While “It Ends With Us” continues to hit at the box office in its opening week, controversy has been brewing amid the release of the movie, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
The book itself faced scrutiny for its approach to domestic abuse, and the marketing of a movie about such a sensitive topic has added to the online discourse. Plus, rumors of a rift between its two lead actors has been thrown in the mix.
Blake Lively, the film’s star who has established a level of relatability since her early days in Hollywood on “Gossip Girl” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” is now facing criticism from fans and viewers. What’s behind the drama? Here’s what to know.
Lively’s rep has not returned TODAY.com’s request for comment Aug. 15.
Why has Blake Lively received backlash while promoting ‘It Ends With Us’?
“It Ends With Us” is a story following Lily, a florist living in Boston, who strikes up a romance with a neurosurgeon named Ryle that devolves into an abusive relationship. As a person from Lily’s past comes back into her life, she has to make a decision about pursuing a future with Ryle or choosing a different path.
Lively stars as Lily, and Ryle is played by Justin Baldoni, who’s also the director of “It Ends With Us” and an executive producer. Lively is listed as a producer.
Leading up to the film’s release, fans have speculated about a possible rift between the co-stars based on media appearances and cast promotion. (Lively has not spoken on her press tour about working with Baldoni, though Baldoni has praised Lively in interviews, including on TODAY when he said “everything she touched, she made better.”)
With that, fans have also dissected how each of the stars have been marketing the film.
Lively has been facing criticism from fans who say her approach does not match the heavy themes of the film. They’ve also compared her approach to that of Baldoni.
In a video from TikToker Meredith Mansfield with than 3.3 million views, Lively is critiqued for promoting the film “like a rom-com.” Another clip on X with over 4 million views shows Lively in a promo clip saying, “‘It Ends With Us’ is in theaters now, so grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it.” The X user calls Lively’s message “tone deaf.”
After an Aug. 8 interview on Jake’s Takes, Lively faced similar criticism for her answer to a question about how people who relate to Lily’s story can approach Lively. “Do you mean, like, asking for my address, or my phone number, or like my location share? I could just location-share you!” she joked. She then called film “healing” and said she’d consider it a “blessing” if someone came up to her and told her the movie meant something to them.
TikToker Ashley Paige, who says she’s a survivor of domestic violence, addressed Lively in a video posted Aug. 13 that now has over 4.1 million views: “You could’ve gone about this so differently, in such a respectful, tactful, gentle, understanding, advocacy-bringing awareness manner.”
Others have also criticized Lively for launching her hair care line in tandem with the movie’s release.
Why is a Blake Lively interview from 2016 going viral?
On Aug. 10, Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa uploaded to YouTube an interview she had done with Lively and actor Parker Posey while they were promoting “Café Society.” The video is titled “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job” and has gained 3.3 million views as of Aug. 20.
The clip begins with the journalist telling Lively, who was pregnant at the time, “Congrats on your little bump.” Lively then replies back with the same, “Congrats on your little bump.”
When Flaa asks the actors about their wardrobes in the film, Lively says to Parker, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes?” Flaa replies, “I would.” Lively continues to carry on the conversation with her co-star about the men’s clothing in the movie. At the end of the interview, Posey appears to roll her eyes at Flaa.
In her caption, Flaa offered the following reflection: “Is it not ok to congratulate someone on their pregnancy or to ask another woman about costumes she is wearing in a film?”
This interview generated discourse in the comments section, with some YouTube users calling Lively’s behavior “rude” and “passive aggressive.” The chatter carried over to other social media platforms, too. While some people criticized Lively for her responses, others defended Lively for being subjected to questions about her pregnancy and appearances.
Lively has not commented on the video. Flaa on Aug. 19 posted a video to her YouTube page explaining why she decided to post the interview now, 8 years after it took place.
“I got contacted by another reporter who told me a story a little similar to this one that he had experienced. Then we started comparing notes about this. And I just felt like, ‘You know what, it’s not OK to behave like that, and I think it needs to be called out,’” she said.
“It took me a while to actually get over it,” she added. “It affected me for a while because it made me nervous interviewing other people after that. I blamed myself for it for a long time because I felt I said something wrong. That’s the reason why I waited so long.”
Flaa also addressed whether current discourse about Lively had impacted her decision to post the interview: “I actually hadn’t read up about all the other controversy going on, with Blake Lively and her new movie ‘It Ends With Us.’ It was kind of a coincidence, I have to say, that this ended up being posted right now.”
Flaa on Aug. 14 also appeared on the program “Popcorned Planet” to share about the 2016 interaction. She called it a “very stressful situation.”
“I don’t know if (Lively) was offended,” Flaa said. “I think she didn’t want to be there, and didn’t want me to be there, and she was in a bad mood. I don’t know if me congratulating her on her pregnancy made her in such a horrible mood, she felt she had to punish me. I don’t know. Only she knows. And Parker Posey. They teamed up. They actually did that together and that’s what made it uncomfortable.” (TODAY.com has reached out to Posey for comment.)
In addition, Flaa said she was not pregnant when Lively returned the comment, “Congrats on your little bump.”
Flaa had then commented on the “reason why I didn’t upload it before.”
“I was afraid of retaliations against me, of course, because I was honest and I revealed something about a person. Celebrities are often put on pedestals and if someone tries to tear that down, there’s a lot of power and money behind these people.”
Has Blake Lively responded to the backlash?
Lively appeared to respond to criticism on her Instagram story on Aug. 13. She shared a video of a BBC interview she had done, overlaid with text that said:
“Thank you to everyone who came out to show that people WANT to see films about women, and the multitudes we hold. It Ends With Us is a story of the female experience. All the highest highs, and lowest lows. And we are so proud of it. We have been in celebration of this film and of getting a message so important out there to the masses.”
A second post to her story linked her followers to domestic violence resources with the message:
“1 in 4 women aged 18 and older in the US alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States.”
Lively’s rep has not returned TODAY.com’s request for comment.
What does a PR expert have to say?
Could Lively could face a PR crisis? It’s possible, and it could leave her “benched” on the sidelines, according to crisis public relations professional Molly McPherson.
Current public perception is that Lively’s strategy while promoting “It Ends With Us” has been “too self-serving,” says McPherson, who does not have a PR relationship with Lively.
“Baldoni is sticking to the script. He’s keeping the focus of the film’s message around domestic violence, around the core message, the theme of the film. Blake Lively, on the other hand, has been accused of missing that part, overlooking a very important theme,” McPherson explains.
While the public is quick to take sides and make assumptions about celebrities, McPherson says it’s “unfair” for Lively to be judged on the rumored “It Ends With Us” cast drama since nobody has come out to publicly address what happened.
“What typically happens when there is smoke, people start looking for the fire,” she says. “And where they find it is on social media and content like interviews, past interactions, past social media posts etc. And in the case of Blake Lively, she is now being judged on her actions that are on the record that she put out there herself.”
