A journalist who came forward earlier this year to claim she was bullied by Blake Lively in 2016 is now fighting back claims the allegations were merely part of a smear campaign designed to defame the star.
Norwegian reporter Kjersti Flaa, 51, sat down with Lively and then-co star Parker Posey at the time, opening the conversation by congratulating the then-28-year-old on her ‘little bump.’
The Gossip Girl alum – fresh after announcing her second pregnancy with husband Ryan Reynolds – sarcastically responded: ‘Congrats on your little bump.’
The exchange proceeded to fade into relative obscurity, before making headlines this past August when the entertainment reporter suddenly uploaded it to her YouTube after eight years.
Titling the clip ‘The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job’, Flaa told DailyMail.com at the time she released it so ‘that people behaving badly in Hollywood, or anywhere else for that matter, get called out for it.’
Days ago, in a legal complaint filed by Lively, it emerged that there may have been a campaign to tarnish the 37-year-old’s reputation, after she accused actor Justin Baldoni of misconduct on the set of ‘It Ends With Us.’
Private messages and emails obtained through a subpoena filed by the actress detailed the alleged plot, several sent by Hollywood crisis management expert Melissa Nathan.
She was hired by Baldoni sometime before August 2, after Lively accused him of fostering an unprofessional work environment. Within days, online backlash against Lively was underway – allegedly masterminded by Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel.
A New York Times article published Saturday revealed several of the messages – earning a response from Flaa on both Threads and YouTube.
The pair of rebuttals sought to push back claims that her August repost was part of a ‘sinister retaliatory tactic’ from the Baldoni team, after Lively accused him and head producer Jamey Heath, of violating physical boundaries and making sexual comments to her.
‘Just wanted to put it out there. I have nothing to do with Justin Baldoni and his smear campaign against Blake Lively,’ Flaa said on Threads just hours after the Times report was aired, revealing Lively’s suit to the public.
‘I see that things are starting to snowball and people start thinking that I had anything to do with the smear campaign against [Lively],’ she continued.
‘I also read the article in the New York Times this morning. I’ve been reading through the lawsuit and I see there’s been so much dirty work going on behind-the-scenes.
‘I just wanted to say I had nothing to do with it.’
Referring to messages that showed Baldoni’s team seemingly waging a then-secret smear campaign against Lively in response to her allegations, Flaa added: I would never take part in anything like that. That’s such an insult to me.’
On YouTube, she released a more-than nine-minute video attempting to distance herself from the alleged plot further.
‘I don’t want a part of this,’ she said. ‘I showed how Blake Lively was behaving in my interview, and that’s it.
‘When I read the text messages that was going back and forth between Justin Baldoni‘s PR team, I was as shocked and appalled, like everybody else.’
The Times article, meanwhile, also pointed out how In 2022, in the midst of Johnny Depp’s legal battle with Amber Heard, Fla posted clips of her interviews with the actor tagged #JusticeForJohnnyDepp.
Depp, at the time, was a client of Nathan’s, who appeared to ponder way to minimize reports about Lively’s allegations in the press ahead of the film’s August 6 premiere.
In one exchange on August 2, a newly hired Nathan bragged about how she can ‘bury anyone’, in reply to a text from Abel that proclaims Baldoni ‘wants to feel like she [Lively] can be buried’.
‘Of course,’ Nathan responded, adding, ‘We can’t write we will destroy her’.
Another back and forth that day appeared to show Nathan joking about murdering Lively as the film’s premiere approached.
‘I also sent you a present. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her and send her in a box to your house,’ the message from Nathan read, to which Abel responded: ‘DAMNIT’.
Later that day, Abel wrote how excited she was ‘to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with’, with Baldoni even going on to weigh in as his staffers seemingly tried to discredit Lively.
After returning home from the film’s premiere in Manhattan, Baldoni asked the women, ‘What is the Tik Tok strategy. I’d like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestics violence and clips and why this movie is important.’
Days before, a wave of speculation began surrounding what had happened during the filming – spearheaded by a Hollywood Reporter story that looked into a rift between Lively and director and star Baldoni.
Around that time, a torrent of TikTok users noticed how the two stars didn’t pose for photographs together at the premier, and that she and other cast members didn’t follow the actor-director on Instagram.
During the film’s rollout starting on August 9, Lively was hit with a host of allegations that she had been insensitive about domestic violence during filming.
Flaa’s video was published the very next day, after which she told DailyMail.com she had finally decided to release it because ‘it’s time that people behaving badly in Hollywood, or anywhere else for that matter, gets called out for it.’
The texts show how the crisis management team scrambled to try and ‘shift the narrative’ by reverting coverage back onto Lively.
They also show the publicists celebrating after they manage to minimize reports about Lively’s allegations in the press, while reassuring a listening Baldoni that stories surfacing about him were not a threat.
Lively’s team, meanwhile, has maintained the messages show ‘a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as “social manipulation” designed to ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively’s reputation’.
The suit claims the strategy began after she raised concerns about conditions on set.
‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,’ she said in a statement.
