Kjersti Flaa reveals why she shared that infamous Blake Lively and Parker Posey interview

Journalist Kjersti Flaa opens up about why she recently decided to share her infamous 2016 interview with Blake Lively and Parker Posey and why one of Lively’s insults was especially hurtful.

Lively has been receiving scrutiny over her approach to marketing her new movie, It Ends with Us. Many viewers were concerned that she seemed to be advertising the film as a rom-com and using it to sell her new hair care products instead of focusing more on the movie’s serious domestic abuse message. Shortly after the It Ends with Us drama broke, Flaa re-uploaded an old interview with Lively and Posey to her YouTube channel, titled, “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.”

Lively and Posey participated in the interview to promote Café Society. However, the interview quickly derailed due to the pair’s shockingly rude attitude towards Flaa. At the time, Lively had just publicly announced her second pregnancy, leading Flaa to remark, “First of all, congrats on your little bump.” Without hesitation, Lively instantly shot back, “Congrats on your little bump,” even though Flaa was not pregnant. For the rest of the interview, Lively and Posey repeatedly talk to each other while blatantly ignoring the interviewer. Lively also chastises her for asking the pair a question about costumes, insinuating Flaa’s question was sexist. The interview quickly went viral, and now Flaa is speaking out about it.

Kjersti Flaa breaks her silence on viral Blake Lively interview

In an interview with TMZ, Flaa addressed the viral 2016 interview and explained why she chose to post it now. Many assumed it was because of the ongoing It Ends with Us drama. While Flaa acknowledged the drama, she denied knowing the details, although, based on her own experiences, she suspects Lively is a difficult person to work with. The major reason she shared the interview was actually to raise awareness of how celebrities treat journalists.

While Flaa’s interview shocked viewers, she wanted them to realize that incidents like these happen often. In fact, what prompted her to post the interview was a conversation with a fellow journalist. Her fellow journalist revealed they had an interview in which an unnamed celebrity was so terrible to them that the interview tape was confiscated to prevent the incident from going public. Flaa remarked, “I’ve never had my tape confiscated, but, of course, I’ve had very unpleasant experiences.” Until recently, she had never shared her Lively and Posey interview with anyone because she felt “embarrassed” and “ashamed,” as it made her second-guess whether she was doing her job well.

Ultimately, though, instead of hiding these interviews, she wants people to see the truth because raising awareness for the issue might prevent future journalists from facing such treatment. Flaa stated, “I think it’s important to let people know that these things go on sometimes.” The journalist also stood by her stance that her statements and questions to Lively and Posey were not offensive. However, Lively’s “little bump” retort was offensive, and Flaa confirmed that she “would welcome” an apology from the actress. She revealed that the taunt especially hurt because she deals with infertility, making Lively’s insult feel like “a bullet.” Sadly, Flaa also stated that she doesn’t believe the actress will apologize.

Her interview has raised an important discussion about how celebrities treat working professionals. Given that interview tapes may be confiscated or journalists may feel too embarrassed to upload certain interviews, it seems likely these interviews happen far more often than people realize. However, the ones that do make it to the public, like Flaa and Lively’s interview or Ashley Graham and Hugh Grant’s interview, demonstrate unacceptable behavior. Journalists do celebrities an enormous service by giving them visibility and a space to promote their work, and one would think simply cooperating is the least celebrities could do in return.

Even if Lively found Flaa’s wording offensive or didn’t like her questions, she could’ve recognized that the journalist was doing her best and meant well but was also human and couldn’t have predicted how Lively would react to the comments.

Lively simply could’ve told Flaa that she preferred not to talk about her pregnancy or refer to it that way. She didn’t have to instantly resort to body-shaming a woman she didn’t know.