Breaking Down All the It Ends With Us Drama

The movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us is coming to theaters on Friday and as its stars celebrate the premiere, a few moments have occurred online and on the red carpet that are leading internet sleuths to speculate on potential drama behind the scenes.

Hoover’s novel, which became a runaway success after its release in 2016, centers on the story of two characters, Lily and Ryle, played in the movie by Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The two actors also served as co-executive producers, and Baldoni is the film’s director. Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, and Hasan Minhaj also star.

As the cast began appearing at premieres for the film this week, fans noted that Baldoni did not seem to interact with the other stars. Online, people have suggested that something is brewing between Baldoni, Lively, and the rest of the cast. Here’s what to know about It Ends With Us and what's behind the rumored cast drama.

The controversy behind It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us has drawn debate since it was published. Hoover’s novel is said to be inspired by her parents' relationship and depicts a story about intimate partner violence. Although it’s a highly popular book with over 300,000 reviews on Amazon, It Ends With Us was contentious because of its depiction of domestic abuse. The book and the movie detail the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of Lily at the hands of Ryle, who decides to make a change after they find out that Lily is pregnant. They end up getting a divorce but decide to co-parent the child together.

Many readers had a negative reaction to this decision, and were upset that the character decided to stay with him. Still, several other readers responded saying Lily’s choice was realistic because leaving an abusive relationship outright is not always possible. 

In an interview with Today in 2023, Hoover defended her choice to have this be the characters’ ending. “There were no resources for women to leave situations like that,” Hoover said at the time, adding that her parents divorced when she was two years old. “She was able to get out of that relationship. And then from then on, I just remember growing up with a mother who was so strong and independent.”

What’s happening with Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively? 

Usually, at movie premieres for blockbuster movies, the stars of the movie pose on the red carpet together. That did not seem to be the case at the New York premiere for It Ends With Us on Aug. 6, where Baldoni did not appear to take pictures with his co-stars, instead posing only with his wife Emily Baldoni, and his friends. Lively was photographed with her own group, which included her husband Ryan Reynolds, his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star Hugh Jackman, her mother-in-law Tammy Reynolds, and co-star Brandon Sklenar. She was also photographed with co-stars Slate and Isabela Ferrer. Baldoni’s Instagram comment section has become inundated with questions about why he didn’t pose with Lively.

Internet sleuths also noted that the It Ends With Us cast does not follow Baldoni on Instagram. One TikToker shared a video showing that the principal cast, including Hoover, does not follow Baldoni, but that he follows all of them.

Other moments have caused online commentators to suggest something is up. People have pointed to a red carpet interview with Slate in which she avoided mentioning Baldoni after being asked a question about what it was like to have him as a director and scene partner. She responded by talking about how it’s tough to do two jobs at once.

Baldoni’s podcast co-host, Liz Plank, attended the New York premiere but didn’t post any pictures on Instagram with him, and instead praised Lively online, leading to more speculation. 

It all sounds like a version of the Don’t Worry Darling drama of 2022. Many people online have suggested that the building drama could be a marketing strategy, citing Baldoni’s villainous and abusive character in the movie as a reason to keep him on the sidelines in the promotion. But there is no proof that it’s been orchestrated this way.

Another theory is that Lively and Baldoni fell out over creative differences in the post-production process. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was a rift between them, and later, two different cuts of the film were made.

Lively, who produced and starred in the movie, had a fair share of power in shaping the adaptation. THR reports, citing unnamed sources, that Lively commissioned a cut of It Ends With Us from the editor Shane Reid. Lively previously worked with Reid on the music video for Taylor Swift's "I Bet You Think About Me" and Reid later worked on Deadpool & Wolverine.

It's not clear if the final version of It Ends With Us included Lively's cut. Oona Flaherty and Robb Sullivan are credited as the film editors.

Lively also fueled rumors that Reynolds stepped in to work on the film, saying at the New York premiere that he helped write "the iconic rooftop scene" in It Ends With Us.

“We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does," she said. "So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his,”

Reynolds did come up with a good portion of the dialogue for that scene, per THR, but he didn't write the whole thing. It Ends With Us screenwriter Christy Hall told People that she wasn't aware Reynolds had worked on the dialogue.

"Like when he says, 'Pretty please with a cherry on top,' and she talks about the maraschino cherries," Hall said. "When I saw a cut I was like, 'Oh, that's cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing.' So if I'm being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful."

She added: "The moments that I felt like needed to be honored are there. So I recognize the scene and I'm proud of the scene. And if those flourishes came from Ryan, I think that's wonderful."

In an interview with People published Aug. 8, Baldoni said he was "mesmerized" the first time he heard Lively play Lily. He says he knew "in that moment that the movie was going to work. And I just had to get out of the way enough to make sure that it did.”

Backlash to Blake Lively’s responses about domestic violence

Since the premiere of It Ends With Us, some fans have expressed frustration with the way Lively has been promoting the film. She drew criticism for not speaking on the film’s subject of intimate partner violence and seemingly promoting it as a romantic comedy, telling people to “grab your friends and wear your florals” in a promotional video. She also posted a video on her Instagram with Colleen Hoover, Jenny Slate, and Isabella Ferrer, captioned, “I’m gonna be sad when marketing is over and I don’t have excuses to sit on my couch dressed up with you ladies.”

In a recent interview, Lively was asked about how people who felt seen by the film’s message should approach her if they have a chance to interact with her. She responded with a joke which didn’t land well with many online. “Like, asking for my address or my phone number, location share, I could just location share you and then we could just…,” she says, joking about what her fans might want from an exchange with her, as her co-star Brandon Sklenar sits next to her silently. “I’m a Virgo so every time I’m like, are we talking logistics, emotionally.”

The response was seen by some as “callous,” as one Reddit user commented under a post with the video, and a missed opportunity to share resources or support for survivors. She later uploaded an Instagram story that shared statistics about the number of women who are victims of domestic violence, with a link to resources for those in need. However, some felt that this was too little, too late after the recent interview and moments during the press tour during which she has promoted her recently launched hair care line and beverage company, Betty Buzz.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Justin Baldoni hired a crisis PR veteran to help get a handle on the bubbling drama surrounding this movie and its cast. THR reported that there was indeed a rift between Baldoni and Lively because there were two different cuts of the movie. One of those was commissioned by Lively, who allegedly hired Shane Reid, an editor on her husband’s recent movie Deadpool & Wolverine. While it’s unclear where the dueling cuts landed, this report has added fuel to the fire. When Baldoni was asked about directing a sequel, he diplomatically told an interviewer on a red carpet, “I think that there are better people for that one. I think Blake Lively's ready to direct, that's what I think.”

Blake Lively’s outfits draw criticism

Amid everything is the discourse over Lively’s fashion choices both in the movie and on her press stops. TIME’s Stephanie Zacharek makes note of Lily’s questionable clothes in the movie in her review, calling it a “hippie-patchwork wardrobe.” Some fans have called Lively’s costumes “frumpy,” though Baldoni told People in May that he was “not worried about it" and costume designer Eric Daman said viewers needed to "see the context of the clothing and how it’s actually put together in the scenes."

Lively’s own recent looks for the It Ends With Us press tour have caught attention for being more eclectic than usual. The star has worn several floral looks on the tour, perhaps in honor of her It Ends With Us character, who is a florist. The fashion account @Hautelemode wrote in a caption that her looks on this press tour have been “the definition of “Hot & Cold” cause in one instance I’m gasping for air (positively) and the next I’m gasping for air (negatively).”

One look that caught the public’s attention was the Versace gown that Britney Spears wore back in 2002, saying in an Instagram story post that it was tribute to her. “The ultimate queen who made us all want to sparkle and write and share our stories,” the post reads. The decision to wear the dress was met with mixed reactions from people online, given that she had alterations made to it.