Blake Lively Was Reportedly “Upset” By It Ends With Us Feud Rumors

Something’s going on with the It Ends with Us cast. That’s what everyone who’s been paying attention to their suspicious press tour is saying, at least. Around the romantic drama’s premiere on Aug. 9, fans picked up on a pretty noticeable divide among those involved in the movie. Here’s why people think Justin Baldoni has become persona non grata among his own castmates.

Baldoni isn’t just the star of It Ends with Us, he also directed the movie after procuring the film rights to Colleen Hoover’s hit novel back in 2019. Although he was clearly heavily involved in bringing the story to the big screen, he’s been strangely distant from the rest of the film’s cast when promoting it. People first started picking up on this as Baldoni exclusively did press for the movie solo, while Blake Lively, Hoover, Brandon Sklenar, and others would frequently be grouped.

Then, things really blew up at the New York premiere when Baldoni did not pose for photos with any of his castmates on the red carpet. Also at that event, fans noticed the movie’s stars giving strange answers to questions about working with Baldoni, like Jenny Slate fully avoiding a question about what he was like on set.

The bizarre vibe at the premiere led to a lot of digging from social media sleuths, who discovered a bunch of confusing details that seem to point to a not-so-hidden tension among the It Ends with Us cast.

A Source Reportedly Confirmed The Drama

A few days after the premiere, People reported an anonymous source familiar with the situation confirmed the rift between Baldoni and everyone else. “All is not what it seems. There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him,” the source said.

Blake Lively Is Reportedly “Upset”

Lively hasn’t addressed the rumors directly, but People has reported via a source close to the star that she’s felt “vulnerable and upset” following the feud discourse going viral. “During the promotion of the movie, not one day went by when she was not in the news in an unfavorable light. She's just not used to this kind of drama,” the source said, adding that the situation “felt out of control to her.”

Is Ryan Reynolds Involved?

As fans have tried to figure out how this alleged feud started, one name kept coming up: Ryan Reynolds. After Lively claimed that her husband actually wrote a major scene in the movie, people started to theorize he might have gotten more involved than he probably should’ve. This speculation blew up even more as TikTokers pointed out how omnipresent Reynolds has been in marketing It Ends with Us, conducting cast interviews and attending various film events with Lively.

One theory that’s gone viral is that Lively and Reynolds seized creative control of the film from Baldoni at some point, which could explain the tension, although there’s no real proof of that.

Does The Drama Extend To Justin’s Podcast?

It may not only be Baldoni’s It Ends with Us co-stars who are involved in whatever’s going on. As one viral TikTok pointed out, Baldoni’s Man Enough podcast co-host Liz Plank attended the movie’s New York premiere, but didn’t take any photos with Baldoni. Even stranger, she posted tons of pics from the event and heaped praise on Lively in several of her posts, but made no mention of her co-host.