Blake Lively told journalists she was “traumatized” after an uncomfortable interview in which the “Gossip Girl” alum clapped back about her body.
Entertainment reporter Kersti Flair recalled her much-talked-about 2016 sit-down with Lively in an exclusive interview with Page Six on Monday.
“It was a really traumatic experience,” Flair said.
Fuller was interviewing Lively, who was pregnant at the time, and her “Café Society” co-star Parker Posey. When Flair congratulated Lively on her “little bump,” the actress awkwardly shot back, “Congratulations on your little bump.”
When Flair tried to change the subject and ask about how she dressed in the movie, Lively shot back: “Everybody wants to talk about clothes, but do you ask men about clothes?” Lively then proceeded to have a thorough conversation with Posey, virtually ignoring Flair, who was supposed to be leading the interview.
“I was just sitting there thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ … I didn’t really understand all of that. And then when I asked the next question about the costumes,[they]turned to each other and ignored me. That’s when I, you know, started to be like, ‘Oh my God. They’re actually doing this.'”
Ms Flair admitted she was “shocked” by Ms Lively’s treatment.
“I just sat there and at first I thought, wow, this is really uncomfortable,” she said.
When she started feeling like Lively and Posey were ganging up on her, Flair said she knew she couldn’t react because she wanted to protect her career.
“As a journalist, you always have to take the high road, don’t you?” she said. “So as I sat there, I couldn’t walk away or talk back or do anything like that to what they were doing to me, because I knew that if I did, I would never get that opportunity again.”
Flair said she fears being blacklisted from future interview opportunities.
“I didn’t necessarily want to interview Blake again, but you know, she has a publicist and then they talk to you and then they blacklist you. That’s how it works, right?” she argued. “So I just sat there, and then I just started getting more and more frustrated and angry and upset and I was like, I can’t believe they’re actually doing that. I was just shocked.”
Flair noted the “power dynamics” at play during interviews with top athletes like Lively.
“Any journalist who wants to continue doing this kind of interview has to accept these conditions,” she said, adding elsewhere, “Anyone who has done this kind of interview or been in a situation like that knows how much pressure there is in such a situation.”
Ms. Flair was one of the people subpoenaed by Ms. Lively in her legal battle against her “It Ends with Us” co-star Justin Baldoni. Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. The “Jane the Virgin” star responded with a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of orchestrating a smear campaign to defame, extort and defame her. Both denied wrongdoing.
Baldoni’s counterclaim was dismissed in June 2025, and last month a judge dismissed 10 of 13 claims against Lively, including sexual harassment, conspiracy and defamation.
Last Monday, Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Lively announced that they had reached a settlement with neither side receiving any money.
Flair told Page Six that while she didn’t know what she would say on stage if the case went to trial, she was “kind of looking forward to poking holes in everything.”
For Flair, it would have helped a lot if Lively had simply reached out with an apology.
“Blake had every opportunity to right this wrong, because she was well aware that this interview existed, and she went out there and nothing happened,” Flair said, wondering what would have happened to them now if she had just “reached out” to make amends.
Representatives for Lively and Posey did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
