The movie, It Ends With Us, based on the bestselling book by Colleen Hoover, has taken the world by storm. However, the feud between the two stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively has gained arguably more attention in the media than the movie. The drama has caused controversy on the internet, allowing fans to create their own opinions and “take sides”. However, I don’t believe there is enough information in the public yet to truly know who to blame. Fans started to speculate when the two seemed to be avoiding each other during the press tour for the movie and when the two refused to even pose for pictures together. It was clear in their interviews that Baldoni, who was also the director of the movie, and Lively, who was a producer, went through creative differences when filming the movie.
The speculation grew even stronger when Baldoni claimed that he would not be returning as a director for the sequel, It Starts With Us. Fans also noticed that it seemed Baldoni and Lively had two different ideas about the movie’s themes and how they wanted others to see it. While Lively took the approach of making a movie about female empowerment and love, Baldoni saw it as more of a serious film about domestic violence, creating a gap between the two in the film as well as in real life.
Lively officially filed a lawsuit against Baldoni on Dec. 31. She claimed that he sexually harassed her, mistreated her and other women on set, and tried to launch a smear campaign against her. A smear campaign refers to an effort to ruin someone’s reputation by spreading misinformation. Lively claimed that Baldoni attempted to plant negative stories about her on the internet, even hiring someone to push online hate directed at Lively.
Neither of the co-stars has spoken up directly about the situation, but their lawyers have had a back-and-forth about the evidence they will be providing in court. Although they have yet to go to court or settle the argument, there has been a lot of talk on social media about issues that this lawsuit brings up.
This particular situation happens more often than many think in Hollywood. It brings up the topic that most of the time, people are quick to blame the victim, especially if it is a woman, instead of believing their story. Mass media often puts the empowerment of women in a negative light. Some tactics used by the media to discredit women include saying they “were asking for” what happened to them or lying about what really happened. Many even go so far as to suggest that the victim is actually the offender. This can be very damaging to the victim when they feel that nobody believes them. Therefore, until the situation is resolved in court, the media should not be as quick to discredit the experiences of the victim.
