Jana Kramer has some choice words for Blake Lively. And she’s only the latest to weigh in.
It is difficult to understand why Blake Lively’s promotional tour for It Ends With Us is proving to be even more controversial than the very polarizing film itself.
What started with rumors of a cast feud has turned into a free-for-all social media campaign against the lead actress.
Blake Lively has had several missteps. Her comments about domestic violence may be the worst yet. And that’s where Jana Kramer is hoping to correct her.
Blake Lively attends the UK Gala Screening of “It Ends With Us” at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on August 08, 2024. (Photo Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
‘It Ends With Us’ is controversial for a reason
As we previously detailed, It Ends With Us is a film adaptation of a book by the same name. Despite some downright goofy character names, the story is fundamentally about domestic abuse.
The protagonist, a florist by the name of Lily Bloom, grew up in a household where her father abused her mother. And during the story, she finds herself married to — and pregnant by — another domestic abuser.
In the story, Lily makes a chillingly realistic choice. She decides to stay with her abuser through the end of the pregnancy, and then to co-parent with him as exes, despite knowing what he is.
Blake Lively attends the “It Ends With Us” photocall at IET Building: Savoy Place on August 08, 2024. (Photo Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)
It’s important to remember that fictional characters are not role models. Lily and her abuser clearly are not. This film is not an instruction manual on how to escape abuse. But some would rather skip the film entirely if they know how unsatisfying the ending is.
From the marketing of It Ends With Us, some people have assumed that it’s a rom-com — not a theatrical release of an especially bleak Lifetime movie. Though the film is a commercial success, that is arguably a promotional error.
And so is the tone that Blake Lively seems to be striking in interviews. Her decision to promote her own brands, from alcohol to hair care, seems weird to people given the subject matter. And her comments on domestic violence may be her biggest blunder.
Jana Kramer attends the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 22, 2023. (Photo Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images)
Jana Kramer has a bone to pick with Blake Lively
For years, Jana Kramer’s primary point of discussion when it comes to relationships seemed to be her erstwhile husband’s cheating. And, of course, his alleged “sex addiction,” which is not an actual condition recognized by the broader psychiatric community. But there’s much more to her than that humiliating chapter in her life.
On the Sunday, August 25 episode of her Whine Down podcast, she delved into It Ends With Us, the film’s disastrous marketing, and Blake Lively’s tone-deaf remarks.
“It’s hard for people to talk about domestic violence when they haven’t, themselves … in real life had the hands of domestic violence on them,” Jana observed. She is very correct.
During a BBC News interview, Blake Lively expressed that she felt that it was “deeply empowering” that her character, Lily Bloom, was not “defined by” the domestic abuse that she endured. That isn’t sitting well with Jana Kramer.
“For people to say it doesn’t define you, it does define you,” Jana Kramer then emphasized. “It has made me who I am. And though people can say it doesn’t define you, it [does].”
She continued: “One of the biggest pieces of me is domestic violence.”
Blake Lively attends the “It Ends With Us” UK Gala Screening at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on August 08, 2024. (Photo Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)
‘The movie is about domestic violence’
Jana Kramer is absolutely correct. Survivors of domestic abuse — especially children, but also adults — have many of their survival instincts rewired. Additionally, having faced absolute evil in your own home, from someone who likely claimed to love you, can impact people’s worldviews in profound ways.
Previously, Jana Kramer has spoken up about an abusive ex from when she was much younger, one who she feared would end her life.
“I would love the messaging to go to DV with [the] media instead of talking about riffs and everything else,” Kramer critiqued of the It Ends With Us marketing. “The movie is about domestic violence.” As such, she would like to see the messaging be “about domestic violence and how to help people and how to get help.”
Jana Kramer Blasts Blake Lively Over Tasteless Abuse Comments & ‘It Ends With … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.