Amid ‘It Ends with Us’ drama, a shockingly rude Blake Lively interview has resurfaced

As the It Ends with Us drama continues growing, further past controversies of Blake Lively have resurfaced, including a shockingly rude interview from 2016.

It Ends with Us has been embroiled in drama due to Colleen Hoover’s personal controversies and allegations of cast feuds. However, much scrutiny has focused on Lively for several of her comments and actions surrounding the film, which is supposed to raise awareness of domestic abuse. Lively earned criticism when she timed her new hair care line launch to coincide with the movie’s release. Additionally, when asked how she would respond to domestic abuse survivors who might want to reach out to her over the movie’s themes, she gave an unnecessarily sarcastic response questioning if she was expected to provide those individuals with her phone number or address, even though she simply could’ve stated she would direct them to domestic abuse resources. One survivor slammed Lively’s flippant response, saying it left her shaking with anger at how unconcerned the actress was about people who might need help.

Meanwhile, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, has also entered into the controversy after Lively inaccurately gave him credit for writing a key scene without mentioning It Ends with Us‘ actual screenwriter, Christy Hall. Many also pointed out that It Ends with Us isn’t the first time the actress has participated in some perplexing press for a movie.

Blake Lively’s Café Society interview resurfaces

In 2016, Lively starred in Café Society, a rom-com by controversial director Woody Allen. To promote the movie, Lively and her co-star Parker Posey were invited to do an interview with journalist Kjersti Flaa. In the wake of the It Ends with Us controversy, Flaa reuploaded their 2016 interview to her YouTube channel, titling it, “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.”

At the time, Lively had just publicly announced she and Reynolds were expecting their second child together. Hence, Flaa started the conversation by congratulating her, stating, “First of all, congrats on your little bump.” For some reason, the comment offended Lively, who retorted, “Congrats on your little bump.” Flaa was not pregnant at the time, so the comment seemed to be a body-shaming insult. Lively and Posey then tried to play it off as a joke as they laughed between each other about their “little bumps” and “lady lumps” while Flaa looked on uncomfortably.

Eventually, the conversation returns to the movie, with Flaa describing how visually beautiful Café Society was and asking the women if they “loved” wearing their costumes for the film. Posey starts to answer, but Lively interrupts, saying, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes?” Flaa states that she would ask the men about the costumes, too. However, Lively and Posey ignored her and started talking to each other about the men’s costumes they liked. Finally, Lively turns to Flaa and says, “Yeah, it’s not just the women that have the clothes.”

Flaa asks another question about the movie’s portrayal of Hollywood, which Posey vaguely answers before turning to talk about the topic with Lively. Of course, since they were in the movie together, they kept referencing scenes and certain aspects of the film that the interviewer and viewers didn’t know about. Neither bothered to explain anything to Flaa as she quietly watched them converse. At the end of the interview, Flaa uncertainly thanks them and gets up to leave. Posey thanks her with a smile, but as soon as Flaa is gone, her face immediately shifts to a look of annoyance.

In the video’s description, Flaa asks for viewers’ perspectives on whether her questions were inappropriate. The vast majority of comments defend her and reiterate how sorry they are that she was treated so rudely. Given that Lively’s pregnancy had been publicly announced, Flaa’s congratulatory statement was acceptable. Additionally, there have been times when interviewers have asked sexist and invasive comments about female actresses’ costumes. However, simply asking an actor if they liked a costume and wanting to hear their thoughts on it is not sexist and is a common question for both genders. Many also pointed out the irony in Lively trying to act as if she was offended by Flaa’s “sexist” comment when she’s literally starring in a Woody Allen movie.

Blatantly ignoring or refusing to even look at an interviewer who clearly has good intentions and is trying to be friendly is also unacceptable behavior. While it’s possible that Lively and Posey were tired from all the press or were having a bad day, that’s still not an excuse to treat a working professional in that manner. One can often tell the most about a celebrity’s character based on how they treat non-celebrities, and that interview does not paint Lively or Posey in a positive light.