The It Ends With Us feud is making me uncharacteristically uncomfortable
This article includes mentions of domestic violence, and may be distressing for some readers. Helplines can be found at the close.
You’d have to be living under a rock to have not seen the incessant headlines surrounding It Ends With Us.
The movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s mammoth 2016 novel has finally been released, and the press tour has been press touring. However, the majority of the headlines, TikTok theories and podcast segments have all centred around the rumoured feud between the two leads Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni –who also directed the film.
Ordinarily, the concept of celebrity feuds enthrals me (the Don’t Worry Darling saga was my entire personality for a moment there), but something about this situation has left a bad taste in my mouth.
For context, the book’s rights were optioned by Justin’s production company Wayfarer Studios back in 2019, however production didn’t begin until mid 2023 when Blake signed on to star across from Justin. Blake would later be named an executive producer of the project.
Justin, who you might recognise from Jane The Virgin, is outspokenly passionate about male vulnerability, hosting the hugely popular Man Enough podcast which explores “how the messages of masculinity show up in relationships, body image, privilege, fatherhood, sex, success, mental health and so much more.”
While his involvement in the project (for those who don’t know, IEWU is a story about domestic abuse) seemed fitting holistically, Colleen did face backlash for both Justin and Blake’s casting as Ryle and Lily from die-hard fans, claiming the pair were too old to play the characters. However, she clarified the reasoning behind this during an interview during last year’s Book Bonanza festival.
“Back when I wrote ‘It Ends With Us,’ the new adult (genre) was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon. As I started making this movie, I’m like, we need to age them out, because I messed up,” the author explained.
Unlike the DWD drama (where gossip accounts like Deux Moi were rife with submissions alleging an onset feud in real time), production of IEWU seemed pretty stock standard. The only news articles that appeared were those criticising Blake’s character Lily’s wardrobe choices (fair), otherwise everything appeared to be trucking along nicely.
However, after last week’s world premiere in New York City, the internet started to suspect something was not quite right. Firstly, Justin appeared to keep to himself on the carpet, while the rest of the cast posed for photos together and looked joyous. If anything, the evening seemed more focused on Blake and her husband ubby Ryan Reynolds than anything, as well as the important topics like Blake’s hair care range and outfit…
After this, sleuths took to Instagram and discovered that Blake, Ryan and Colleen had all unfollowed Justin on the platform, which in 2024 is a pretty heavy-handed move.
Naturally, then came an onslaught of rumours about what exactly could be causing the rift, with the predominant theories being that this is either all a PR stunt to get eyes on the movie or that there was a huge power struggle between Justin and Blake on set.
Regardless of what went down, I feel really disappointed that a movie with such sensitive subject matter is being overshadowed by a “he said, she said” alleged feud that is pitting a man against a woman. The rollout for IEWU should have been handled with care, but instead we’re all here gossiping and theorising, digging for anything remotely salacious to use as evidence.
Perhaps it speaks to the Hollywoodification of it all. Promotion of the film – a Taylor Swift song used in the trailer, Blake’s insistence of wearing florals to every premiere and the cross-promotion between Blake’s IEWU and Ryan’s Deadpool and Wolverine – has all felt very glossy, so maybe an adjacent scandal isn’t that surprising.
My hope is that the more people see the film, the further away from this feud we’ll get, and then maybe we’ll have space to start having the critical conversations this story is supposed to prompt.
If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. You can also call safe steps 24/7 Family Violence Response Line on 1800 015 188 or visit www.safesteps.org.au for further information.
Written by Lil Friedmann. You can follow her at @lilfriedmann on socials.
Image credit: @sonypicturesaus Instagram + Punkee