Blake Lively Faces Backlash After Resurfaced Interview That Made Journalist Want to Quit Her Job
While It Ends With Us has been a box office success story, the promotional tour for the film hasn't been without controversy.
First, there were reports of drama between the movie's lead, Blake Lively, and director and co-star Justin Baldoni. Not only did a "power struggle" develop between the actors while on set, the two have had very different approaches to marketing the movie, which is about domestic violence.
While Baldoni has made an effort to focus on survivors in his interviews, some say Blake has made light of the film's serious nature and used the press to promote her new haircare line.
Now an interview from 2016 has resurfaced that's generating even more criticism of Lively, with the journalist in the clip admitting the experience made her want to "quit her job."
In the video, Lively and actress Parker Posey were promoting the Woody Allen film Café Society. Norwegian interviewer Kjersti Flaa kicked off the interaction by congratulating Lively on her "little bump" (she'd announced her pregnancy a couple of months earlier).
Instead of thanking Flaa, Lively responded by saying “Congrats on your little bump"—even though it did not appear Fla was pregnant.
Flaa attempted to move on by calling Cafe Society, which is set in the 1930s, "visually amazing," and asked the actresses whether they enjoyed wearing the costumes.
Parker began to answer the question, but Lively interrupted her, saying, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes?”
"I would," Flaa said, but Lively ignored her, continuing to address Parker only as she talked about the wardrobes of her male co-stars.
When the interview was over, both Lively and Parker appeared to roll their eyes.
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"Sitting down with Blake Lively and her co star Parker Posey for Cafe Society (2016) is the most uncomfortable interview situation I have ever experienced," Flaa wrote in her caption of the video. "Is it not ok to congratulate someone on their pregnancy or to ask another woman about costumes she is wearing in a film?"
Commenters agreed that Lively's behavior in the clip was unacceptable.
"She and her husband talk about their kids all the time and you can't congratulate her on her pregnancy? That was such weird and uncalled for behavior, Im sorry you had to sit through that. You kept your composure so well," wrote one person.
"Asking about wardrobe for a period piece movie is a normal question!" pointed out another commenter, adding, "I’m so sorry they treated you this way."
"Her saying that no one would ask the men the clothes question and trying to act like a good feminist while she’s in a woody allen movie. i have to laugh," commented a third person, as someone else noted, "I can't believe how rude Blake Lively is."
"A little ironic that on her current press talk the clothes is all she's wanting to talk about," observed another YouTube user. "Congratulations on keeping it professional. xo."
Lively seemed to respond to backlash over the It Ends With Us promotional tour with a message posted to her Instagram stories on Tuesday, August 13.
“One 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," the post read. "Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States. Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence.”
Lively also shared a link to the National Domestic Violence Helpline.
