Amid rumors of behind-the-scenes drama for her upcoming film, “It Ends With Us,” Blake Lively faced intense backlash this week after footage went viral of her acting hostile towards a journalist during a 2016 interview.
Kersti Fraer, the reporter behind the resurfaced interview, said a comment Lively made early in the conversation felt like a “bullet” and left her feeling “almost paralyzed.”
Flair re-shared the interview with Lively and co-star Parker Posey on YouTube on August 10, captioning it “The Blake Lively interview that’ll make you want to quit your job.”
The Norwegian journalist kicked off the conversation by congratulating Lively on her “little bump,” before pointing to the star’s obviously pregnant belly.
At the time, the Gossip Girl star had made public appearances with a bump and it was reported that she was expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds.
Despite this, Lively sarcastically retorted to the reporter, who doesn’t appear to be pregnant, saying, “Congrats on your big belly.”
Speaking to Mail Online about the interview, Mr Fraa said: “[Her comment] I was almost paralyzed. To be honest, that comment was like a bullet for me because I obviously wasn’t pregnant and I couldn’t be pregnant.”
“I felt very uncomfortable throughout the interview and just wanted to leave and get away as quickly as possible,” she added.
Flair also said he felt “disrespected and ignored” during a talk focused on the film “Café Society.”
She began by asking the stars whether they enjoyed the fashion in Woody Allen’s film, which is set in the 1930s.
As Posey began to answer a question, Lively interjected: “Everybody wants to talk about clothes, but I wonder if they ask men about clothes.”
Flair insisted that she “should have asked” the male actors, but Lively ignored Flair and sat across from Posey and began arguing about the best costumes men have worn in movies.
“I felt like a total failure. I kept replaying it in my head after the interview, trying to work out what we said, what we did, why they acted the way they did. It just didn’t make sense,” Ms Fraar told Mail Online.
Blake Lively is at the center of a media storm amid chaos on her “It Ends With Us” promotional tour. Gotham/WireImage/Getty Images
“It was a traumatic experience for me,” Fraar said. “I was there to do my job, and they tried to make it as difficult as possible for me to do my job.”
“I was there to promote the film,” she continued, “and I was invited to meet them. It didn’t feel like that at all.”
“It made me question whether I wanted to do this kind of interview again,” she added.
In a separate video interview with TMZ, Flair said she welcomed an apology from Lively, eight years after the disastrous interview.
“If she wants to apologize, that’s great. If you’ve misbehaved, own up to it and admit it and say, ‘You know what, I had a bad day today. I’m sorry,’ she might learn something from it and not do it again,” she said.
“But I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she added.
Lively is currently at the center of a media storm following drama on the promotional tour for “It Ends With Us,” with multiple reports of a feud between her and co-star Justin Baldoni.
As speculation grew about what had happened, Baldoni hired crisis communications manager Melissa Nathan to represent him.
