National Domestic Violence Hotline reports that “an average of 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States — more than 12 million women and men over the course of a single year.”
This staggering statistic speaks volumes about the importance of spreading awareness and resources to victims of domestic violence. One of the scariest things about domestic violence is not only the horror of it all, but someone you know could be going through this trauma, hiding it behind closed doors out of protection for someone that they still love. This topic isn’t talked about enough, and is often illy portrayed in the media.
“It Ends With Us”, a book-to-movie adaptation telling the story of a woman in an abusive relationship, takes the audience through a journey from the beginning of the relationship, to the end. This movie stars Blake Lively, a popular actress, and is directed by a well-known feminist, Justin Baldoni, who always plays her on-screen partner. Imagine what this film’s popularity could have done for the real-life victims of domestic abuse. The success of the movie could have led to more conversations surrounding this topic, and open the doors for victims to run through. Whether that’s opening more safety homes, sparking more charity organizations, or having the courage to talk to someone you know about this trauma, imagine if the conversation surrounding the movie was for the victims.
Instead, the conversation was smeared with behind the scenes drama, involving serious allegations Blake Lively has thrown towards director and co-star, Justin Baldoni.
Perhaps this film was fated to fall. Author of “It Ends With Us”, Colleen Hoover, is known for her controversial, and out of touch writing. There was a first wave of success for a moment thanks to the BookTok community on TikTok, which resulted in the novel “It Ends With Us” to hit number one on New York Times Best Sellers in January 2022. However as the book spread worldwide, many people criticized the novel for romanticizing domestic abuse, catering to toxic masculinity structures, simplifying the complexities of trauma, and how these writing choices are bad role models for young women and teens. On top of all of this criticism, Hoover attempted to release a coloring book based off of the serious novel.
The quality of being tone-deaf spilled into the marketing of the movie adaptation. With many resurfaced videos, Blake Lively was put under fire for her horrible treatment towards journalists as well as promoting the movie’s floral aesthetics and her character’s complexities as a woman, and ignoring the graphic content. Many people felt that her energy was misplaced when promoting the movie when Lively said in a promotional video, “grab your friends and wear your florals”, as if the film is a fun, lighthearted rom-com.
In the meanwhile, Director Justin Baldoni was barely in the spotlight, but always shining it on domestic abuse. He didn’t do many interviews, and when he did, Baldoni always spoke about the serious tones of the film. Baldoni credited the organization No More to helping him portray a truthful look into these relationships. The director talked with CBS saying, “The question that’s always asked is ‘Why did she stay?’ and that’s the wrong question. What we need to be asking ourselves is ‘Why do men harm?’”
Things started to look more than suspicious when the “It Ends With Us” premiere rolled around. Lively was seen taking pictures with all of the cast members, plus Hoover, except for Baldoni who was nowhere to be found. He later revealed that he and his family were “in the basement” and was “not invited to his own premiere”. With all of the collective hate Lively was receiving, she put the internet into question when it was announced that she is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment, orchestrating a smear campaign against her, emotional distress, and other offenses.
The actress gained support from old cast members, cast members of the film, and Colleen Hoover herself. In addition to the public support, the damages toward Baldoni were almost immediate. The director was dropped from his talent agency, dropped by his podcast “Man Enough”, and was revoked “The Voices of Solidarity Award” given to him by The Vital Voices Global Partnership for being an ally to women. However, Baldoni bounced back with a counter lawsuit for $400 million against Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds, a lawsuit against the New York Times for publishing false accusations, and a lawsuit against Disney for including a parody of him played by Reynolds.
In the midst of all these legal actions, Colleen Hoover and other cast members of “It Ends With Us”, took down their posts in support of the actress. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal teams have finally settled a date for their ongoing lawsuits against one another, March 9, 2026.
To learn more about the truth of what actually happened during the filming of the movie, no one will know for certain until next year. We won’t know who is the victim of these offenses until the evidence is uncovered in court. Despite the truth, it is saddening to see such a big opportunity for Hollywood to do good for victims of domestic violence get overshadowed with lawsuits.
The Iowa Domestic Hotline is 1-800-770-1650.
