Unless you’ve also a member of the Dead Dad Club, don’t talk to someone about their dead father
Blake Lively’s allegations again Justin Baldoni are horrific. Every new part of it is more disgusting than the next. One thing I have not stopped thinking about is the claim that Baldoni said he could communicate with the dead and said he could speak to Lively’s dead father.
The official lawsuit claims that Baldoni “engaged in other behaviors that were shocking and emotionally distressing,” which included “[claiming] he could speak to the dead, and on several occasions told [Lively] that he had spoken to her dead father.” The lawsuit went on to say that it was “off putting and violative” because Baldoni allegedly claimed “a personal relationship with [Lively’s] recently deceased father.”
If you do not know the pain of losing your father, having someone come to you and say they can “communicate” with them is extremely painful. Lively’s father, Ernie Lively, passed away in 2021. As someone who also lost my father in 2021, that grief is still fresh. When they began filming It Ends With Us, it was less than two years later.
I understand that the other allegations against Baldoni are significantly worse but this one is something that I cannot stop thinking about. That’s a level of unhinged and, quite frankly, evil that is impossible to understand. Losing a parent you’re close to is hard enough. You don’t need to also hear someone claiming they have a “relationship” with your deceased relative.
I know it might sound silly but that’s traumatizing. This man who is already allegedly making your working relationship tense and harmful and then that same man says he is talking to your dead dad? It is beyond weird and hurtful. This entire story just makes me sick to think about as someone who also lost their father.
If you ever wanted to know what not to do…
Often, people don’t know how to deal with people who lost a parent. Many of the responses are often just instantly saying sorry. There is a reason I wear a bracelet that says “dead dad club” on it. I don’t want to constantly be pitied because my dad is dead. I used to think that was the worst response. Then in comes Baldoni.
I feel for Lively with this. We don’t know whether or not this happened but even so, it is such a weird thing that I do believe Baldoni said something about her father and I can relate to the pain things like that cause. This entire situation is disgusting and Baldoni’s alleged actions are really indicative of who he is. The text messages he sent to his PR company was enough to make me uneasy.
There is no world where someone telling you that they can “communicate” with your dead parent is okay. Honestly, I wouldn’t even like it if someone joked about that. But the fact that this was, allegedly, a serious thing that Baldoni was saying to Lively is disgusting. And so if you ever wanted to know what NOT to do to someone who lost their parent, it is this!!!
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