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Trigger warning: This article discusses intimate partner violence and may be distressing to some readers
Update: On December 21st, news broke that Blake Lively has sued her It Ends With Us director, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment and a smear campaign led by Baldoni and a crisis PR team to destroy her reputation. The allegations were included in a bombshell investigation by The New York Times who were provided with text messages between Baldoni and his crisis PR team that seemed to illustrate a sophisticated online smear campaign. Lively’s complaint has been filed with the California Civil Rights Department, and Baldoni’s legal team has denied the allegations.
During August, Blake Lively was on the promotional tour for her new film It Ends With Us, and if you felt like you couldn’t look anywhere without seeing her outfits, haircare range and comments being picked apart, you’re not wrong. The once-beloved Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants heroine can’t seem to do anything right. While the film has grossed a staggering $242 million USD worldwide since its release on August 9th, according to sources who spoke with The Daily Mail, Lively is increasingly concerned the press tour backlash could permanently affect her career. It seems that at the centre of the media pile-on, which has ranged from mockery of her wardrobe to accusations of a tone-deaf approach to the sensitive content of the film and inappropriate cross-promotion, are conflicting reports of a rumoured feud between Lively and director Justin Baldoni.
How It Started
In early August, The Cut dedicated a post to Lively’s It Ends With Us promotional tour wardrobe titled simply Why Is Blake Lively Dressing Like This? In the piece, fashion journalist Morgan Evans pondered her commitment to florals. In the piece, Evans quoted a litany of posts on X (“All I’m gonna say is you can tell she styles herself …”) to dodge having to say outright her press tour wardrobe wasn’t hitting.
Lively, who has always been open about not using a stylist is using the “method dressing” trend successfully deployed by Margot Robbie in the promotional tour for Barbie, Zendaya for Challengers and Jenna Ortega for Wednesday and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Her character, Lily Bloom, is a florist, but Lively isn’t promoting a film about tennis or a doll; she’s promoting a film about intimate partner violence. It’s reasonable to say the avalanche of cheerful florals feels slightly discordant with the film’s serious themes. But a lot of fashion critics are simply making fun of it and the tone is getting nastier.
TikTok beloved red carpet fashion critic Nicky Campbell posted a video “me looking at Blake Lively’s outfits on this press tour” in which he depicted himself as rendered speechless when asked to “be nice”.
Instagram account @eyewitnessbeauty, run by podcast hosts millennial cool girl beauty editor Annie Kreighbaum and Glossier co-founder Nick Axelrod-Welk, joined the fun. They posted a carousel of Lively’s co-star Isabel Ferrer responding to questions about Lively styling her on the red carpet. The actress seemed a little embarrassed, admitting, “She did style me. This is all her doing,” looking down at her floral dress and adding, “In classic Blake fashion.” The caption for the post read: ”Wellness check needed on Isabela Ferrer!”
Tone-Deaf Behaviour On The ‘It Ends With Us’ Red Carpet
Watch on TikTok
On August 17t, Blake Lively shared a series of statistics about intimate partner violence in the US along with resources on her Instagram stories. She also shared a clip from the It Ends With Us press tour in which she discussed domestic violence with a journalist, overlaid with a thank you to fans who are embracing the film.
It could be considered an appropriate post from an actor promoting a film that depicts domestic violence and abuse but for many, confused about why she hasn’t previously addressed the sensitive subject matter on the tour and in interviews, it has come to late
A TikTok poster Amaris wrote, “When you tell Blake Lively that she shouldn’t promote ‘It ends with us’ like a cheesy rom-com when it’s a movie about DV,” which sums up the online response to the actor’s promotion of the film.
In another promotional video being picked apart on social media she says, “Grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see it. Responses to the video ranged from “weird” and “unhinged and tone deaf.”
This is how Blake Lively is promoting her movie about escaping an abusive relationship and breaking the cycle of the abuse…
— Gabriel Divina (@GabrielDivina2) August 13, 2024
Unhinged and tone deaf.
This isn’t Barbie! pic.twitter.com/ZM7HlGyrpE
And then, there was a Deadline in which the actor seemed to suggest she didn’t see domestic violence as the central theme in the film.
“This is a film that covers domestic violence but isn’t about domestic violence.” Commenters on the video didn’t take kindly to her words. One wrote, “I feel like she’s never experienced domestic violence so she truly doesn’t understand” while another added “Not Blake Lively starting to give me the ick” and others adding that she reminded them of clueless office manager Michael Scott in US sitcom The Office.
Another TikTok poster said “normally a big fan of girlypopping as a promo strategy but I fear not everything can be girlypopped. And it’s just not a vibe for a movie like it ends with us” over a video in which Blake Lively blurts at a comment about the launch of her haircare company in conversation with a reporter on the red carpet. e
Cross Promoting Her Haircare And Alcohol Brand
Lively decided to launch a haircare brand, Blake Brown, during the film’s promotional tour. According to Launchmetrics, her haircare launch generated $16 million USD in media impact value within a week, but fans feel this attention could have been better directed at domestic violence awareness. Domestic abuse survivors
Then, there’s her soda brand. Back in 2023, Lively, a non-drinker, sparked backlash when she launched a range of canned cocktails under her sparkling cocktail line, Betty Booze (part of her Betty Buzz soda range). Now, she seems to have repeated the same mistake.
Lively served It Ends With Us-themed cocktails by Betty Buzz at the film’s August 6th Premiere after-party. One of the cocktails was called “Ryle You Wait”, Ryle is the name of Lily’s abuser in IT Ends With Us. In the comments on both Betty Booze and Betty Buzz’s Instagram accounts where a reel about the event was posted commentors weighed in. “What a gross way to exploit a movie about domestic violence to promote Blake Lively’s business ventures. WOW”, wrote one. “People with alcohol issues are six times more likely to abuse their partners. Promoting a film with such a powerful DV theme with an alcohol brand is disappointing and disrespectful to DV survivors,” wrote another.
The Australian Institute of Health And Welfare notes that 34% of alcohol-related intimate partner violence incidents resulted in physical injury, compared to 20% of non-alcohol-related incidents of intimate partner violence. Meanwhile, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has shown that intimate partner violence incidents increase when bottle shop trading hours are extended, and there has been a major push by lobby groups to end after-hour alcohol delivery services.
Is The Source Material Off The Mark?
While Lively’s behaviour has been heavily criticised, many feel the source material for the film is simply inherently problematic.
TikTok Mik Zazon is a domestic violence survivor who posts under the handle @mikkzazon unpacked her feelings about both the film’s promotion and the original source material.
While she was complimentary of the film, she added that it should have been given disclaimers and that the book should have had them, too. When Zazon read the book, she thought she was diving into a “girlypop love story” and was given whiplash by the plot. She added that there was a risk of romanticizing intimate partner violence and that while she felt this was intentional in the It Ends With Us story, she felt like Blake Lively’s behaviour and the lack of disclaimers in the film and in the book could contribute to “desensitisation.”
In a review of the film published by Rolling Stone, culture writer CT Jones suggests Colleen Hoover’s novel was inherently flawed in an article titled How Do You Make A Domestic Violence Movie? Not Like ‘It Ends With Us.”
“With 8 million copies sold, It Ends With Us swaddles a central premise about the insidious nature of domestic abuse in a glitzy, trope-heavy, and often absurd love-triangle romance. So, of course, movie executives thought it would make a killer movie.”
Jones notes that the promotion of Hoover’s book has always been a fraught balance. Despite growing up in a home where domestic violence was rife, Jones wrote, “Hoover’s personal tie to the heavy subject matter hasn’t prevented the author from being caught in between the seriousness of her inspiration and her need to engage in promotion.”
When the book became popular during the pandemic, Hoover was criticized for profiting off intimate partner violence (which spiked during the lockdowns), and the author made several missteps, including allowing her publisher to release an It Ends With Us-themed colouring book. She apologised, and the merch was withdrawn.
While the film could have taken some PR lessons from the novel’s release, it hasn’t. As Jones writes: “…this glossy marketing campaign is proving that Hollywood hasn’t found a respectful way to market movies about domestic violence. Even worse, It Ends With Us isn’t even trying.”
Justin Baldoni And Blake Lively
“It seems like there were two separate agendas. You had Justin on one end advocating for domestic violence survivors, and on the other side, Blake said, go out and put on a floral dress, go out with your girlies and come to the theatre. It’s going to be a great time,” said @mikkzazon while discussing the film and the book. Lively and Baldoni’s behaviour on the press tour, from their different approaches to promoting the film to their seeming refusal to stand near each other on the press tour, or do interviews together, is fuelling rumours of a rift.
Primary amongst the feud rumours have been reports of creative struggles between Lively and Baldoni on set.
Blake Lively was a producer and a lead actor in the film, while Baldoni is not only director, but owns the production company behind the film, Wayfarer Studios. On August 6th, Lively shared in an interview with E! News that her husband, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, rewrote a key scene in the movie. This drew some criticism, although the original script writer Christy Hall said the scene was “tricky to tackle” and assumed changes were down to improvisations made by Lively. “So if I’m being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful,” she told People.
Lively’s objections to Baldoni’s interpretation of the source material were so strong that she ended up recruiting editors and a composer to create a different cut of the movie entirely. This decision was backed by Sony the film’s distributor. In the end, both Sony and Wayfarer decided to release Lively’s cut of the film, not Baldoni’s. While Baldoni has largely been praised for his commitment to speaking to the film’s serious themes on the red carpet and expressing support for domestic violence survivors, it seems the cast are siding with Lively. None of the film’s cast follow Justin on Instagram and he’s been an isolated figure on the red carpet, adding to the confusion and mystery around what seems to be a legitimate rift.
At time of writing, neither Lively or Baldoni have released statements addressing the rumours and controversy.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about intimate partner violence, call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- If you’re under 25, you can reach Kid’s Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
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