blake. The family resides in the Hollywood Hills.