[natural sound: It Ends With Us trailer fades in and out.]
The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2022 novel, It Ends With Us, has been at the center of a whirlwind of online drama, hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits, sexual harassment allegations and maybe, even, potentially an orchestrated smear campaign. With its key players, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, it has managed to capture the attention of the public for months.
Megan Henderson is a sophomore at Depaul University studying Film and Television. She hasn’t been able to escape the drama.
Megan Henderson: “The other day at the Alamo, the movie theater, we were waiting or we were sitting and chatting in the bar area, and this older lady that didn’t know us literally asked our opinion on the scandal.
But what does it say about us?
[natural sound: NewsNation clip fades in and out. “Time now, for some of the biggest trending stories you’ll want to know, including why Blake Lively is suing her former co-star Justin Baldoni.” ]
Let’s start from the beginning.
The film is released in August of 2024. It follows Lily Bloom, played by Blake Lively, as she finds herself in an abusive relationship with Ryle Kincaid, played by Justin Baldoni, and her journey of getting out and breaking the cycle of abuse. Baldoni also directed the film. The press tour was tainted with online rumors of a behind the scenes feud with Lively and Baldoni as they did little to no press together.
Megan Henderson: “And it just kinda was shocking to me that the director wasn’t there for the press tour. I thought that was really interesting and he did his own thing separately, which is kind of a red flag in a lot of ways for movies like that.”
Then, in late December, Lively files a complaint alleging sexual harassment from Baldoni and coordinated effort to ruin her public reputation. This is followed by a formal lawsuit that claims she was retaliated against for reporting her concerns on set. Bladoni then sues the New York Times for libel for $250 million for their reporting on the allegations against him. Then on January 16, he sues Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds and Lively’s publicist for $400 million claiming defamation and extortion.
The internet erupted with opinions.
Megan Henderson: “Because it’s like the person in you wants to believe whoever is speaking out, but I think it also it’s so hard, especially in this case, cause like, you also have to remember, you don’t know these people personally. You have no idea what happened. We’re just hearing all the news about it and stuff like that. And I think it becomes a little tricky and it’s a fine line to walk. ”
Nicolette Bruner is a professor at Northwestern’s Center for Legal Studies. Her research primarily focuses on non-human personhood, which are entities that are not human but granted certain rights.
Nicolette Bruner: “I also really love trashy television. And so, I often teach a class called Reality Television and Legal Theory, where we try to understand legal philosophy through the lens of analyzing competition shows. Today we’re talking about The Bachelor.”
In this course, Bruner and students analyze the people on these shows.
Nicolette Bruner: We also think about our views of these public figures, sometimes tells us a lot about our general cultural assumptions and the ways that we communicate to ourselves and others, what behavior we do and do not encourage.
But why did this legal feud catch our eye?
Nicolette Bruner: “I mean, they’re taking a bunch of stuff to court, that’s interesting.
That doesn’t always happen, particularly in the U.S. we’re not as accustomed to our celebrities fighting their battles in court.”
Lively’s original issue, legally speaking, was sexual harassment at her job. Something, 38% of women have also reported, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
Nicolette Bruner: “Although I do think that there is a tendency to minimize the hostile experiences that people have, especially if you’re not somebody who has experienced hostile experiences or, or has been in that position in the past.”
In the midst of this, some have identified themselves as Team Justin or Team Blake. But if the court of public opinion sides with Team Justin, are we discounting Lively’s experience?
Nicolette Bruner: “Whether I think we can necessarily extrapolate somebody’s attitude about this particular case and see that as reflective of their total attitude towards sexual harassment in the workplace, I don’t know if I would go that far.”
Last week a New York judge set a trial date for March 2026. As long as a case is not dismissed or settled outside of court, the public and those involved will have to wait until then to begin the journey of closure.
While bigger news stories are bound to arise, there is a good chance the court of public opinion will always stay in session. Especially as more comes out. On Saturday evening Baldoni published a website containing hundreds of pages of legal documents pertaining to the case.
Nicolette Bruner: “We all like drama. It’s a very normal human impulse to want to hear about things that happen.”
And while many might agree with that statement. In the future, Henderson thinks;
Megan Henderson: “It’s gonna be something that we look back on and we’re gonna look back on and we’re gonna be like ‘it was handled so poorly.’”
For WNUR News, I’m Naya Reyes.
