Blake Lively is having a hell of a press tour for her latest unlikely hit It Ends With Us.
The movie star has been in the headlines for the past week over rumors that she and her costar-director Justin Baldoni are actively feuding after working together on the film. Whispers began when the pair embarked on promoting the film completely separate from one another, and grew louder as fans noticed that Lively and the author of the book the film is based on, Colleen Hoover, were no longer following Baldoni on Instagram.
The plot thickened, as costar Jenny Slate appeared to dodge a question about working with Baldoni. It seemed as though, whatever went down between the two, most everyone involved was on Lively’s side with the internet gleefully congratulating her and husband Ryan Reynolds’ simultaneous success.
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Baldoni, seemingly portrayed the bad guy in the situation, continued along with the press tour, focusing his interviews on the central point of the film—telling a story about domestic violence, from a woman’s perspective. But Lively had a… different approach to her portion of the press tour, and soon her bubbly interviews where she encouraged audiences to “grab your friends, wear your florals” to see the film, talked endlessly about her husband’s film Deadpool & Wolverine, and promoted her hair care line began to rub many social media users the wrong way.
TikTok users have been posting videos roasting her cheery interviews despite the film’s serious subject matter. Others expressed their disdain that Lively seemed to be promoting Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time instead of using her platform to point domestic violence victims towards resources.
The star had previously said in an interview that her character in the film is not “defined” by domestic violence, which some users took issue with. “This was an opportunity for them to bring awareness, raise money for shelters, and really do good with their platforms,” wrote one user on Twitter/X, “Instead she used it to market Deadpool her hair care line. Shame on @VancityReynolds and @blakelively.”
The internet continued to turn on Lively, as her haters zeroed in on an interview in which she seems to exhibit a serious lack of compassion. When her interviewer asks what Lively feels is the best way for a fan who felt personally touched by the movie’s domestic violence story to approach her, the actress dodges the question, sarcastically suggesting that in lieu of being approached, she could just share her address or other personal information. One Twitter/X user called the moment “a major ick.”
In another interview, which was reposted anew by journalist Kjersti Flaa, but recorded during press for the 2016 Woody Allen film Café Society, Lively shuts down a simple congratulations on her recently announced pregnancy. “Congrats on your little bump,” Lively fires back at Flaa in the clip. Lively and costar Parker Posey continue the interview by barely acknowledging Flaa and making slights about her questions.
Flaa posted the old interview on Saturday, with the title, “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job” and opined in the description, “Is it not ok to congratulate someone on their pregnancy or to ask another woman about costumes she is wearing in a film?” That clip also hasn’t gone over well on Twitter/X.
On Tuesday, Lively was in damage control mode as she used her Instagram Stories to share the domestic violence hotline and a few stats to raise awareness to the issue. But doing so this late in the game is sort of a lose-lose situation.
New developments into whatever caused the disconnect between Baldoni and Lively surfaced throughout this week, including previous reports that they’d disagreed on the film’s final cut and argued over creative control more generally. On Wednesday, reports emerged that Lively felt “fat-shamed” by Baldoni, who sources claim asked his on-set trainer about her weight when he learned he’d have to lift her, according to TMZ. The site also reports that Baldoni has a history of back problems and may have inquired for health reasons. Lively also felt Baldoni held a kiss too long for a scene, according to the site’s sources.
Even as Baldoni has kept his appearances focused on DV-awareness, he has had to answer for the lighthearted way his costar has been promoting the film.
In an interview with AP, Baldoni was asked about the film’s “glamorizing” of domestic violence. “I think that they are absolutely entitled to that opinion. And it makes perfect sense as to why they would feel that way,” he responded. “We live in a culture where, unfortunately, too many things are glorified and we are fighting for attention—we are an attention economy, and we're in a clickbait world and everybody is trying to figure out how to gather attention,” he continued.
Neither Baldoni or Lively have commented on the reported feud, but Baldoni has hired a PR crisis manager. He’s also said that he thinks Lively should direct the sequel, should one ever happen.
