Blake Lively is still promoting her movie, All I See Is You, which comes out on Friday. The reviews aren’t great, the Rotten Tomatoes score is middling, but I guess it’s not the worst film ever or even the worst Blake Lively film ever. To promote the film, Blake has been happily talking about her children (she’s pushing one kid to become a chef), she’s trolling her husband for his birthday, and of course she’s giving us a fashion show. But did you know that Blake thinks about real things too? She tells People Magazine that she worried about coming across like a “diva” for speaking out:
As a rising star in Hollywood, Blake Lively worried that she would be labeled a “diva” just for speaking out in her own interests.
“I think that sometimes you’re not encouraged to stand up for yourself,” the actress, 30, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.
“It doesn’t even mean in really dramatic ways,” she added. “That just means that if you’re working too many hours, or you aren’t being paid what someone else at your work level is being paid, or if you’re being treated differently than someone else on the crew, or whoever.”
While Lively says she was always “passionate” about “standing up” for others, when it came to her own problems, she sometimes remained quiet.
“I didn’t feel like I could fight for myself in the same way, because I was afraid of coming across as a diva or difficult or demanding,” she explains. “As a woman, you’re afraid of a label you may acquire by demanding fair treatment for yourself that you know that you’ve earned.”
If she could give her younger self any advice, Lively says, “I’d encourage myself to love myself and fight for myself, as hard as I fought for other people.”
If this interview had come out a month ago, I would have rolled my eyes at Blake saying something really f–king obvious. But in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, I’m reminded again of the precarious positions so many young actresses were put in by Weinstein. We still don’t know the extent of Weinstein’s machinations towards the careers and reputations of the women he assaulted or harassed. I’m reminded once again that all it would have taken from Weinstein is a few words to Page Six or Vogue and an actress would be branded a “diva” or “difficult” or something worse. While Blake has done damage to her reputation on her own (#NeverForget The Allure of Antebellum), let’s not discount the fact that so many of these actresses are terrified of pissing off the wrong men.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Considering her level of talent, I think she has done fine for herself.
This accurate shade…
SUCH SHADE.
(but true)
LMFAO.
i don’t think it’s shade. I think it’s a critical, and accurate, dissection of her career and capabilities.
is it called shade because we’re women, dramaqueens, or both?
Defensive much, kimbers?
Read the shade court archives on jezebel.
Shade has nothing to do with gender (for example Drake is a shade throwing master) and everything to do with a perfectly subtle back handed compliment.
Truth. She is just a self-promoter at this point looking for the spotlight. These pap strolls are very cringe. She has always wanted to be a fashion girl.
she already IS a fashion girl? she has been since her days on gossip girl.
No, she isn’t. She has no individual style or iconic moments. Wearing designer clothes is easy, making them reflect individuality is something different. Cate Blanchett, Zoe Kravitz, Alexa Chung, Fan Bingbing, Kiko Mizuhara, Lupita, Solange to name some besides models.
I doubt that telling the obvious truth is actually “throwing shade”. Very little acting talent, indeed. Some facepalm dumb pr moves (antebellum site). Lots of not-smart statements. Attempts at being a fashion it girl – lots of failures there, too. Married well though let’s see for how long that will last.
Her parents / dad probably got a great manager for her so that wouldn’t relate to her assertiveness
She did damage to her reputation with the antebellum blog post, her statements about Allen, and (to a much lesser extent) her Weinstein statement. She said something to the tune of “I like to believe in people enough that they wouldn’t let such behavior go on for so long.” Which, if you bothered reading about the scandal, you know that that’s the other piece that made it so scandalous. The fact that “everyone” knew. It felt like she put out a statement without bothering to know/research what she was speaking on. Seems to be a familiar thing with her. That being said, I agree with her here.
Allegedly Weinstein helped her career and it looks as if she dare not criticise him. Not even now.
And her nude “leaked” pics are still on the internet. Wasn’t there a suspicion that they were for Weinstein or might have been for him?
She never worked with Weinstein.
And the rumour was those pictures were for Ben Affleck, but they’re just nudes, there’s nothing about them that actually suggests who they were taken for, so the speculation is just people making guesses.
Well… acting lessong would help. Also, she had her own lifestyle thing. She really knows her pr.
Dammit, I can’t help it. I have such a crush on her.
Me too dammit! 😉😞😃😈
What nonsense? She’s not afraid of defending Woody Allen or celebrating slavery.
Let’s be real: she’s a snake. She’s another Taylor Swift. I refuse to be guilted into supporting this talentless white mediocrity.
Totally agree.
Don’t hold back. lol
It is funny she put this out considering she IS difficult, and it isn’t because she is some misunderstood talent or perfectionist. Her desperate need for constant attention and lack of self-awareness aren’t the best mix. Not to mention how misguided she is all the time.
No one is holding her back, she isn’t talented, and she is always loathed on set, and her ambition is out of whack with her abilities and talent.
@magnoliarose – very well said!
She is. Both she and her husband dissed his ex Scarlett J because she was and is multi talented and wouldn’t just stay home and make him look good. Then this twit moves in on him fast and of course they’re together because they are equals -middling talents, getting by on looks (or trying to) and trolling each other because they both have the maturity of a flea.
Ugh. Not a fan type person but I’m proud of Scarlett for exiting when her spouse wasn’t supportive.
Blake and Ryan have a relationship that’s dysfunctional. Fashion plating and kids to sell is all she’s got really.
Where or when did Ryan or anyone diss Scarlett?
She’s the one who has made numerous passive aggressive digs at her 1st husband over the years.
Considering the stories that came out about Sarlett after the announcement of her second divorce (eventually silenced by an NDA) and her flop/controversial movie choices this year, Scarjo fans need to move on from constantly vinallising her first e-husband while playing huh? over her own known #hitty behaviour.
It’s a meh limited release anyway – like 200 theatres or something – so no ones expecting anything.
I’m far more interested in The Rhythm Section than this.👀
I’m kind of curious as to who she thinks she has fought hard on behalf of. Poor, maligned Southern Belles? Actresses who want closets of free clothes but don’t want to have to talk about them?
I think the point of recognizing the weak subjective position of actresses is important, but it doesn’t give every woman a free pass to uncritically shout “feminism!” to sell something. There is discourse and then there is exploiting the cultural moment, and Blake is right up against that dividing line right now.
Thank you so much for your comment!!! Very good analysis.
The statement might have seemed less self-serving if she didn’t manage to humble brag several times about how she is sooooo good about standing up for others. If she’d stuck to being worried about being labeled a diva, I might have believed her. As it is, she’s trying to game us. Pass.
This is the most laughable. She is the most diva’ish. A friend worked on Gossip Girls, and she was difficult. She would stay in her trailer for hours, making the whole crew wait, burning money, until she was ready to come out. Another friend works on L’Oréal. I asked her who’s the biggest diva of all of L’Oréal’s celebrities. Without hesitation she said Blake. The stories I have heard have made me contemptuous of her. It doesn’t matter how good looking she is, she’s not a nice person.
Her career is where it is because she is self-absorbed and duplicitous. She has mistreated so many people and behaved as if she is much more important than she is. Whenever there is a camera involved, she has to get attention. Her body language with Anna Kendrick will be interesting.
“Her body language with Anna Kendrick will be interesting.”
I think so too. Anna is, or at least seems, so grounded and humble, while Blake strikes me as the total opposite.
Her career is where it is bc she is a master at hustling. Also, love how she and Ryan claim and request privacy when it suits them and then use socials to pimp each other’s movie (see Ryan’s IG pimping All I See is You – on a side note, this movie looks so dumb).
Magnoliarose i don’t understand why people would put up with that or how it would help her get ahead on her career. Being difficult only gets you a bad reputation and only big irreplaceable stars get away with it (Mariah for example)
Technically she should be much further ahead in her career, and you can look at her IMDB to see how scant it is. There aren’t any high-quality projects there. When you have name recognition, you can still work but you just won’t be considered for the best roles and can live in B/C movie h.ll forever. IMDB pages are very enlightening if you are interested in seeing a pattern in anyone’s career good or bad or just interesting.
Many times a crew will despise an actor, and they talk, and stupid actors don’t seem to realize that directors have favorite crew members. All it takes is a call: Hey didn’t you work with X on that project? What do you think about X?
She’s a nightmare, and this is what happened…
Unless you can open a movie to huge numbers, they will skip it.
Funny I heard the EXACT opposite not only of Blake, but how nice the entire Lively family is (Ryan not so much). And some posters have attested to that whenever she’s in Paris for L’Oreal.
By all accounts she and Kendrick get on and have known each other for years. Ryan and Anna co-starred in some flick, years back.
But we all believe what we want.
@Amide –
I agree.
I was doing an exchange course in Boston and Lively she was super nice when filming The Town and most people liked her.
Another one that’s hated but actually aces….Sienna Miller
@Jegede – the refusing to come out of her trailer tendency has at least one documented instance in an actual interview with her – the very first New York Magazine profile of the Gossip Girl cast. It doesn’t even take any reading between the lines. Maybe she learned to play nice later, because I’ve heard she is very nice to fans.
I’ve never seen her in anything, and I don’t know what she’s like as a person so I’ll assume she’s an ok human being. BUT, I cannot look at her in photos! Is she physically incapable of holding her head straight? Her constant head tilt gives me vertigo.
She is trying to be fashionable and stylish. Just not quite achieving it.
3rd pic: panda eyes due to make up. I am not surprised that A. Wintour has dropped Lively.
I don’t think Anna wants to keep her in the cover rotation after she blamed the timing of her Vogue cover for why her crappy lifestyle website was so half-assed when it launched.