Why It Ends With Us Fans Suspect a Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni Rift

‘It Ends With Us’ Fans Speculate There’s Drama Between Blake Lively and Director Justin Baldoni

It Ends With Us fans are starting to sense some tension. 

As the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni movie premieres in theaters Aug. 9, speculation has emerged about the behind-the-scenes dynamic of its cast members. In fact, fans have pointed out that Justin, who stars in and directed the film, didn’t join fellow cast mates—including Blake, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer—for much of the press tour.

And when It Ends With Us had its big premiere in New York City Aug. 6, Justin kept his distance from his costars, as well as author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the book which the film is based on. 

“So something DEFINITELY happened on the set of It Ends With Us,” one user on X, formerly Twitter, speculated Aug. 7. “I need to get to the bottom of it.”

So, what exactly is going on? While no one working on the film has publicly addressed rift rumors, the cast’s behavior at the premiere did raise eyebrows.

After all, Blake, who stars as protagonist Lily Bloom and is one of the film’s producers, posed for photos alongside Brandon, Jenny and Isabela at the film’s premiere, but Justin, 40, only appeared in photos with his wife Emily Baldoni, and his personal guests. It is worth noting, however, that the cast only did small group shots, and not a full group photo. 

Blake also attended the premiere alongside her husband Ryan Reynolds—who, Blake noted to E! News on the carpet, wrote some dialogue for the film—as well as his Deadpool & Wolverine costar Hugh Jackman. 

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This detail from the 36-year-old—who shares kids James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4 and Olin, born in 2023 with Ryan—also sparked a conversation on social media, with one fan even alleging on X, “Streets are saying Ms. Blake Lively had her husband a little TOO involved with the production & promo of the movie.”

However, in response to speculation about behind-the-scenes edits of the film, an insider close to the situation told E! News, “There are often several cuts during the post-production process and it’s the very nature of post-production. And everyone was in complete agreement about the final cut of the film and that it’s the best version of the film.”

Still, there were a handful of other moments at the film’s premiere that caught fans’ attention. During a red carpet interview with Deadline, Jenny—who plays Justin’s sister in the film—dodged a question about what it was like to work with the actor-filmmaker.

“What an intense job,” Jenny told the publication in response to the inquiry. “I just found myself being like, ‘I really just want to have one job at once.’ In fact, I’ve often felt that way, like I really like writing and it’s special to be a writer—like yeah. I was looking around and just being like, ‘I’m good with just acting.’”

Justin, for his part, shut down the prospect of directing the film’s potential spin-off, or an adaptation of It Starts With Us, during a red carpet interview. 

“I think there are better people for that one,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the premiere. “I think Blake is ready to direct, that’s what I think.”

Gotham/WireImage

Once inside the theater, Justin also did not introduce the film to the audience with Blake and Colleen. Some social media sleuthing has also proven that the cast, and Colleen, does not currently follow Justin on social media, while he does follow them. 

And after the film’s premiere, Justin detailed a bit of the trouble he faced as the film’s director. 

“You’re navigating complex personalities and trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision,” he explained to Today Aug. 9. “You don’t have to listen to everybody and that didn’t happen all the time, but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much.”

Some fans believe that It Ends With Us’ promotion—which has included flower shop pop-ups and somewhat of a crossover between Deadpool & Wolverine—hasn’t been as delicate as a film about domestic violence should be. In fact, fans noted that Justin is among the only production members to discuss the deeper themes in interviews. 

“Does anyone else find it icky how they are promoting it ends with us?” another fan wrote. “Not a single person other than justin is actually talking about what that book/movie is about.”

Meanwhile others are simply happy to watch the events unfold. As another X user wrote, “Justin baldoni and the It Ends With Us cast beefing is so funny to me.” 

E! News has reached out to reps for Blake and Justin but has not yet heard back.

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