Most Americas are probably familiar with friendly co-workers letting them know that they’re helping their kids sell Girl Scout Cookies or raise money for their schools and other worthy causes.
But it sounds like the crew for Blake Lively’s film “It Ends With Us” faced a unique form of pressure to part ways with their cash when Lively, the film’s star and producer, let some of her four young children come onto the set and set up a booth to raise money for “sick kids and horses,” the Daily Mail is reporting.
While it may sound sweet that Lively let her young children set up a fundraising booth, the solicitation effort actually came off as “tone deaf,” according to a film-set insider who spoke to the Daily Mail. The crew for “It Ends With Us” was coming back to work for the first time in months after strikes by writers and actors had shut down many film and TV productions for much of 2023. The insider said not getting steady paychecks for a long period of time had left some crew members dipping into their 401ks to get by. Some were at risk of losing their homes.
“There’s nothing bad about having your kids be a part of your workplace, or having your kids be interested in activism,” the insider told the Daily Mail. But the insider felt that the manner in which Lively handled the situation was “insulting and performative.” Given her status on the production — probably as No. 1 on the call sheet — it’s also likely that the crew felt they had to donate so as to not displease the boss.
“Everyone was a little bit afraid of Blake,” the insider said.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Blake Lively in a scene from “It Ends With Us.” (Jojo Whilden/Sony Pictures via AP) Jojo Whilden/Sony Pictures via AP
This Daily Mail report about the on-set fundraising activities of Lively’s children is one of the ways that the famous and powerful actor allegedly aggravated some crew members, according to the Daily Mail source. The situation also marks the latest in a cascade of reports about Lively being annoying, rude, insensitive or imperious. Since earlier this month, she has been embroiled in backlash over her star persona and her actions related to the production and promotion of “It Ends With Us.”
The Daily Mail report didn’t specify which of Lively’s children came on set to solicit donations. She shares four children with “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds: three daughters, 9, 7 and 4, and a baby son, who was born in February.
Not said but implied in the Daily Mail report is that Lively’s “tone-deaf” handling of the situation may be due to the idea that she lives in a bubble of her own wealth and privilege. On her own, she has an estimated net worth of $30 million, which she has earned through her movies, endorsements and various fashion and lifestyle ventures, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Together with Reynolds, the couple has an estimated combined net worth of more than $380 million.
But, according to the insider, Lively’s handling of her children’s charity solicitations wasn’t the only issue that made her challenging to work for, or that appeared to fuel reported tensions between her and the film’s director and co-star, Justin Baldoni.
Lively may not have been intentionally “mean,” the insider said. “She was just so effortlessly rude,” as well as “entitled” and lacking in self-awareness, the insider added. There was tension on set whenever the “Gossip Girl” alum was around because she wasn’t shy about having workers “wait on her,” the insider also said.
Reports about a feud between Lively and Baldoni erupted before, during and after the Aug. 6 premiere of “It Ends With Us.”
The set insider said there wasn’t “outward feuding or fighting” on the set between Lively and Baldoni, but Lively could be “so extraordinarily opinionated” and had such “really strong feelings about things” that it caused “stress and tension” on the set, the insider said.
“I got this impression from Justin that he was just really, really stressed and fatigued about this constant inability to control the project he was making,” the insider said. “So much so that when you’d ask him questions, he’d be like, ‘Well just ask Blake’… because when Blake got there she would have a lot of really strong thoughts and feelings.”
Lively also has faced fierce online backlash for her “tone deaf” choice to publicly downplay the film’s serious narrative about her character being abused by her husband. The film is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling dark romance about domestic violence.
Lively has been ripped on social media for doing interviews and social media posts that promote the film as if it’s a rom-com about a beautiful florist shop owner having to choose between two hot guys, or as if it’s a bubbly, “Barbie”-style story about fashion and a woman’s journey of self-discovery. In one of the most objectionable promotional pieces for the film, Lively is seen in a TikTok video, encouraging female fans to turn an outing to the movie as a fun, female-bonding activity. She declares, “Grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see it.”
There’s also been criticism that Lively, as well as Reynolds — a “master of shameless cross-promotion,” as the New York Times said — have used “It Ends With Us” to also sell audiences on some of their side ventures, including Lively’s new haircare line and Reynolds’ new film “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The post-premiere party for “It Ends With Us” notably featured cocktails made with Lively’s brand of alcoholic and non-alcoholic products and Reynolds’ Aviation Gin, as The Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, the set insider said that Baldoni wasn’t so easy to deal with either. In fact, he “is very similar to (Lively) in that he needs to be the smartest person in the room,” the insider also revealed.
The insider also questioned about how much Baldoni was “performing” his concern for the subject of domestic violence during interviews. While people have criticized Lively for the breezy way she promoted the movie, many have praised Baldoni praise for speaking on the red carpet about the film being a tribute to those who have survived the pain and trauma of intimate partner violence. But the insider countered that some of Baldoni’s statements came off as those of a “woke and performative feminist.
