In Dispute: Lively v. Baldoni

When I moved to Hoboken about a dozen years ago, it just

struck me just how friendly and how small town it felt.

So what you see behind me here is the actual location for

Lily Bloom's flower shop in the film "It Ends with Us."

A scout reached out to me and said that they were

interested in seeing if it would work for

an upcoming film.

So I was going through the contract, and I was showing

it to my wife, and when she read the title,

"It Ends with Us," she froze.

She actually picked up the book off the bookshelf.

More than three years on

a New York Times best-sellers list,

that's a long time.

Can you turn this way?

Justin, right here.

The movie came out in the summer of 2024.

Social media noticed that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

were not doing any press together

for a movie where they are the co-leads.

"It Ends with Us."

"It Ends with Us." "It Ends with Us."

"It Ends with Us." "It Ends with Us."

"It Ends with Us" is about domestic violence,

but the message of the film has been clouded because

of the scandal around its stars.

She claims that there was sexual harassment on set.

Maybe this guy isn't the guy that you think he is.

And then a big jaw-drop moment.

He claims civil extortion, defamation, and that all of

this really is about her wanting to have control

of the movie.

Is Blake Lively a victim?

That is the question.

This is, like, the most high-school fight that

people with millions of dollars can have with each other.

The longer this goes on,

the more reputational damage they will suffer.

This isn't just a fluffy celebrity feud.

The actual story is, I think, a lot darker and a lot more

complex than that.

I work on crisis communication plans, lifestyle PR,

and strategic public relations.

But also, I am a huge Colleen Hoover fan.

I've read all of her books.

Every single one, probably once or twice.

So, I'm familiar with the book and was really excited

for the movie.

It follows Lily Bloom, who moves to Boston to fulfill

her dream of opening a flower shop.

After a chance encounter with a neurosurgeon,

a relationship quickly heats up between the two of them.

On TikTok, certain books go viral, and Colleen Hoover's

novels, in particular, "It Ends with Us,"

became incredibly popular on there.

A woman got verbally and physically abused

and made it out on the other end.

The domestic violence aspect of it is something that really

caught people's because it covered the serious topic while

still doing it in a way that felt engaging and accessible.

And that really gave studio executives in Hollywood

a feeling that young people were interested in the novel,

and that if they optioned it, as Justin Baldoni did,

that it could turn into something that

people would show up at the theaters for.

I'm an actress.

I worked with Justin Baldoni

on the set of "Jane the Virgin" many years ago.

This seems like a good time to catch up on

what Rafael has been up to.

I was actually playing one of his girlfriends.

He has, in fact, been having sex.

Lots and lots of sex, with a lot of different women.

He was very down-to-earth, very considerate.

He just wanted to make sure that everything in

our scene worked.

I started following him on social media and just kind of

kept up with everything else

that he was doing outside of acting.

Justin has this platform.

He did a TED Talk about debunking toxic masculinity.

I don't just want to be a good man,

I want to be a good human.

And he started a podcast, "Man Enough."

What would the world look like if our boys

got to grow up and feel that men were safe spaces

and safe places?

In 2019, when Justin acquired the rights from Colleen Hoover,

it was really aligned with his brand.

The "Ends with Us" story first hit my radar when Blake Lively

was cast -- I covered her casting news.

She's a household name.

I understand why you'd want to go for someone with a pretty

solid commercial track record.

The cast for "It Ends with Us" has officially

been announced, and I am unwell.

Lily Bloom is gonna be played by none other than

Blake Lively. What?

Hey, Blake!

This breakthrough role was

"Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Rule number 11 -- "In the event of an emergency, the pants will

automatically go to the sister in need."

And she got really famous with "Gossip Girl."

She's also known as being Taylor Swift's best friend,

and, yeah, of course she's married to Ryan Reynolds.

Evening, ma'am.

Blake and Ryan met on "Green Lantern" and hit it off.

Now they are the Hollywood power couple.

She has a persona in the public eye

of being fun and fashionable and trendy

and all of the things that I think most women

really aspire to be.

The fact that Justin Baldoni's name was mentioned

along with someone who is a big A-list celebrity,

also married to an A-lister.

It makes sense why this became such big headline news.

Hoboken being such a small town, word travels fast.

When the first day of shooting arrived,

people were lining the streets to catch a glimpse of, you know,

Hollywood in our small town.

The crew from L.A. put layers upon layers of

wallpaper to age this space,

and then they would redo the entire interior once again,

and this time transforming it into the flower shop.

OK, here we go.

-Wow. - Yeah.

This doesn't even look like the same shop.

At the conclusion, Justin invited me over.

He raised his hands up, and I raised mine to mirror him,

and it was just a very special moment to share.

The film premiered in New York City on August 6, 2024.

Justin, right here! Justin, right here!

Solo! Solo!

- - Justin, right here!

Things felt like they were off at the premiere.

Social media noticed that Blake Lively

and Justin Baldoni were not doing any press together.

What is going on with

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?

Have you heard anything

about the rift happening behind the scenes?

For a movie where they are the co-leads,

that is highly unusual.

There seemed to be this sort of tension around it,

but nobody could quite put their finger on

what to make of it yet.

We do have "It Starts with Us,"

so I'm hoping to see you back in the double-duty role.

When Justin was asked about the sequel,

it was kind of surprising.

I think there are better people for that one.

I think Blake Lively's ready to direct, that's what I think.

He definitely alluded to him not taking on the role

of director, but maybe alluding to Blake should do it next time,

which was a little strange.

I mean, at that point, that's where the rumor mill starts.

Ladies, together this way.

Ladies, together, this way over here.

I saw rumblings on social media hypothesizing that there had

been some kind of falling out on set, because people noticed

that essentially all of the cast had unfollowed

Justin Baldoni.

One headline said that Justin Baldoni was

banished to the basement.

He wasn't even allowed to be seen on the red carpet

with Blake and with the rest of his co-stars.

And he and his family actually had to watch it

in a separate location.

He said, "I wasn't allowed to be seen.

"She didn't want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast.

"So they ushered me off the carpet and sent us down

to the basement."

There are countless feuds in Hollywood between actors,

between directors and stars.

It's very rare at a premiere for them not to, you know,

at least look like they're buddy-buddy.

"It Ends with Us" was a financially successful movie.

It made way more than it cost to film and market the movie,

and there was also a lot of hope that the very important

topic of domestic violence would be

resonating with the masses.

That was it.

The story began in the summer of 2024,

and it was nonstop after that.

During the entire promotion of this film, Blake Lively

hasn't been seen with Justin, the main actor and director.

But of course, fans are theorizing, as fans do.

And boom, you have a feud.

There was serious beef between Baldoni and Lively.

The treating of this as just kind of a fluffy

celebrity feud --

the actual story is, I think, a lot darker and a lot more

complex than that.

I had been covering celebrities across three decades,

and I had not seen a story this big...

period.

Blake, right here. Blake, right here.

At the time of the release of "It Ends with Us," Blake Lively

was getting a lot of negative feedback on social media.