BookTok is a side of TikTok that recommends and talks about books. It has led to several new and older books becoming breakout successes, one of them being “It Ends with Us.”
“It Ends with Us” is a book written by Colleen Hoover in 2016. This book follows dual points of view of a younger and older version of Lily Bloom, as she deals with domestic abuse from first, her father and then her husband.
It was popular in 2016, winning “Best Romance” at Goodreads Choice Award. However, it wasn’t until later that it sold over one million copies worldwide and was translated into 20 different languages because of BookTok. Hoover then released a sequel in 2022, and she announced a film adaptation of the book made by Wayfarer Entertainment and starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film.
A lot of people have mixed feelings about “It Ends with Us” and the domestic abuse elements in it, which led to a lot of people getting worried that a movie would gloss over or glorify it, and there have been mixed responses to the movie. However, it is the fallout between the Baldoni and Lively that has been drawing the attention of people .
Rumors started during the press tour when the two of them did not have any press events together. The reason, according to The Hollywood Reporter, was that during postproduction, Lively hired someone to help with reshoots and make a different edit of the movie than the one Baldoni made. It is unclear which one was used in the release or if it is real.
Adding to that, Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, helped write “a large chunk” of dialogue from a scene in which the two leading characters meet for the first time, something Baldoni and other members of the team did not know about at the time and could have broken the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike going on if true.
All of this led to the internet turning against Lively, especially when old interviewers came out about her negative behavior during interviews for other movies and shows. Adding to the push back was the fact she seemed to have glossed over domestic abuse in the movie during the press tour and promoted her hair care products and alcohol line instead. Lively never commented on this, but during this time, Baldoni hired a public relationship crisis manager.
Lively announced that she had filed a lawsuit with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath and Wayfarer studio of creating a hostile work environment and retaliation against her for reporting misconduct. Adding to the legal trouble, Baldoni’s former publicist came out and filed a defamation lawsuit against a former employee, Jennifer Abel, and crisis communications manager, Melissa Nathan, attempted to cover up Baldoni’s on-set behavior as well as undermine her reputation.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, stated that these accusations were “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt,” claiming Lively only filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation.” He also alleged Lively was “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.”
All of this caused drama and has ruined both Lively and Baldoni’s reputations, especially Baldoni, who has recently dropped from the WME talent agency and has his 2024 Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices rescinded. This has led Baldoni to also sue Lively and Reynolds on Jan 16, 2025.
He alleged that Lively was hard to work with on set, wouldn’t work with him unless he followed her rules, did her cut of the movie and gave herself a producer title. He felt “under duress” to agree or there would be no movie. However, she continued to be difficult after the movie with her demanding him not attend premieres or after parties with her and the other cast members.
She even allegedly got Reynolds involved to help shun Baldoni out by having him allegedly push WME to drop Baldoni. The couple also told Wayfarer to come out “accepting blame” public in August or the “gloves would come off,” meaning the current lawsuit. All this back and forth has left it unclear who is right or wrong.
A pretrial date for Lively’s lawsuit was set for Feb. 12, 2025, but has been moved up to Feb. 3, 2025, with the trial still set for March 2026.
