While Blake Lively’s new movie, It Ends With Us is winning over the box office, the same cannot be said for the movie’s star. Blake Lively has become the focus of a significant amount of criticism, primarily due to an interview the actress gave years ago that has recently gone viral, and now the interviewer is speaking out.
Back in 2016, journalist Kjersti Flaa interviewed Blake Lively and Parker Posey for the movie Cafe Society. The interview, which was only recently uploaded, includes a pair of cringe-worthy moments, one where Lively takes exception to being congratulated on her pregnancy and another where Lively admonishes her for asking about the movie’s wardrobe. A lot of people have been supportive of Flaa and what they see as improper treatment by Lively, but the interviewer recently posted a video to YouTube in which she explained why she posted the interview now. She explained…
I got so many questions about why I decided to post that interview now, eight years later. And the reason for that is, I got contacted by another reporter who told me a story that was a little similar to this one that he had experienced, and then we started talking about comparing notes about this. And then I just felt like, you know what, it’s not ok to behave like that and I think it needs to be called out.’ And so that’s the reason why I did that now so much later. And also because to be honest it took me a while to actually get over it.
It’s unclear if the other reported in the conversation had an interaction with Blake Lively or another celebrity. We’ve certainly seen instances of interview subjects taking exception with interviewers before. Sometimes the questions are seen as inappropriate, but in this case, most seem to feel Flaa did nothing wrong.
Flaa says the interview was difficult for her, the title of the posted clip says it “made me want to quit my job.” She thanked the people who had reached out to her with positive comments since the clip went viral. Flaa also made a point to thank actress Kristen Stewart, who Flaa interviewed for Cafe Society following Lively, wanting to point out that the interview went much better thanks to the actress.
Flaa says the timing of this interview being released, which has taken place among rumors of conflict on the set of It Ends With Us was entirely coincidental. She said she wasn’t aware of the other stories when she released the video. While few concrete details are available, it’s being reported that there were clashes on the set between star and producer Blake Lively and director Jason Baldoni. Initially, it appeared a lot of the blame was being placed on the shoulders of the director, but following that fingers began to be pointed at Lively as well.