Is there drama between these ‘It Ends with Us’ stars? What we know

“It Ends with Us,” the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, is in theaters now. But rumors of an alleged feud between the cast start with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
The movie follows a flower shop owner named Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively), who falls in love with a dashing neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) and reconnects with her stoic childhood sweetheart, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar). Directed by Baldoni and produced by Lively, the heart-wrenching film is a largely faithful retelling of Hoover’s book, grappling with the insidious nature of domestic violence and cycles of abuse across generations.
“It Ends with Us” also stars Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter.
While the movie marks the “Gossip Girl” alum’s first starring role since 2018’s “A Simple Favor,” it also marks a return to rumors surrounding on-set drama for Lively as internet sleuths have been digging into her seemingly rocky relationship with Baldoni.
From oddly paired press junkets and awkward red-carpet appearances to interview snubs from the cast, here’s why the movie’s promotional tour has the internet up in arms.
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It all started Aug. 6 at the New York City premiere of “It Ends with Us,” when fans noticed there wasn’t a single shot of the entire cast together.
Lively was photographed with husband Ryan Reynolds (who has joined in on the press junket run for this movie as well), fellow A-lister friend Hugh Jackman, and co-stars Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar.
But what stood out the most was that Baldoni only appeared on the red carpet solo and side-by-side with his wife, Emily Baldoni, and other friends and family — but never with Lively or other co-stars.
According to People magazine, Baldoni also allegedly didn’t introduce the film ahead of the screening with Lively and Hoover, despite being the director and star of the film.
Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, acquired the rights to the book in 2019, and Lively’s casting in “It Ends with Us” was announced in January 2023.
Following the premiere, internet sleuths began scrutinizing the cast’s social media activity and claimed that Hoover and Lively unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram.
None of the main cast members of “It Ends with Us” follow Baldoni on the social media platform, as of publication. Lively follows Sklenar, Hoover and Slate.
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Lively has promoted the film in joint interviews with co-stars Sklenar, Slate and Ferrer.
Even Lively’s husband Reynolds got in on the promo action, conducting a playful interview with Sklenar, in which he pretended to crash the actor’s press junket.
However, fans began to notice Baldoni was doing press for the film primarily in solo interviews, including appearances on the “Today” show, “CBS Mornings” and “Access Hollywood.”
When asked about Lively on “Access Hollywood,” Baldoni gushed about the “brilliance of Blake Lively” and how she informed his performance as Ryle.
“She’s such a wonderful listener,” Baldoni said. “So, having her as a scene partner made me better.”
Fans doubled down on the cast drama rumors when Slate — who plays Lively’s on-screen best friend Allysa — avoided directly answering a question about Baldoni’s directing chops.
“Talk to me, what was that like — having (Justin Baldoni) be director but also scene partner?” an interviewer for Deadline asked Slate at the New York premiere.
To which Slate answered, “I mean, what an intense job? To have to do so many things.” She added that she “was looking around just being like, ‘I’m good with just acting, I love it.’ ”
And at no point did she mention Baldoni.
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However, during an interview with People magazine, Sklenar opened up about working with Baldoni and said the “Jane the Virgin” actor did a “great” job balancing his duties as actor, director and producer.
“The entire crew that he ensembled was so incredible,” Sklenar added. “Everybody in this film is just on the top of their game across the board. It was a really pleasant environment to work in.”
At the movie’s New York City premiere Aug. 6, Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight that he felt there were “better people” suited to direct the sequel to “It Ends with Us.”
In October 2022, Hoover picked up where “It Ends with Us” left off and published “It Starts With Us,” centering on the relationship with Lily and Atlas. It has not been confirmed whether a sequel is in the works.
“I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct, that’s what I think,” Baldoni told ET, adding: “This isn’t my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for. This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I’m just so grateful that we’re here, five years in the making.”
On Aug. 8, in an interview with the “Today” show, Baldoni continued to praise his co-star, saying that while Lively is “best known as an actress” and “fashion icon,” she’s “so much more than that.”
“She’s dynamic, creative. She had her hands in every part of this production and everything she touched, she made better,” Baldoni said.
In an interview published on Today.com, Baldoni said, “Every movie is a miracle. And then, of course, you’re navigating complex personalities and trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision. And mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them.”
He added he approached leading the adaptation of Hoover’s 2016 novel from a collaborative place. “I’m a ‘best idea wins’ person,” Baldoni said, “and I always have been, to a fault.”
The actor said at times he felt as though people on set wondered “if I know what I’m doing or if I have a point of view because I’m so willing to have my vision changed.”
“You don’t have to listen to everybody and that didn’t happen all the time,” he said, “but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much.”
But while Baldoni served as director and producer of “It Ends with Us,” it was Reynolds who Lively praised for his creative contributions.
“The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it,” Lively revealed to E! News. “Nobody knows that but you now.”
“We help each other,” she added. “He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his. I mean, he’s all over this film.”
The film’s screenwriter, Christy Hall, told People magazine she wasn’t aware Reynolds had any part in writing that scene.
“There were a couple of little things that I thought had been improvised. Like when he says, ‘Pretty please with a cherry on top,’ and she talks about the maraschino cherries. 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,” Hall said.
While the film adaptation of “It Ends with Us” doesn’t shy away from tackling the book’s unflinching portrayal of domestic violence, many fans have taken issue with the lighthearted tone of the film’s marketing.
“Just so you know, if you haven’t read It Ends with Us, it’s not a romcom,” @vnesswiftie wrote on X. “Don’t grab your girls and florals. Know that it’s about domestic violence and there are some triggering scenes. This promo of this movie is pissing me off.”
Another X user compared the film’s marketing to the campaign for psychological thriller “Don’t Worry Darling.”
“It Ends with Us promo and Don’t Worry Darling promo ignoring the gender-based violence central to their plots and just not treating it with any care whatsoever,” @SNOOPYSD0GHOUSE wrote. “I need this brand of ‘feminist’ movies to die.”
“Having watched It Ends with Us, I’m now quite confused why the promo was giving romcom instead of pushing a message encouraging women in those situations,” X user @AlllDaye wrote.
Contributing: Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY
Safe Horizon’s hotline offers crisis counseling, safety planning, and assistance finding shelters 1(800) 621-HOPE (4673). It also has a chat feature where you can reach out for help from a computer or phone confidentially. 
Survivors can also call the New York City Anti-Violence Project’s 24/7 English/Spanish hotline at 212-714-1141 and get support. If calling is not safe but email is possible, make a report at avp.org/get-help and leave safe contact information, and someone will reach out.