It Ends With Us is a box office hit, but its success is being overshadowed by reports of behind-the-scenes drama.

The film stars Blake Lively in the lead role, while Justin Baldoni (of Jane the Virgin fame) directed the film and portrayed a main love interest; the film drew in $120 million globally during its opening weekend.

Neither Lively or Baldoni have spoken out publicly against the other, but suspicions began during the film’s promotional tour.

While lead actors are usually paired together for red carpets, press interviews, and a barrage of social media content, Lively and Baldoni have kept an obvious distance from each other.

They have not been interviewed or pictured together, they attended separate premiere events, they’ve avoided mentioning each other as much as possible and Lively appears to have unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram.

If a rift exists, the rest of the cast have publicly sided with Lively.

Several main cast members have stood with Lively for promotional tours and have also unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram.

The alleged rift is speculated to be about the two wanting the film to go in different directions – and Lively exerting the Hollywood heavyweight status of her husband Ryan Reynolds to get her way.

Rumours attempt to pin blame

Colleen Hoover’s book was published in 2016, and has sold more than eight million copies.

In 2019, Baldoni announced he had won the rights to turn It Ends With Us into a film with his production company, Wayfarer Studios.

It Ends With Us deals with domestic violence, toxic relationships, and generational trauma; even in his Instagram announcement of gaining film rights, Baldoni included trigger warnings.

Throughout the film’s production and promotional tour, Baldoni continued to emphasise the storyline’s content and the delicacy with which it needed to be handled.

He told The Hollywood Reporter he was inspired by the stories of women who had read the book and had then ended cycles of violence in their lives.

“So often in our industry, we’re told we’re not curing cancer, we’re not saving lives, just making art, just making movies,” Baldoni said.

“To that I say, well, I wonder if we’re making the right movies then … this is one that could actually make a real difference, this could save lives.”

Wanting to make sure the story was told with sensitivity and from a female perspective, Baldoni said there were many times he took a step back and let women lead the way during the production, including Lively.

“[Lively] touched so many aspects of this production, and everything she touched she made better. She’s so responsive and she’s so reactive,” Baldoni told Elle.

He had also consulted with non-profit No More during pre-production, and his production company has since partnered with the organisation to provide resources and information related to the abuse depicted in the film.

Lively, who is also a producer of It Ends With Us, appears to have chosen a different route for her promotional run, seemingly depicting the film more as a romance, while allegedly glossing over the domestic violence issues.

She has been criticised for encouraging fans to wear florals to see the film (Lively’s character owns a flower shop), concurrently promoting her new haircare line, and mixing promotions with her husband’s new film, Deadpool & Wolverine.

Lively revealed her husband had rewritten a key scene during the Hollywood writers’ strike, and reports claim she commissioned a different cut of the film from its editor Shane Reid, a frequent collaborator with Reynolds.

As criticism showed no sign of abating, Lively posted information about domestic violence statistics in the US with a link to a help hotline on her Instagram Story. For some the gesture was too little, too late.

This is how Blake Lively is promoting her movie about escaping an abusive relationship and breaking the cycle of the abuse…

Unhinged and tone deaf.

This isn’t Barbie! pic.twitter.com/ZM7HlGyrpE

— Gabriel Divina (@GabrielDivina2) August 13, 2024

idk isn’t it weird how the “It Ends With Us” movie is primarily being marketed as a rom-com when it’s very clearly a story about domestic violence? like imagine going in thinking it’s a cutesy movie with Blake Lively & you get triggered by the DV themes 🙃🙃🙃

— Devon🇵🇸 (@anxiousxpress) August 13, 2024

Watching Blake Lively, The Plantation Princess, be so flip and cruel about victims of domestic violence is really something.

You could have just learned the names of one or two resources for DV victims and said you’d guide them to those resources. pic.twitter.com/WHiCxLdKQ5

— Cooper (@Cooperstreaming) August 14, 2024

There are also rumours Lively had felt fat-shamed by Baldoni as he struggled to lift her for a scene; simultaneous reports say Baldoni had pre-existing back issues.

As Lively faces accusations of icing Baldoni out of the film’s production and press run, Baldoni has also come under fire for hiring a crisis PR team known for working with Johnny Depp when he was accused of domestic abuse by Amber Heard.

Social media users also criticised the actor for describing the original book as “sexy” and trying to empathise with his character in the film in order to portray him; his character commits domestic violence.

justin baldoni has spent his entire career trying to prove he’s a feminist and “one of the good ones” only to turn around and hire johnny depp’s pr manager after directing a movie about DV. a reminder that even the men who try to convince you they can be trusted, can’t.

— j #teamlemon (@gottsmik) August 14, 2024

This man directed a terrible movie glorifying domestic violence and cast himself as the abuser, had his entire cast disassociate with him for making them uncomfortable, hired a crisis firm to bury the story, yet social media will have you believe Blake Lively is the real villain https://t.co/qTtiM1ba4J

— la bella vita (@drugproblem) August 14, 2024

The closest Lively and Baldoni have come to acknowledging the rumours of the rift have been references to minor friction and clashes during production.

Time will tell whether either will address rumours.

Some social media users have also speculated whether there was any issues between the two at all – or whether the whole debate was successfully whipped up as a PR stunt.