*Mentions of sexual harassment and domestic violence
“It Ends with Us,” originally published in 2016, was written by popular romance and young adult fiction author Colleen Hoover. A sequel titled “It Starts with Us” was published in 2022. A film based on the original title began planning and production in 2019 and was released in 2024, as noted by In Style. The film starred Blake Lively as the female lead and Justin Baldoni as one of the male leads. Baldoni, Lively and Hoover were also part of the executive production team.
A quick summary from Sparknotes details that the book and film's plot follows a young woman as she navigates relationships and personal battles. This story includes difficult topics like abuse, toxic relationships and misogyny. Many have called Hoover out for being tone deaf on sensitive issues, including The Brooklyn College Vanguard, who shared that the book “glorifies domestic abuse.” Hoover briefly addressed these criticisms online and the original videos of allegations have been deleted. Other videos on TikTok alleged that one of Hoover’s sons, Levi, sexually harassed a sixteen-year-old girl. These accusations are still only allegations and no more information has been released on the situation by any parties involved, but many feel that Hoover's response swept her son’s allegations under the rug. I saw the original accusation videos and Hoover’s response when they were first posted and I think that there should have been further investigation of whether these events did happen.
Another topic of conversation is the quality of the film which is stirring up discussions on social media and amongst film critics. The film has a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 6.7/10 on IMDb and 53% on Metacritic. Personally, I’ve heard enough to never want to pay to see this film. In addition to discussions of the poor film quality, I have also heard that many controversies have arisen with the release of the film.
Co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni developed a negative relationship while filming, according to Variety. Lively and Baldoni allegedly had different creative ideas and contrasting visions of how the characters should be portrayed, with articles mentioning sources who spoke on choosing sides, such as US Weekly. According to a Cosmopolitan article, an incident occurred between the two co-stars when Baldoni was allegedly hesitant to lift Lively into the air due to his history of back problems. Many on social media are accusing Baldoni of fat-shaming Lively, but it seems to me he was simply concerned about avoiding injury. Fans and social media users, including myself, were obviously not on set to witness what happened, but Rolling Stone shared that many crew members are saying that tensions were obvious.
After disagreements from filming came to light, past comments, detailed on Page Six, made by Lively also resurfaced. Lively is rumored to have taken over creative liberties from Baldoni and has been accused of being a bully by many fans online. Another recently resurfaced interview was highlighted in the New York Post and has created more controversy because the video includes Lively admitting to laughing through “Shawshank Redemption,” a widely known sad and intense film. While many people, including her brother-in-law and sister, have defended her, many fans have turned against her.
Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, is famous for being one of Hollywood's best goofy funny men. As controversies surrounding Lively grew, Vulture shared that rumors had surfaced that Reynolds broke the Writers Guild of America strike in 2023 by helping Lively rewrite scenes for the film. Lively added fuel to the fire by telling the press that her husband helped write an important scene. I believe that the reality of the situation will be key to how Hollywood and fans will treat Reynolds in the future, as he allegedly broke a union rule of writing during a strike.
I feel that Reynolds’ silence suggests he is supporting his wife, which is all well and good, but I connect that with him supporting the statements Lively has made. I love Reynolds for his personality and outstanding performances as the MCU’s (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Deadpool, but recent rumors will have me keeping an eye on his actions in the future.
The Herald’s Angels After Hours podcast has previously done an episode about the book, available to listen to here.
By Kailey Wurr, A&E Editor
Graphic by Shae-Lynn Henderson
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