Blake Lively’s team was spiraling privately as backlash grew amid the promo for “It Ends With Us” — according to newly-uncovered documents from the now-settled case against Justin Baldoni.
TMZ obtained emails and text messages that Blake’s team at her alcohol company, Betty Booze, said they were receiving from companies amid the drama surrounding “It Ends With Us.”
On September 10, 2024, a member of Blake’s team wrote to other team members about a convo with Kroger, the mega-supermarket, saying “I just got off the phone with the SGWS Kroger VP, and the first thing he mentioned to me was that Betty Booze was just discussed” and adding “there is a negative taste in Kroger’s mouth based on the [Blake Lively] interview (press) from the movie, and they said they will be closely monitoring sales on the brand.”
The email goes on to say Kroger was “expecting a negative sales impact, and they’re wondering what [Blake Lively] will be doing to course correct and make things right with her audience.”
The member of Blake’s team then asks if there are any “internal efforts in place to flip the script or messaging we can share with these customers directly?” … before adding, “We need to be proactive about this.”
Another alleged text came from the VP of Food & Beverage at Princess Cruises, who wrote to the Betty Booze team, “By the way our legal ethics and compliance committee board spooked with Blake !!! I am working things out hopefully will not have an effect.”
A railroad company called Brightline wrote to Blake’s people on August 28, 2024. The actress had been in talks with Brightline for a marketing partnership.
The executive VP of Brightline wrote, “Transparently they want to hold for a minute until some of the [Blake Lively] chatter can be turned down. I’ll circle back when I hear more.”
Blake was planning to use the report as evidence of how her brand had been negatively impacted in her trial against Justin Baldoni, which was called off after the two reached a settlement this week.