Award-winning journalist Kjersti Flaa, 51, shared a tense moment that she had with the Gossip Girl alum, 36, during a 2016 interview to her YouTube channel after rumors erupted that Blake had become embroiled in a feud with her It Ends With Us costar Justin, 40.
A reporter who resurfaced her ‘uncomfortable’ chat with Blake Lively amid the ongoing It Ends With Us drama has been accused of posting the video to ‘distract’ from the backlash Justin Baldoni is receiving.
Kjersti, who is originally from Norway but now lives in California, said the painful interaction left her wanting to ‘quit her job’ – and it sparked intense backlash against Blake.
But now, eagle-eyed social media users have noticed an interesting connection between Kjersti and the other clients of the PR crisis manager that Justin hired, leading some to believe that she is part of a ‘smear campaign’ against Blake that was launched by the actor.
Justin recently hired publicist Melissa Nathan to represent him – a woman who previously worked with Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Some fans are convinced that the interviewer (seen) who resurfaced her ‘uncomfortable’ chat with Blake Lively only posted it to ‘distract’ from the backlash Justin Baldoni is receiving.
And some people pointed out that Kjersti is an avid support of Johnny’s, and spoke highly of him during the highly-publicized trial.
Back in 2022, while the actor was in the midst of battling it out in court against his ex, Kjersti shared an old clip from 2014 that showed her chatting with him about his ‘biggest insecurities.’
And in the description of the video, she described Johnny as ‘the most polite and sweet’ person she had ever interviewed.
It’s exactly the opposite of what she did amid the It Ends With Us drama, as she branded her interview with Blake as the ‘most uncomfortable situation she had ever experienced.’
X, formerly Twitter, has now erupted with posts about Kjersti’s past praising of Johnny – and the suspicious timing of her re-sharing the Blake interview.
‘Admittedly this was very weird and mean-spirited of [Blake] and I don’t like Blake Lively, HOWEVER the timing of this being posted by the interviewer right after Justin Baldoni hired Depp’s PR team is not lost on me,’ one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘He definitely did some s**t too and this is a distraction.’
‘I think it’s a little funny how Kjersti Flaa, ardent Johnny Depp defender, is suddenly now the poor defenseless little journalist attacked by Blake Lively,’ someone else added.
‘Right after Justin Baldoni hired the PR lady that started Depp’s smear campaign of Amber Heard too.’
‘So Justin hires Johnny Depp PR and suddenly a journalist who happens to be a Johnny Depp defender is the one claiming that Blake was rude?’ another user asked.
‘And your telling me his camp isn’t launching a smear campaign on her? Too much drama.’
‘Justin Baldoni hired Johnny Depp’s crisis PR… and suddenly Kjersti Flaa shows her asinine interview with Blake Lively. Hmmm…,’ a fourth tweet read.
A fifth said: ‘Justin Baldoni hires Johnny Depp’s PR lady & immediately the smear campaign against Blake gets dirty.
‘Ask yourself how Kjersti Flaa’s, who is Depp’s number one defender, interview from 2016 an issue now?’
Blake and fellow actress Parker Posey sat down with Kjersti back in 2016 to discuss their then-new film Cafe Society.
But when Kjersti congratulated the actress, who was expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds at the time, on her pregnancy, things immediately turned tense.
Blake seemed completely unamused with the comment, and replied with a sarcastic quip.
‘First of all, congrats on your little bump,’ Kjersti, who is the founder of Content Now TV, gushed.
‘Congrats on your little bump,’ Blake fired back, as the interviewer giggled nervously.
‘What about my bump?’ Parker joined in, standing up to show her butt to the camera.
Kjersti, who appeared thrown off by Blake’s response, then sat their awkwardly as the two ladies joked about their various ‘bumps’ together.
And things only got worse when Kjersti asked the women her first question.
Since the movie took place in the 1930s, Kjersti wondered if they enjoyed wearing old-school clothes in the movie.
But Blake didn’t like the query, and as Parker started to answer, she interjected, ‘Everyone wants to talk about the clothes but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes.’
‘I would,’ Kjersti promised.
Again, the ladies started talking to one another rather than to Kjersti, as they discussed some of their favorite outfits worn by men in the movie.
The uncomfortable interview went on for another few minutes, before a defeated Kjersti wrapped it up.
Kjersti uploaded a clip of the awkward encounter to her YouTube channel recently, and titled it: ‘The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.’
‘Sitting down with Blake Lively and her co star Parker Posey for Cafe Society is the most uncomfortable interview situation I have ever experienced,’ she added in the caption.
‘Is it not OK to congratulate someone on their pregnancy or to ask another woman about costumes she is wearing in a film?’
The resurfaced interview quickly went viral, and it lead to Blake receiving intense criticism.
People flocked to the comment section to slam her, with one person branding the star as ‘rude’ and another calling her behavior ‘weird and uncalled for.’
‘She and her husband talk about their kids all the time and you can’t congratulate her on her pregnancy?’ one person wrote.
‘That was such weird and uncalled for behavior, I’m sorry you had to sit through that. You kept your composure so well.’
‘The way she replied, “Congrats on your little bump.” Yikes how rude,’ someone else agreed.
Another user added, ‘What in the f**k was this? Yeah don’t quit your job, but they should definitely quit theirs if they get triggered that badly by questions they don’t like. Ridiculous behavior.’
‘Wow, this is disappointing to watch. I’m very turned off by Blake and Parker’s behavior,’ a fourth comment read.
During the interview, Kjersti congratulated the actress, who was expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds at the time, on her pregnancy, but things turned tense
‘It lacked tact and both, but more so Blake, were just extremely rude and lacked any class here.
‘Shame on her. You did excellent keeping it together. The only true lady in that room.’
‘Asking about wardrobe for a period piece movie is a normal question. I’m so sorry they treated you this way,’ a fifth said.
Speculation of a feud between Blake and Justin – who on top of starring in the film also directed it and served as one of the producers – has been swirling for weeks.
The rumors first arose after fans noticed the two failed to do any press together leading up to the film’s release.
In addition, the on-screen love interests were not pictured together at the US premiere last week.
Eagle-eyed social media users also noticed that both Blake and author Colleen unfollowed Justin on Instagram recently.
A source told DailyMail.com that Blake and Justin clashed over his ‘dismissive’ attitude to her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes that involved abuse.
The insider claimed that Justin only focused on ‘what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint’ and had a very ‘chauvinistic’ approach to the topic.
‘During scenes depicting abuse, Justin failed to consider Blake’s character’s perspective, instead focusing solely on what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint,’ they said.
‘His approach was very chauvinistic, creating a tense atmosphere on set.’
The source claimed Justin was ‘borderline abusive’ on set, and said he ‘almost became the character.’
‘Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic,’ they said.
‘Directing a film so serious and so important about domestic abuse without allowing the women to be included in this process is disturbing.’
In addition, TMZ reported that Blake felt ‘fat-shamed’ by Justin on set while they were preparing for a scene that saw him lift her off the ground.
Insiders told the website that Justin suffers from back problems and sought assistance from a trainer prior to the lifting scene.
He allegedly asked the trainer how much Blake weighed and asked for help preparing his back to avoid incurring an injury.
When Blake learned about his comments, she allegedly felt fat-shamed by him.
