22:38 Respectfully, I’m curious why you think she’s entitled to having any say on her “creative vision” for the film…she was hired as an actress, period. It’s not sexist to tell someone to stay in their lane just because they happen to be a woman. Blake walked on that set and decided she knew better than the writers, directors, costume designers, cinematographers, editors, and marketers. If you want that much control over a project put the leg work in to find your own source material/script, get funding, get a production company, and then you are entitled to have a creative vision. But she doesn’t want to spend years doing that. We have to stop pretending men are sexist for doing very reasonable things just because the other person in the situation is a woman.
Exactly! If the situation was reversed it would have been a scandal ! "Again a man direspecting and trying to steal a woman's project" "a man who doesn't accept women's leadership" sexist, misogynist etc. to put it nicely..
Exactly 100%. Blake was hired as an actress, nothing more and nothing less. Blake is guilty of everything Justin is claiming, even taking his name of producer off the media release imagery and refusing to allow him at the premier with the casts. Blake is no innocent bystanders here. She is as manipulative as Ryan.
She doesn't want to read a book or a script full stop. As you said she wants everyone else to do the hard work and basically wants to flit around being self important.
@fairyprincess911 Exactly! I love that BL and RR's peers are watching their covert power-hungry moves. They can't be trusted and are liabilities. Her SH allegations would have a chilling affect on the industry as a whole. They already take precautions so imagine having a intimacy coordinator for every interaction. 🙃 As if grown people can't be trusted to talk about these scenes which they already do.
1.) its not a voicemail, its a voice memo he texted 2.) he wasn’t apologizing for her concerns on set. He was apologizing for damaging her fragile ego by not gushing over her scene rewrite
Yes, at that point he knew it was inevitable that she was going to go nuclear, and he was just desperately trying to stave it off for as long as possible, by any means possible.
People that don't know, his 2am voice memo was right after she sent a multiple page text message at 1:50am. She had him under her thumb from the beginning. And have seen in other videos that laid out what came before, I think her long text was after her rewriting the roof top scene and Justin not caving to it right away. But your overall point on Ryan being the controlling one, definitely seems like there was something to that with how close they were, but if you read Blakes messages, her and Ryan on narcissists. And lets not forget about Blake and Ryans past relationships and sleeping around the sets they are on, even cheating. If the Ryan freaking out aspect is true, its not just because he's controlling, its likely him knowing what Blake got up to in the past, even cheating with him while he was married.
It’s funny how people like Molly and Candace Owens are bending over backward to create theories about Ryan’s role in all of this-anything to shift the blame away from Blake. But we’ve seen Blake’s patterns: the calculated messages to Justin Baldoni, the strategic flattery, the way she carefully positioned herself- classic manipulation. This wasn’t spontaneous; she orchestrated it from the start, fully aware of the influence her husband holds in the industry. Ryan isn’t blameless, but let’s not pretend Blake isn’t just as, if not more, responsible. She’s not some fragile victim in all this…she’s the driving force.
LOL It’s easy to believe the fragile white woman couldn’t possibly have been so malicious to hurt anyone with her own actions. It had to be her partner or the stress of her being a mom. She can’t just be an evil conniving woman who lashed out to get her way. Nope this is all just happening to her.
Molly you are amazing. Correction: Justin’s voice note was in response to Blake’s text about how upset she was Justin didn’t have a more excited response to “her” rewrite of the rooftop scene, it wasn’t in response to the weight thing. I love looking under the hood and watching all the machinations.
Exactly. Baldoni replied right away after receiving that upsetting text. But Baldoni has only himself to blame for being such a spineless jellyfish. James Cameron would never let cast boss him around even bringing Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to a movie premiere while forcing Baldoni to the basement of his own movie. Let this be a great lesson to Baldoni.
Thank-you! Very important context. Filming hadn't even started, nor the weight thing. It was in reponse to her 1:30am text with the Khaleesi mention and the Swift name drop. He sent the memo in response to her 1:30am text 'that she, Ryan & Swift felt not great about his response to her rewrite (Ryan's rewrite)
@@jonfreeman9682 the power gap is real, in Hollywood especially. Baldoni had a really tough task, somehow making use of ' talent' while keeping their egos happy. Plus, we all see how Sony, WME etc ultimately did NOT have his back. Anyway, the different between grovelling anxious people and domineering authoritarians is that the former actually are open to learning from their mistakes. I feel hopeful for him.
Twohey’s Pulitzer work should be re-examined next by internet sleuths. Rose McGowan had been saying for years that Twohey lifted other women’s stories and passed them off as her own or something like that.
Ryan’s past post in July 2023 (when IEWU was filming) wishing Sandra Bullock a happy birthday was very inappropriate- especially for someone whose wife supposedly was “s..harassed”. He posted a bed scene of them from The Proposal and mentioned an intimacy coordinator. Doesn’t sound like a husband who is taking his wife’s allegations seriously.
So a powerful and wealthy 48 year old husband who really thinks his wife is being sexually harrassed is going to post a criptic message on his very busy Instagram feed.... How is that helping his wife? What about sending her to set with at least a security woman who can be present at all times and showing Justin that he can't bother her anymore. What about backing his wife to remove her from the project altogether since she is supposed to have plenty of romantic and sensual scenes with that same actor that sexually harrassed her... What about suing Justin and his company when it happened. That's what a normal concerned husband does if he truly thinks his wife is being harrassed. He had the time to write, film, organize, edit a scene about Justin in his own funny movie that he added last minute, before he found the time to hire a lawyer to sue him... Make it make sense.
I read in another comment section that Colleen Hoover started her own production company in 2024. She is not innocent in all of this; as many are assuming, and I tend to believe, she deleted her IG so it cannot be referenced in any lawsuit. I am not legally trained, so I am sure someone may correct me about whether or not Colleen's IG is fair game after deletion.
It is beyond dangerous for legacy media to champion Blake's lies just bc the public believes (and rightfully so) Justin is innocent. They don't care about the truth at all.
They did the same with Amber heard. They don't GAF about truth, just what suits their agenda. Then they get all pissy when they are losing traction and ordinary folk are flocking to alternative sources for information.
Blake wasn't hired to direct. Period. Blake enjoys delegating others to bully on her behalf - nepo brat since childhood. Blake's a one trick pony performer.
Idk...its taking away accountability from BL. I think shes more than capable of being cold, calculating and vicious all on her own. Did we forget the Kjersti Flaa interview? Ryan was not in the room. She just needed someone with experience to guide and navigate the takeover of a passion project like IEWU. And she found it in her husband and other influential ppl like TS and Hugh Jackman. I think the later two werent in on the secret though.
I agree that BL is mean. But i feel she does not have the capability to make calculated movements. She seems very shallow to think things two/three steps ahead.
@ I think she asked for guidance and she got it from her husband. She’s not a toddler for anyone to push around. She’s a 37 year old women and mother of 4. If at any stage she didn’t agree with how things were going she could have put a stop to it. She’s no pushover. We saw the weird Khaleesi text messages. The last few lines of that text message were a thinly veiled threat. And the entire text uses flowery language and like something Blake would say.
The R.R, Blake Lively relationship dynamic is something I noticed long ago and even more those past few months with the backlash. But in this current situation where is the responsibility of B.L. She is more than financially independent even without her husband, she could work even without her husband... She could easily divorce her husband with no fear of losing her kids if she wanted to... Nobody is forcing her to be married to her husband she chose to marry him , have 4 kids with him and stay with him so far.. This case could not exist without her. She is 38 years old. She made a choice to follow along and be a willing and active participant to that bulling propaganda that could destroy someone's work, family image finances and entire career. And she is doing all of that knowing well that he was only nice to her !!! She is old enough to understand all of those implications and still chose to get along. Let's not forget that she also tried to benefit from it by selling her merchandises during the press tour. To me, that makes them a terrible/horrific couple that can destroy anyone to protect their "perfect image."
@@heredianna2496 this. I wrote something similar but have a few ppl defending BL. She lives in the US of A. She can walk away from him if it’s that bad. And if RR is controlling and she stays and goes along with the lawsuit then she’s complicit in destroying a man’s livelihood and reputation and I need to hold her accountable for that.
Everything you say is true. This doesn't absolve Blake Lively but make no mistake it's evil Ryan Reynolds who cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail Baldoni to give up the movie rights. This is extortion and illegal. The movie made $351 million box office by if it bombed I guarantee you this lawsuit would never happen. It's not about sex and everything to do with money.
Finally, some sanity! Just got out of The Daily's UA-cam channel and unsubscribed thanks to their super biased episode about NYT's article on Blake's complaint. The episode is basically the NYT interviewing themselves and sayinh they did nothing wrong 🤷♀️.
@Polopony Yes. I did not see one positive comment, which is surprising to me. I thought at least some of the listeners would be neutral or on Blake's side, but all of the comments were people frustrated with the bias.
Thank you for sharing your story, Molly. I witnessed IPV in my childhood and also worked with DV/IPV survivors for more than 9 years. I also sensed something was off about Blake and Ryan's relationship. I haven't heard many others talk about the children. In one of Brandon Sklenar's early interviews about IEWU, he praised Justin and he also said something about Blake that has stuck with me. He said she wore many hats and was a busy mom, running after her children on set. It made me wonder if Ryan ever had to do the same. I highly doubt it. I looked into it further and according to Google, Ryan and Blake have done interviews where they state they both agreed to not have nannies because they want to raise their children in a "traditional" way. If Blake was so unsafe on set, why were her children there? And I believe her having to juggle being a mom and having the kids on set was just Ryan sabotaging her.
Lively is a nepo baby who is completely aware of how to handle film/set issues (she’s an expert on complaining to HR and would have no issue reaching out to Sony, whom she extorted as well.) In no way was she allowed to demand her way with production, change whole scripts, direct the director and make the final edits without the director (she brought Colleen Hoover into the editing room!) etc. She knew exactly what she was doing. She saw her chance to take over this ‘independent’ film and run all over Baldoni.
This was the best analysis of the Lively\Reynolds vs. Baldoni situation I’ve heard and I’ve been following this story very closely. However, BL has a history of being cruel to people she has identified as less powerful or vulnerable. BL & her dragons have mega egos and felt invincible. It’s telling that TS hasn’t made a single remark to support BL\RR. She joined the bullying when it was fun and they thought that JB was spineless. He’s got powerful supporters AND did nothing wrong. Her savvy legal and PR team have analyzed the situation and are advising her to distance herself. Karma is a B and hopefully Lively and Reynolds will ultimately benefit from this reality check. It seems like it’s been a long time coming
Ryan wasn't ready for the world of TikTok to react and research! 😂 He also underestimates the power that wives have over their Husbands when they choose to no longer support someone that bullies an innocent man! Bye Ryan. Bye Blake!
Personally, i am a huge marvsl fan and loved deadpool after all the recent marvel movie duds.. but unless there's evidence proving otherwise.. am already planning to boycott deadpool bcoz of the bullying ryan reynolds is involved in .. the recent voicemail justin released is cringe tbh but for me he is weird at worse and unaware of professional etiquette.. but definitely NOT SH.. this lawsuit blake pulled is so in bad faith and them trying to silence justin's side just further proves they don't have the evidence to fight back with evidence
She admitted that Ryan rewrote 99% of the roof top scene in an interview ( on the red carpet ) but had previously said to Justin that she wrote it & wanted his support. Also Taylor denied really knowing Justin but she apparently was involved in selecting the actress who played “ young “ Lily. ( according to the actress herself. ) Justin was there at the selection. Taylor is trying to keep her distance understandably but as Blake’s designated dragon she has been dragged into it.
My theory: I don’t think Taylor was dragged into it - I think she willingly was intimidating justin and maybe even working with Ryan Reynolds to craft some of this shit - and now that it’s being found it she’s “distancing herself”
The VN wasn't after the meeting where RR rips into him over the weight question. It was another time where they praised BL's version of the rooftop scene, and had TS "randomly" show up and praise the writing too, only for it to turn out RR wrote it. So JB texts her after saying - I appreciate your work, didn't need TS & RR for that (paraphrasing). She then went silent apparently, for a couple of weeks. Eventually she responds with the long "I have my dragons" essay text at 1:50am, so he sends a VN 10 min later. He wouldn't be "sending his love to Ryan" at the end of that VN either. And he would address the weight discussion he had with their trainer.
1-Blake sent her version of the scene to J.B, and he gave her the feedback that he'll find a middle ground. 2-Blake went silent for a few days not weeks. 3-Blake asks J.B to join her to her penthouse to talk over work. When he arrives R.R and T.S are there too praising the work she did by rewriting that scene and how her work is wonderful and blabla During that meeting with T.S there is no violence or arguments of any sort. But they surely are there to convince J.B to give Blake what she wants. 4- Later Justin tells Blake via text that he did not need her husband and friend to convince him since he had already liked what she sent. 5- Blake sent a very long text in response explaining why she felt the need to have her successful husband and friend to back her up because she feels weak in those situations.... She also says that it something she had already talked about with Justin. She also said that R.R and T.S "convinced" her that his response was "too vague" and she wanted more clarity etc..... 6-J.B then sent her a voice memo to apologize that his behavior made her feel that way and that they will talk about it more face to face ...and that he is very sorry.... The meeting regarding to what Justin asked to the trainer happened later...
@Alex-m3c9j He sends love to her husband and kid AND talks about his wife several times. That’s not a man who’s trying to sexualize the audience. He’s firmly rooting this message in reality for her and letting Lively know this is strictly business.
I was really surprised to read a detailed article in the Guardian UK newspaper by Laura Snapes - uploaded 6am on 24th Dec 2024 titled "I'm ashamed of what I said about Blake Lively". At the time I thought this was a very strange and really cynical article. I'd been following the IEWU story online since the summer and the writer saying she changed her stance so quickly based on some PR people's texts seemed bizarre to me (if you knew anything about the background). Now that it is being said online the that the NYT article was being written days before Lively's complaint was filed - the Guardian article looks like an attempt to publicise Lively's claims in the UK at the same time as the NYT. In my opinion it looks like that Laura Snapes may have had knowledge that the NYT was writing their story days before Lively's complaint was filed so they developed their story too. Laura Snapes says in her bio that she's written for the NYT in the past.
Wow. This is the best analysis I’ve seen about this situation. I’ve been so frustrated with those who are trying to fence ride the issue. Like, this is someone’s life we’re talking about. He needs his reputation.
Justin was attempting to stave of the smear campaign against him and to try and minimize the damage to the movie. If he attacked Blake it'd be damaging to his movie. You can see him even after having been vanished and maligned he was still trying to focus on the positive. Ryan Reynolds newfound feminism reeks of self serving insincerity.
How does his 'feminism' sit alongside his contemptuous portrayal of Nicepool in his movie - which, incidentally, was filmed whilst all the manipulations were being conducted during BL's IEWU shoot, and therefore was presumably planned some time beforehand...
Hi Molly. I love your breakdowns. They're always extremely nuanced, lateral and logical. Slight caveat pertaining to Justin's voicenote - which was produced after "Blake's" version of the rooftop scene was pitched at their apartment, with Taylor making a cameo. That aside, I'm grateful for your insights.
Ryan Reynolds is the evil mastermind who cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail Baldoni to give up the movie rights. It's not about sex but money. Those movie rights for the sequel is worth billions. This is extortion and criminal.
Interesting (and disappointing) that ABC wanted your expert opinion, but only if your answers were in line with what they wanted to hear, and that, apparently, only here on UA-cam can you really say what you're thinking.... no wonder people are turning to creators over MSM. PS - great podcast.
This also explains why Blake was reluctant to promote the movie as one about DV. I think Ryan Reynolds probably encouraged her and Sony to not promote it that way because it hit a bit close to home.
Baldoni didn’t initially want Taylor Swift. He was originally looking to shine light at more unknown indie artists. Lively fired his musician. The Reynolds are all about business and money making and fame. She said herself that her dragons feed each other and scratch each other’s backs and their enemies are hers, vice versa, etc, sheesh…so high school.
@mollymcpherson Spot on however people aren’t recognizing how the way Ryan met Blake on set of another movie while he was married is a huge driver of his jealousy. When couples meet in that way their foundation is built off of deception. That is what then causes Ryan to feel his relationship to Blake is threatened when he sees her having a good time with Justin on set. Common amongst couples who met having an affair. FACTS💔
Didn’t Ryan’s father expire destitute, while living on a friend’s couch? Being the youngest of 4 boys & surely the goldenest of smarmy golden children to his mother, & dad an authoritarian type, it kinda makes sense that he turned out the way he did. Alanis wrote an entire album about what a pos he was to her. He’s so fckng narcissistic, he’s quoted lyrics about himself randomly in tweets, as if he made them up himself. Versions of Violence & Straitjacket tell you exactly who tf Ryan Reynolds is when the fans can’t see.
Great POV. I think the RR control issues is spot on. In my opinion it then blobbed over to controlling the sequel. 1) he can control BL contacts 2) IEWU was hugely successful 3) RR’s ego feels like he and BL made the movie from directing, wardrobe, marketing, etc. The only way he could obtain the rights to the sequel that Wayfarer held is to have it look like JB broke the contract due to SA. RR thought he could play that card but as you said he didn’t think JB would fight back. I actually think it was Wayfarerer and the billionaire backer that made JB stand up as JB is so beta he was ok with being in the basement at his own premiere. I hope JB gets a lot bc it would be hard to use him as a director if he couldn’t manage this fiasco better.
You are VERY good at what you do. I am glad to be an early subscriber to your channel. It will not be long before worldwide pop and celebrity culture watchers find you! As an academic working on my third master's degree in Strategic Communication and Innovation, I find your podcasts to be master classes. Keep 'em coming.
Your take is making me see another angle on this. I’d never heard that Wicked speech. RR is trying to take over Justin’s messaging and talk about feminism and women now. This is Justin’s entire identity and he wants to destroy JB and be him. Jealousy, envy, being the WINNER. That’s all he cares about. Totally unhinged!
Candace Owens does a deep dive on the timeline and issues a sensible narrative that makes sense. Ryan Reynolds is the culprit. RR was trying to even buy the rights from JB to the 2nd book and he wouldn't sell.
I would not trust Candace Owens to tell me the time. She’s a big believer that all women, or almost all women, that report sexual abuse by prominent men are lying. She and Megyn Kelly advance the view that Trump never engaged in any sexual misbehavior. So they advance the belief that we live in a world where women lie. If we live in such a world, then the women accusing trump are lying. Baldoni is the kind woke, feminist, man bun wearing kind of guy they absolutely hate. Under normal circumstances, they would be crowing about the hypocrisy of a woke male feminist committing sexual harassment. But because their larger cause is discrediting women who accuse men, most concerning MAGA men, of sexual misconduct they’ll be on team Baldoni. I’m not saying that they are making stuff up. I don’t know what transpired between them. But why would Candace Owens care about a male feminist getting called out for sexual misconduct? I think Candace feels like she can use Blake’s alleged false claims to make a point about all women are lying. 😊
Molly you're my favorite now! I've been watching UA-cam discussing about this scandal, and you're the best by far!!! BTW, I wish Justin will get the justice he deserved....
I'm agree that RR is that problem on all of that and his Ego but she has a big history of been bully too. She deserves what is happening now and realize whit who she is married.
I know it sounds crazy, but if everything shakes out like you say, the ultimate resurrection move (and Baldoni really thinks like this) would be for a Reynolds-freed Lively to gratefully and compliantly come back to work with Baldoni on It Starts with Us. If he comes through stronger, again as you say, he's probably the only one to help her claw her way back, and how ironic in the story of a woman who fled a controlling, abusive relationship.
There is absolutely no way Baldoni will ever work with Blake Lively again. Right now Baldoni may lose the movie rights because Ryan Reynolds cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail him to sell him the movie rights or lose it by force under a morality clause. Baldoni only has himself to blame. James Cameron would never let cast take over his movie like this. Yes true is extortion and it's criminal but Baldoni allowed this to happen so let this be a great lesson to him.
You've researched Reynolds but since this about Lively and Baldoni as much as your probably right about Reynolds i don't believe Lively wouldn't have done any of this if not for Reynolds is wrong in my opinion. Its been proven Lively is very hard to work with, she's gotten people fired and in her own words been spoilt all of her life. She purposely positioned herself to run in powerful circles via her parents, her good looks and her sex appeal. She threw her weight around whenever she wanted and expected results, when it didn't happen she brought in her dragons. Lively gives sexually assaulted women a bad taste people's mouth. As for Swift i believe she did get involved with this movie beyond her song to help out a friend. She should have told th truth cause now if she's having to testify she'll have the show to her public that not only did lie about her involvement but to what extent that she lied. This will hurt her a bit in the eyes of public opinion
In view of this theory re RR's behaviour, does Scarlett Johansson's signing with Wayfarer to do her directorial debut movie in September 2023, with JB and Jamey Heath as exec producers, have some bearing? Putting Wayfarer and JB in a headlock, or better still, burying them altogether, would effectively control both BL and his (very successful without him) ex-wife...
What I love about your take on this is that you don't absolve Blake of her part in this but you also don't paint her as "the villain". You brought it all back to actual humans with feelings/emotions/family being behind this whole drama. One of the more nuanced takes I've come across
Why is Molly saying she and others in her community don’t believe Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster relationship is real? Why would they fake a relationship on the heels of his separation with Deborah?
Good review and well reasoned discussion about the unraveling role of Ryan Reynolds. So many content creators are chasing the Blake and Justin angle but when you highlighted the now emerging Ryan story it seemed a perfect assessment.I would only add Ryan did not get uber rich and become worth hundreds of millions being dumb so I'd guess you'll soon see a pivot to settling with Justin. Its clear you are 100% accurate in speculating this PR debacle will have a detrimental long term impact between Blake and Ryan.
I have believed Ryan was heavily involved from early on. And that jealousy, pettiness and grudges were a powerful motivation. Though i think it was opportunistic too, they really were going for the take over and double faeture thing. Ya' know. Ghost/Die Hard. But I resisted the idea that it was over BLs affections, and you've managed to convince me it probably was part of it. I still think they had a plan from the get go and Blake was nice to Justin at first because that's the love bombing stage. But she started asserting her self on set from the get go, inserting her self in decisions she had no right to. RR had done it before, so "coached?" I think so. So i don't buy the "It started after the strike" timeline. But I do totally believe RR was the master mind who guided the systematic usurping of the project and he mistook JBs genuine kindness and empathy for weakness. Nevervthpught he'd fight back. I also think he RR has held a grudge against Scarlett and the fact that Wayfarer signed her up for her Directorial debut probably was a strong motivation. Because destroying Justin and Wayfarer would prevent or impede her Directorial debut. Nice way to one up her and obstruct her. I seriously doubt Blake is broken up about what she did to Justin or felt coerced. This is a case of 2 malignant narcissist teaming up and i think she relished it. But I agree, they probably will not be married much longer because when they have no choice but accept the defeat they so richly deserve, they no longer will have a joint target so they'll target eachother. Very common in these types of pairings. They're probably already pointing fingers at their minions and will turn on eachother soon enough. They can never take responsibility. It is interesting he hasn't come out with a Public statement in support for his wife! He knows what they did is foul and is holding onto plausible deniability. That's very telling in and of itself. I think he'll throw her under the bus if he has to. But i think she'd do it him too given the chance. I really think they were always, from the beginning, planning to destroy Justin and Wayfarer after the movie release and securing the rights to the sequel. I don't think it was a last minute scramble, they did last minute decide to use their already in place plan to try and shift blame and deflect from the organic backlash they didn't expect but they had it all too well in place, too quickly for it to have been spontaneous. They were going to destroy him regardless. Lastly, I don't think either of them recovers from this. I think if Traylor is smart this could be just a blip, but if not, this could bring her down too if she keeps lying. And the legacy media trying to influence the narrative in Blake's favor reeks. They're near exhausting public trust. Trying to tell us we don't see what we clearly see is not going to work out for them. Trust in media has never been lowest and it's well deserved.
Justin Baldoni is everything that Ryan Reynolds will NEVER be! That's why RR lost it and went nuts. RR has LOST millions of fans. So has Blake, Taylor and Hugh for that matter. I am one of millions!
I can't even understand why Blake was cast as the female lead in this movie because the book called for a young woman and Blake was obviously a 40 year old woman already. She loves basking in reflected glory and she wants to be treated like Taylor so her PR keeps showing pictures of her and Ryan with Taylor.
She isn't 40, she's 37 now, probably 34-35 when they started shooting. They aged up all the actors because their characters' professions (and success) didn't match the age they were supposedly in the books. Age is the least issue here.
Oo wow you hit on something. In Canada we were strictly taught to use double space after the period! (We also still put the “u” in words like flavour.) It was easier for the younger gen to change that habit but not the older.
I think Reynolds' reaction was faux outrage re Baldoni's question to the trainer about BL's weight. They both saw they could use it for leverage. There may have been some misunderstanding in the beginning (depending on how the trainer relayed the info) and Reynolds was only too happy to swoop in and save Blake's honor from the evil, fatshaming Baldoni. But being professional actors who would understand limitations on lifting certain amounts of weight, I think they completely understood Baldoni's reasonable concern but instead, pretended GREAT offense. And it worked! More of Blake's demands were met. Baldoni and Wayfarer were scared to death of fallout from the 'fatshaming kerfuffle' because that is so opposite to Baldoni's brand. Little did they know that was just the appetizer to the main course of SH that would come in Dec.
I strongly feel that she manipulated her own husband and pretended like she needed saving from the inappropriate director so she can deflect any blame from herself and also get attention and support from Ryan so she can pursue her ambitions. She has a history of drawing attention to herself to make herself feel and look important and have people of authority do the dirty work for her like fire workers. She said herself she doesn’t like to be overlooked so she needs her dragons to fight for her.
You always hit it RIGHT on the head. I think I’ve spent the last 10-15 years being openly skeptical about Ryan Reynolds and got COOKED left and right for not being in on it. I’m finally vindicated, I KNEW this man was always tryna be funny from a very dark place. Remember when Ryan “interviewed the love interest” during the press tour? That made me want to call the police for Blake fr. Like why is this guy so fucking everywhere like GO away
I agree RR's fingerprints are all over this mess. I'd also add that BL has a long history of being a mean girl & problematic. The two of them make quite a couple. And not in a good way. I feel bad for their children. I suspect Bl & RR will quietly pay off JB, and the NYT will too. Eventually, anyway. This case won't go well for anyone. It's just so messy, and a lot of people have been harmed by it as collateral damage.
Ryan must have also been pretty mad when Justin’s rooftop version vs Blake’s was voted better…she admitted in an interview that Ryan wrote that scene. His Ego must have been really bruised to know Justin was the better writer in that scenario lol. Only bad part is Ryan and Blake still got their way and theirs was used for the movie. Justice for JB.
Painting Blake as a victim is wrong on so many levels. She has acted as an entitled snotty brat for decades. Also, her family is the powerhouse behind the scenes, not Ryan. You didn't even mention her family.
This means that probably many people do not want to hire his wife which also means, she will be at the house just the way he likes it..I believe this theory, according to the blind items he is very controlling but it is very dark..
Born right at the end of Gen X (husband always calls me a Xennial), so I am younger than Ryan. I used the period, double space for years. It wasn't until I started writing professionally that I switched to period, single space. The daily requests also seemed more formal and didn't follow the usual syntax Blake had used in previous texts. I caught that as well.
It sickens me when I hear I dont like going againsts women. The thing is we should all be standing by truth not gender!!! All humanbeings have the same ability to be good or evil ,be rightous,honest and truthful.Your truth means nothing, there is truth and there is a lie and how someone emotionally sees it is not part of yhe equation. Stand by truth regardless of gender!!!
Justin is a sanctimonious male feminist that thinks he can redefine masculinity. And he’s arrogant enough to think that people are interested in his opinions. But when push came to shove… he laid down and let Blake walk all over him again and again and again. Blake is a spoiled, mean spirited bully. She and Ryan sensed his weakness and took advantage of it. As annoying as Justin is…I hope he wins in court.
This was very interesting from a PR perspective; and also very affirming because I came to these same theories on my own based on all the writings and evidence. And I think most of the public who is interested did too. Although I do think Blake is a monster. She’s definitely emotionally abused by Ryan but it will take a lot of soul searching for her to ever regain any respect as an actress and person. Because from what I’ve seen, she is not kind to people. Love this perspective though and I think as the public we should all be very interested in learning how different narratives are formed and how certain “information” machines like the media, social media, television, internet , and powerful forces behind them, attempt to brain wash us because they think we are stupid. lol
Molly you SO called it about Ryan Reynolds waaaay before Candance Owens got a source and dropped that theory that has really caught on. Your instincts are on!
She's in an abusive relationship, mental, psychological, verbal, fiancial, etc. People who bully usually bully to hide from dark things in their own closet. I am sure she is scared of him. I think Baldoni knows, thats why he didnt want to hurt her.
thank you for your honesty regarding your dislike of going against women. and your empathy towards Blake Lively At the end of the day, this isn’t about taking sides but about upholding values like integrity, honesty, and truth, virtues that transcend gender. Honest feedback is essential for growth, and to break free from toxic patterns and behaviours. . Hopefully, Ms. Blake can learn from the insights being shared about her!
This was absolutely amazing. Please keep reporting on this, and connect with Dave Neal (another content creator). You both seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to this story.
I'm a double space after a period person and I am younger than them; I'm a "two handed no looking at the keyboard type-r" and I've only ever used a PC for typing. I used a typing program to train myself and it made me do it that way(or it would highlight it and tell you that you're wrong) as did my school at the time. I'm also from Canada, I don't know if that makes a difference in what we are taught in this specific instance but being from Canada vs the States does in many other spelling/grammatical ways...so maybe?
21:00 Wait. I thought the vm from JB to BL was in response to BL’s long message to him after his lukewarm reception to “her” rewrite of the rooftop scene… not an apology after his meeting with them at their penthouse. If you listen to the whole vm, it’s still very warm towards both of them, he even says “send my love to Ryan.”
22:38 Respectfully, I’m curious why you think she’s entitled to having any say on her “creative vision” for the film…she was hired as an actress, period. It’s not sexist to tell someone to stay in their lane just because they happen to be a woman. Blake walked on that set and decided she knew better than the writers, directors, costume designers, cinematographers, editors, and marketers. If you want that much control over a project put the leg work in to find your own source material/script, get funding, get a production company, and then you are entitled to have a creative vision. But she doesn’t want to spend years doing that. We have to stop pretending men are sexist for doing very reasonable things just because the other person in the situation is a woman.
Exactly! If the situation was reversed it would have been a scandal ! "Again a man direspecting and trying to steal a woman's project" "a man who doesn't accept women's leadership" sexist, misogynist etc. to put it nicely..
Plus, how do you get an artistic vision having never read the book 📖 at issue?😹
Exactly 100%. Blake was hired as an actress, nothing more and nothing less. Blake is guilty of everything Justin is claiming, even taking his name of producer off the media release imagery and refusing to allow him at the premier with the casts. Blake is no innocent bystanders here. She is as manipulative as Ryan.
She doesn't want to read a book or a script full stop. As you said she wants everyone else to do the hard work and basically wants to flit around being self important.
@fairyprincess911 Exactly! I love that BL and RR's peers are watching their covert power-hungry moves. They can't be trusted and are liabilities. Her SH allegations would have a chilling affect on the industry as a whole. They already take precautions so imagine having a intimacy coordinator for every interaction. 🙃 As if grown people can't be trusted to talk about these scenes which they already do.
1.) its not a voicemail, its a voice memo he texted
2.) he wasn’t apologizing for her concerns on set. He was apologizing for damaging her fragile ego by not gushing over her scene rewrite
Yes, at that point he knew it was inevitable that she was going to go nuclear, and he was just desperately trying to stave it off for as long as possible, by any means possible.
Exactly
Which Blake stated on the red carpet Ryan actually wrote
People that don't know, his 2am voice memo was right after she sent a multiple page text message at 1:50am. She had him under her thumb from the beginning. And have seen in other videos that laid out what came before, I think her long text was after her rewriting the roof top scene and Justin not caving to it right away. But your overall point on Ryan being the controlling one, definitely seems like there was something to that with how close they were, but if you read Blakes messages, her and Ryan on narcissists. And lets not forget about Blake and Ryans past relationships and sleeping around the sets they are on, even cheating. If the Ryan freaking out aspect is true, its not just because he's controlling, its likely him knowing what Blake got up to in the past, even cheating with him while he was married.
Whoopsie *2am
@@SamSolasdonSaol good catch :-)
@@SamSolasdonSaolshe’d called him at 1 30 so your point is ?
@@100MicklIt was a typo alert courtesy to the OP. You can now kindly retract your silly lil fangs and claws.
1.50 am. Your husband would be jealous.
It’s funny how people like Molly and Candace Owens are bending over backward to create theories about Ryan’s role in all of this-anything to shift the blame away from Blake. But we’ve seen Blake’s patterns: the calculated messages to Justin Baldoni, the strategic flattery, the way she carefully positioned herself- classic manipulation. This wasn’t spontaneous; she orchestrated it from the start, fully aware of the influence her husband holds in the industry.
Ryan isn’t blameless, but let’s not pretend Blake isn’t just as, if not more, responsible. She’s not some fragile victim in all this…she’s the driving force.
LOL It’s easy to believe the fragile white woman couldn’t possibly have been so malicious to hurt anyone with her own actions. It had to be her partner or the stress of her being a mom. She can’t just be an evil conniving woman who lashed out to get her way. Nope this is all just happening to her.
Molly you are amazing. Correction: Justin’s voice note was in response to Blake’s text about how upset she was Justin didn’t have a more excited response to “her” rewrite of the rooftop scene, it wasn’t in response to the weight thing. I love looking under the hood and watching all the machinations.
yet, she says on the premier that Ryan wrote that scene.
@@malalola317yup guilt tripped him to get her husbands rewrite in
Exactly. Baldoni replied right away after receiving that upsetting text. But Baldoni has only himself to blame for being such a spineless jellyfish. James Cameron would never let cast boss him around even bringing Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to a movie premiere while forcing Baldoni to the basement of his own movie. Let this be a great lesson to Baldoni.
Thank-you! Very important context. Filming hadn't even started, nor the weight thing. It was in reponse to her 1:30am text with the Khaleesi mention and the Swift name drop. He sent the memo in response to her 1:30am text 'that she, Ryan & Swift felt not great about his response to her rewrite (Ryan's rewrite)
@@jonfreeman9682 the power gap is real, in Hollywood especially. Baldoni had a really tough task, somehow making use of ' talent' while keeping their egos happy. Plus, we all see how Sony, WME etc ultimately did NOT have his back. Anyway, the different between grovelling anxious people and domineering authoritarians is that the former actually are open to learning from their mistakes. I feel hopeful for him.
Shame on the NY Times. Oh, how the once mighty fall.
They are a truly despicable organization.
dont forget the journalist who wrote this - meghan twohey. she is shady as hell.
Exactly
They did the same thing to Johnny Depp publishing Amber Heard piece without fact checking.
Twohey’s Pulitzer work should be re-examined next by internet sleuths. Rose McGowan had been saying for years that Twohey lifted other women’s stories and passed them off as her own or something like that.
Ryan’s past post in July 2023 (when IEWU was filming) wishing Sandra Bullock a happy birthday was very inappropriate- especially for someone whose wife supposedly was “s..harassed”. He posted a bed scene of them from The Proposal and mentioned an intimacy coordinator. Doesn’t sound like a husband who is taking his wife’s allegations seriously.
Completelyyyyy agree!!
So a powerful and wealthy 48 year old husband who really thinks his wife is being sexually harrassed is going to post a criptic message on his very busy Instagram feed.... How is that helping his wife? What about sending her to set with at least a security woman who can be present at all times and showing Justin that he can't bother her anymore. What about backing his wife to remove her from the project altogether since she is supposed to have plenty of romantic and sensual scenes with that same actor that sexually harrassed her... What about suing Justin and his company when it happened. That's what a normal concerned husband does if he truly thinks his wife is being harrassed.
He had the time to write, film, organize, edit a scene about Justin in his own funny movie that he added last minute, before he found the time to hire a lawyer to sue him... Make it make sense.
Agreed!
Has anyone ever noticed that Ryan Reynold's eyes are too close together? 😂
@@cazthemamma9251 he was cute when younger but he looks soooo creepy now. In combo with his passive aggression, he’s very unappealing
I read in another comment section that Colleen Hoover started her own production company in 2024. She is not innocent in all of this; as many are assuming, and I tend to believe, she deleted her IG so it cannot be referenced in any lawsuit.
I am not legally trained, so I am sure someone may correct me about whether or not Colleen's IG is fair game after deletion.
even after deletion, instagram can be subpoenaed
It sounds like she startes the company so that she has more control for her future books. Doesn't sound nefarious at all
It is beyond dangerous for legacy media to champion Blake's lies just bc the public believes (and rightfully so) Justin is innocent. They don't care about the truth at all.
Yes. Shouldn't the MSM be deciding their stance on the basis of the facts, as far as they are known/have been presented - like the public are...?
They did the same with Amber heard. They don't GAF about truth, just what suits their agenda. Then they get all pissy when they are losing traction and ordinary folk are flocking to alternative sources for information.
Poor Justin bent backward to please Khaliesee and her dragon because he was scared to burn by them.
Blake wasn't hired to direct. Period. Blake enjoys delegating others to bully on her behalf - nepo brat since childhood. Blake's a one trick pony performer.
Idk...its taking away accountability from BL. I think shes more than capable of being cold, calculating and vicious all on her own. Did we forget the Kjersti Flaa interview? Ryan was not in the room. She just needed someone with experience to guide and navigate the takeover of a passion project like IEWU. And she found it in her husband and other influential ppl like TS and Hugh Jackman. I think the later two werent in on the secret though.
I agree that BL is mean. But i feel she does not have the capability to make calculated movements. She seems very shallow to think things two/three steps ahead.
@ I think she asked for guidance and she got it from her husband. She’s not a toddler for anyone to push around. She’s a 37 year old women and mother of 4. If at any stage she didn’t agree with how things were going she could have put a stop to it. She’s no pushover. We saw the weird Khaleesi text messages. The last few lines of that text message were a thinly veiled threat. And the entire text uses flowery language and like something Blake would say.
@@JC-ub8bwout of all involved, who is in the greatest power position?
@ Blake because nothing could have been done without her and she had the choice to do it or not.
That Flaa woman is awful tho.
Blake was never hired as Producer. She hyjacked that role.
The R.R, Blake Lively relationship dynamic is something I noticed long ago and even more those past few months with the backlash. But in this current situation where is the responsibility of B.L. She is more than financially independent even without her husband, she could work even without her husband... She could easily divorce her husband with no fear of losing her kids if she wanted to... Nobody is forcing her to be married to her husband she chose to marry him , have 4 kids with him and stay with him so far..
This case could not exist without her. She is 38 years old. She made a choice to follow along and be a willing and active participant to that bulling propaganda that could destroy someone's work, family image finances and entire career. And she is doing all of that knowing well that he was only nice to her !!! She is old enough to understand all of those implications and still chose to get along. Let's not forget that she also tried to benefit from it by selling her merchandises during the press tour. To me, that makes them a terrible/horrific couple that can destroy anyone to protect their "perfect image."
@@heredianna2496 this. I wrote something similar but have a few ppl defending BL. She lives in the US of A. She can walk away from him if it’s that bad. And if RR is controlling and she stays and goes along with the lawsuit then she’s complicit in destroying a man’s livelihood and reputation and I need to hold her accountable for that.
@@JC-ub8bwShe knows she's nothing without RR. Now she's nothing with him.
Everything you say is true. This doesn't absolve Blake Lively but make no mistake it's evil Ryan Reynolds who cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail Baldoni to give up the movie rights. This is extortion and illegal. The movie made $351 million box office by if it bombed I guarantee you this lawsuit would never happen. It's not about sex and everything to do with money.
Yes 100%
Finally, some sanity! Just got out of The Daily's UA-cam channel and unsubscribed thanks to their super biased episode about NYT's article on Blake's complaint. The episode is basically the NYT interviewing themselves and sayinh they did nothing wrong 🤷♀️.
Are the comments on there showing how people feel about it...?
@Polopony Yes. I did not see one positive comment, which is surprising to me. I thought at least some of the listeners would be neutral or on Blake's side, but all of the comments were people frustrated with the bias.
Thank you for sharing your story, Molly. I witnessed IPV in my childhood and also worked with DV/IPV survivors for more than 9 years. I also sensed something was off about Blake and Ryan's relationship.
I haven't heard many others talk about the children. In one of Brandon Sklenar's early interviews about IEWU, he praised Justin and he also said something about Blake that has stuck with me.
He said she wore many hats and was a busy mom, running after her children on set. It made me wonder if Ryan ever had to do the same. I highly doubt it. I looked into it further and according to Google, Ryan and Blake have done interviews where they state they both agreed to not have nannies because they want to raise their children in a "traditional" way.
If Blake was so unsafe on set, why were her children there? And I believe her having to juggle being a mom and having the kids on set was just Ryan sabotaging her.
Lively is a nepo baby who is completely aware of how to handle film/set issues (she’s an expert on complaining to HR and would have no issue reaching out to Sony, whom she extorted as well.) In no way was she allowed to demand her way with production, change whole scripts, direct the director and make the final edits without the director (she brought Colleen Hoover into the editing room!) etc. She knew exactly what she was doing. She saw her chance to take over this ‘independent’ film and run all over Baldoni.
This was the best analysis of the Lively\Reynolds vs. Baldoni situation I’ve heard and I’ve been following this story very closely. However, BL has a history of being cruel to people she has identified as less powerful or vulnerable. BL & her dragons have mega egos and felt invincible. It’s telling that TS hasn’t made a single remark to support BL\RR. She joined the bullying when it was fun and they thought that JB was spineless. He’s got powerful supporters AND did nothing wrong. Her savvy legal and PR team have analyzed the situation and are advising her to distance herself.
Karma is a B and hopefully Lively and Reynolds will ultimately benefit from this reality check. It seems like it’s been a long time coming
Ryan wasn't ready for the world of TikTok to react and research! 😂 He also underestimates the power that wives have over their Husbands when they choose to no longer support someone that bullies an innocent man!
Bye Ryan.
Bye Blake!
Personally, i am a huge marvsl fan and loved deadpool after all the recent marvel movie duds.. but unless there's evidence proving otherwise.. am already planning to boycott deadpool bcoz of the bullying ryan reynolds is involved in .. the recent voicemail justin released is cringe tbh but for me he is weird at worse and unaware of professional etiquette.. but definitely NOT SH.. this lawsuit blake pulled is so in bad faith and them trying to silence justin's side just further proves they don't have the evidence to fight back with evidence
She admitted that Ryan rewrote 99% of the roof top scene in an interview ( on the red carpet ) but had previously said to Justin that she wrote it & wanted his support.
Also Taylor denied really knowing Justin but she apparently was involved in selecting the actress who played “ young “ Lily. ( according to the actress herself. ) Justin was there at the selection. Taylor is trying to keep her distance understandably but as Blake’s designated dragon she has been dragged into it.
My theory: I don’t think Taylor was dragged into it - I think she willingly was intimidating justin and maybe even working with Ryan Reynolds to craft some of this shit - and now that it’s being found it she’s “distancing herself”
@ interesting point
The VN wasn't after the meeting where RR rips into him over the weight question. It was another time where they praised BL's version of the rooftop scene, and had TS "randomly" show up and praise the writing too, only for it to turn out RR wrote it. So JB texts her after saying - I appreciate your work, didn't need TS & RR for that (paraphrasing). She then went silent apparently, for a couple of weeks. Eventually she responds with the long "I have my dragons" essay text at 1:50am, so he sends a VN 10 min later.
He wouldn't be "sending his love to Ryan" at the end of that VN either. And he would address the weight discussion he had with their trainer.
Hmmm. Have you read the filings directly? I too believe it was after the NY PH meeting due to the filing submissions.
1-Blake sent her version of the scene to J.B, and he gave her the feedback that he'll find a middle ground.
2-Blake went silent for a few days not weeks.
3-Blake asks J.B to join her to her penthouse to talk over work. When he arrives R.R and T.S are there too praising the work she did by rewriting that scene and how her work is wonderful and blabla
During that meeting with T.S there is no violence or arguments of any sort. But they surely are there to convince J.B to give Blake what she wants.
4- Later Justin tells Blake via text that he did not need her husband and friend to convince him since he had already liked what she sent.
5- Blake sent a very long text in response explaining why she felt the need to have her successful husband and friend to back her up because she feels weak in those situations.... She also says that it something she had already talked about with Justin. She also said that R.R and T.S "convinced" her that his response was "too vague" and she wanted more clarity etc.....
6-J.B then sent her a voice memo to apologize that his behavior made her feel that way and that they will talk about it more face to face ...and that he is very sorry....
The meeting regarding to what Justin asked to the trainer happened later...
@Alex-m3c9j He sends love to her husband and kid AND talks about his wife several times. That’s not a man who’s trying to sexualize the audience. He’s firmly rooting this message in reality for her and letting Lively know this is strictly business.
I was really surprised to read a detailed article in the Guardian UK newspaper by Laura Snapes - uploaded 6am on 24th Dec 2024 titled "I'm ashamed of what I said about Blake Lively". At the time I thought this was a very strange and really cynical article. I'd been following the IEWU story online since the summer and the writer saying she changed her stance so quickly based on some PR people's texts seemed bizarre to me (if you knew anything about the background). Now that it is being said online the that the NYT article was being written days before Lively's complaint was filed - the Guardian article looks like an attempt to publicise Lively's claims in the UK at the same time as the NYT. In my opinion it looks like that Laura Snapes may have had knowledge that the NYT was writing their story days before Lively's complaint was filed so they developed their story too. Laura Snapes says in her bio that she's written for the NYT in the past.
😮
Good observation
Good sleuthing!
I think trying to be diplomatic in an unjust situation, is being an accomplice to the injustice
Wow. This is the best analysis I’ve seen about this situation. I’ve been so frustrated with those who are trying to fence ride the issue. Like, this is someone’s life we’re talking about. He needs his reputation.
Justin was attempting to stave of the smear campaign against him and to try and minimize the damage to the movie. If he attacked Blake it'd be damaging to his movie. You can see him even after having been vanished and maligned he was still trying to focus on the positive.
Ryan Reynolds newfound feminism reeks of self serving insincerity.
How does his 'feminism' sit alongside his contemptuous portrayal of Nicepool in his movie - which, incidentally, was filmed whilst all the manipulations were being conducted during BL's IEWU shoot, and therefore was presumably planned some time beforehand...
@Polopony Precisely!
So Ryan was being a male feminist at that award thing for Wicked? After mocking male feminists in Deadpool. He really is obsessed with Justin
Hi Molly. I love your breakdowns. They're always extremely nuanced, lateral and logical.
Slight caveat pertaining to Justin's voicenote - which was produced after "Blake's" version of the rooftop scene was pitched at their apartment, with Taylor making a cameo.
That aside, I'm grateful for your insights.
Yess “he underestimated Baldoni’s willingness to fight back”
I think the theory that RR is the real villain in all this is gaining traction and will likely be proven to be the truth
Ryan Reynolds is the evil mastermind who cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail Baldoni to give up the movie rights. It's not about sex but money. Those movie rights for the sequel is worth billions. This is extortion and criminal.
This has me 🍿 🚬
I cant get enough of the breakdowns 😂
Interesting (and disappointing) that ABC wanted your expert opinion, but only if your answers were in line with what they wanted to hear, and that, apparently, only here on UA-cam can you really say what you're thinking.... no wonder people are turning to creators over MSM. PS - great podcast.
This also explains why Blake was reluctant to promote the movie as one about DV. I think Ryan Reynolds probably encouraged her and Sony to not promote it that way because it hit a bit close to home.
Baldoni didn’t initially want Taylor Swift. He was originally looking to shine light at more unknown indie artists. Lively fired his musician. The Reynolds are all about business and money making and fame. She said herself that her dragons feed each other and scratch each other’s backs and their enemies are hers, vice versa, etc, sheesh…so high school.
@mollymcpherson Spot on however people aren’t recognizing how the way Ryan met Blake on set of another movie while he was married is a huge driver of his jealousy. When couples meet in that way their foundation is built off of deception. That is what then causes Ryan to feel his relationship to Blake is threatened when he sees her having a good time with Justin on set. Common amongst couples who met having an affair. FACTS💔
Didn’t Ryan’s father expire destitute, while living on a friend’s couch? Being the youngest of 4 boys & surely the goldenest of smarmy golden children to his mother, & dad an authoritarian type, it kinda makes sense that he turned out the way he did.
Alanis wrote an entire album about what a pos he was to her. He’s so fckng narcissistic, he’s quoted lyrics about himself randomly in tweets, as if he made them up himself. Versions of Violence & Straitjacket tell you exactly who tf Ryan Reynolds is when the fans can’t see.
Great POV. I think the RR control issues is spot on. In my opinion it then blobbed over to controlling the sequel. 1) he can control BL contacts 2) IEWU was hugely successful 3) RR’s ego feels like he and BL made the movie from directing, wardrobe, marketing, etc. The only way he could obtain the rights to the sequel that Wayfarer held is to have it look like JB broke the contract due to SA. RR thought he could play that card but as you said he didn’t think JB would fight back. I actually think it was Wayfarerer and the billionaire backer that made JB stand up as JB is so beta he was ok with being in the basement at his own premiere. I hope JB gets a lot bc it would be hard to use him as a director if he couldn’t manage this fiasco better.
You are VERY good at what you do. I am glad to be an early subscriber to your channel. It will not be long before worldwide pop and celebrity culture watchers find you! As an academic working on my third master's degree in Strategic Communication and Innovation, I find your podcasts to be master classes. Keep 'em coming.
I have been waiting for this for 2weeks.
I love that you're speaking about how sus Ryan Reynolds is. Can't stand that guy and never could.
Your take is making me see another angle on this. I’d never heard that Wicked speech. RR is trying to take over Justin’s messaging and talk about feminism and women now. This is Justin’s entire identity and he wants to destroy JB and be him. Jealousy, envy, being the WINNER. That’s all he cares about. Totally unhinged!
Why does Ryan Reynolds constantly sound like he's trying to be intentionally effeminate? it's definitely not the flex he thinks it is.
I'm sure that Lively would have nannies. I don't feel sorry for her
Colleen Hoover acted despicably.
Candace Owens does a deep dive on the timeline and issues a sensible narrative that makes sense. Ryan Reynolds is the culprit. RR was trying to even buy the rights from JB to the 2nd book and he wouldn't sell.
I would not trust Candace Owens to tell me the time. She’s a big believer that all women, or almost all women, that report sexual abuse by prominent men are lying. She and Megyn Kelly advance the view that Trump never engaged in any sexual misbehavior. So they advance the belief that we live in a world where women lie. If we live in such a world, then the women accusing trump are lying. Baldoni is the kind woke, feminist, man bun wearing kind of guy they absolutely hate. Under normal circumstances, they would be crowing about the hypocrisy of a woke male feminist committing sexual harassment. But because their larger cause is discrediting women who accuse men, most concerning MAGA men, of sexual misconduct they’ll be on team Baldoni. I’m not saying that they are making stuff up. I don’t know what transpired between them. But why would Candace Owens care about a male feminist getting called out for sexual misconduct? I think Candace feels like she can use Blake’s alleged false claims to make a point about all women are lying. 😊
Molly you're my favorite now! I've been watching UA-cam discussing about this scandal, and you're the best by far!!! BTW, I wish Justin will get the justice he deserved....
Molly you called it..!! Weeks ago..!!! 😂
Colleen Hoover is in on the game with Blake and Ryan. She’s a snake. I agree with everything else you’ve said.
I'm agree that RR is that problem on all of that and his Ego but she has a big history of been bully too. She deserves what is happening now and realize whit who she is married.
Wish I could give you a 1000 likes. I really enjoy your analysis!
I know it sounds crazy, but if everything shakes out like you say, the ultimate resurrection move (and Baldoni really thinks like this) would be for a Reynolds-freed Lively to gratefully and compliantly come back to work with Baldoni on It Starts with Us. If he comes through stronger, again as you say, he's probably the only one to help her claw her way back, and how ironic in the story of a woman who fled a controlling, abusive relationship.
Yes, ironic indeed - and when you consider the subject of the movie, it's doubly so...
There is absolutely no way Baldoni will ever work with Blake Lively again. Right now Baldoni may lose the movie rights because Ryan Reynolds cooked up this sex lawsuit to blackmail him to sell him the movie rights or lose it by force under a morality clause. Baldoni only has himself to blame. James Cameron would never let cast take over his movie like this. Yes true is extortion and it's criminal but Baldoni allowed this to happen so let this be a great lesson to him.
You've researched Reynolds but since this about Lively and Baldoni as much as your probably right about Reynolds i don't believe Lively wouldn't have done any of this if not for Reynolds is wrong in my opinion. Its been proven Lively is very hard to work with, she's gotten people fired and in her own words been spoilt all of her life.
She purposely positioned herself to run in powerful circles via her parents, her good looks and her sex appeal. She threw her weight around whenever she wanted and expected results, when it didn't happen she brought in her dragons. Lively gives sexually assaulted women a bad taste people's mouth.
As for Swift i believe she did get involved with this movie beyond her song to help out a friend. She should have told th truth cause now if she's having to testify she'll have the show to her public that not only did lie about her involvement but to what extent that she lied. This will hurt her a bit in the eyes of public opinion
In view of this theory re RR's behaviour, does Scarlett Johansson's signing with Wayfarer to do her directorial debut movie in September 2023, with JB and Jamey Heath as exec producers, have some bearing? Putting Wayfarer and JB in a headlock, or better still, burying them altogether, would effectively control both BL and his (very successful without him) ex-wife...
What I love about your take on this is that you don't absolve Blake of her part in this but you also don't paint her as "the villain". You brought it all back to actual humans with feelings/emotions/family being behind this whole drama. One of the more nuanced takes I've come across
Molly, what great insights. ❤
Why is Molly saying she and others in her community don’t believe Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster relationship is real? Why would they fake a relationship on the heels of his separation with Deborah?
Good review and well reasoned discussion about the unraveling role of Ryan Reynolds. So many content creators are chasing the Blake and Justin angle but when you highlighted the now emerging Ryan story it seemed a perfect assessment.I would only add Ryan did not get uber rich and become worth hundreds of millions being dumb so I'd guess you'll soon see a pivot to settling with Justin. Its clear you are 100% accurate in speculating this PR debacle will have a detrimental long term impact between Blake and Ryan.
Excellent analysis. Always find your take interesting.
I have nothing against gays, but I get an intense gay vibe from Ryan Reynolds! Listen to him, doesn't he sound super gay?
I have believed Ryan was heavily involved from early on. And that jealousy, pettiness and grudges were a powerful motivation. Though i think it was opportunistic too, they really were going for the take over and double faeture thing. Ya' know. Ghost/Die Hard. But I resisted the idea that it was over BLs affections, and you've managed to convince me it probably was part of it. I still think they had a plan from the get go and Blake was nice to Justin at first because that's the love bombing stage. But she started asserting her self on set from the get go, inserting her self in decisions she had no right to. RR had done it before, so "coached?" I think so.
So i don't buy the "It started after the strike" timeline. But I do totally believe RR was the master mind who guided the systematic usurping of the project and he mistook JBs genuine kindness and empathy for weakness. Nevervthpught he'd fight back. I also think he RR has held a grudge against Scarlett and the fact that Wayfarer signed her up for her Directorial debut probably was a strong motivation. Because destroying Justin and Wayfarer would prevent or impede her Directorial debut. Nice way to one up her and obstruct her.
I seriously doubt Blake is broken up about what she did to Justin or felt coerced. This is a case of 2 malignant narcissist teaming up and i think she relished it. But I agree, they probably will not be married much longer because when they have no choice but accept the defeat they so richly deserve, they no longer will have a joint target so they'll target eachother. Very common in these types of pairings. They're probably already pointing fingers at their minions and will turn on eachother soon enough. They can never take responsibility. It is interesting he hasn't come out with a Public statement in support for his wife! He knows what they did is foul and is holding onto plausible deniability. That's very telling in and of itself. I think he'll throw her under the bus if he has to. But i think she'd do it him too given the chance.
I really think they were always, from the beginning, planning to destroy Justin and Wayfarer after the movie release and securing the rights to the sequel. I don't think it was a last minute scramble, they did last minute decide to use their already in place plan to try and shift blame and deflect from the organic backlash they didn't expect but they had it all too well in place, too quickly for it to have been spontaneous. They were going to destroy him regardless. Lastly, I don't think either of them recovers from this. I think if Traylor is smart this could be just a blip, but if not, this could bring her down too if she keeps lying. And the legacy media trying to influence the narrative in Blake's favor reeks. They're near exhausting public trust. Trying to tell us we don't see what we clearly see is not going to work out for them. Trust in media has never been lowest and it's well deserved.
I think RR bats for the other team and that is the root of all of this madness. I think he was jealous of Blake getting to be with Justin.
Love your analysis. Your take on this drama makes the most sense so far. It’s a psychological puzzle. Well done. Just subscribed.
Justin Baldoni is everything that Ryan Reynolds will NEVER be! That's why RR lost it and went nuts. RR has LOST millions of fans. So has Blake, Taylor and Hugh for that matter. I am one of millions!
Your breakdown of the timeline makes very much sense.
Such a great breakdown!! I think you are absolutely right on this.
I can't even understand why Blake was cast as the female lead in this movie because the book called for a young woman and Blake was obviously a 40 year old woman already. She loves basking in reflected glory and she wants to be treated like Taylor so her PR keeps showing pictures of her and Ryan with Taylor.
She isn't 40, she's 37 now, probably 34-35 when they started shooting. They aged up all the actors because their characters' professions (and success) didn't match the age they were supposedly in the books. Age is the least issue here.
I believe that apparently the author, Colleen Hoover, insisted on her.
Oo wow you hit on something. In Canada we were strictly taught to use double space after the period! (We also still put the “u” in words like flavour.) It was easier for the younger gen to change that habit but not the older.
I think Reynolds' reaction was faux outrage re Baldoni's question to the trainer about BL's weight. They both saw they could use it for leverage. There may have been some misunderstanding in the beginning (depending on how the trainer relayed the info) and Reynolds was only too happy to swoop in and save Blake's honor from the evil, fatshaming Baldoni. But being professional actors who would understand limitations on lifting certain amounts of weight, I think they completely understood Baldoni's reasonable concern but instead, pretended GREAT offense. And it worked! More of Blake's demands were met. Baldoni and Wayfarer were scared to death of fallout from the 'fatshaming kerfuffle' because that is so opposite to Baldoni's brand. Little did they know that was just the appetizer to the main course of SH that would come in Dec.
I strongly feel that she manipulated her own husband and pretended like she needed saving from the inappropriate director so she can deflect any blame from herself and also get attention and support from Ryan so she can pursue her ambitions. She has a history of drawing attention to herself to make herself feel and look important and have people of authority do the dirty work for her like fire workers. She said herself she doesn’t like to be overlooked so she needs her dragons to fight for her.
Everbody hates Ryan and Blake. It's over for them
You always hit it RIGHT on the head.
I think I’ve spent the last 10-15 years being openly skeptical about Ryan Reynolds and got COOKED left and right for not being in on it. I’m finally vindicated, I KNEW this man was always tryna be funny from a very dark place.
Remember when Ryan “interviewed the love interest” during the press tour? That made me want to call the police for Blake fr. Like why is this guy so fucking everywhere like GO away
I agree RR's fingerprints are all over this mess. I'd also add that BL has a long history of being a mean girl & problematic. The two of them make quite a couple. And not in a good way. I feel bad for their children.
I suspect Bl & RR will quietly pay off JB, and the NYT will too. Eventually, anyway.
This case won't go well for anyone.
It's just so messy, and a lot of people have been harmed by it as collateral damage.
Bliach... I could never stand RR. Even before he was famous. How that guy ever made it i have no clue
Ryan must have also been pretty mad when Justin’s rooftop version vs Blake’s was voted better…she admitted in an interview that Ryan wrote that scene. His Ego must have been really bruised to know Justin was the better writer in that scenario lol. Only bad part is Ryan and Blake still got their way and theirs was used for the movie. Justice for JB.
I can attest to the ‘period double space’ w typewriter users thingy :)
Painting Blake as a victim is wrong on so many levels. She has acted as an entitled snotty brat for decades. Also, her family is the powerhouse behind the scenes, not Ryan. You didn't even mention her family.
I understand it’s not ok for Justin to retaliate for SH complaints BUT is it ok for him to have retaliated for the hostile takeover of his film?
If you really think about it, Blake filed the wrong lawsuit against the wrong person. Should’ve been a divorce lawsuit against her own husband.
This means that probably many people do not want to hire his wife which also means, she will be at the house just the way he likes it..I believe this theory, according to the blind items he is very controlling but it is very dark..
Born right at the end of Gen X (husband always calls me a Xennial), so I am younger than Ryan. I used the period, double space for years. It wasn't until I started writing professionally that I switched to period, single space. The daily requests also seemed more formal and didn't follow the usual syntax Blake had used in previous texts. I caught that as well.
It sickens me when I hear I dont like going againsts women. The thing is we should all be standing by truth not gender!!!
All humanbeings have the same ability to be good or evil ,be rightous,honest and truthful.Your truth means nothing, there is truth and there is a lie and how someone emotionally sees it is not part of yhe equation.
Stand by truth regardless of gender!!!
Justin is a sanctimonious male feminist that thinks he can redefine masculinity.
And he’s arrogant enough to think that people are interested in his opinions.
But when push came to shove… he laid down and let Blake walk all over him again and again and again.
Blake is a spoiled, mean spirited bully. She and Ryan sensed his weakness and took advantage of it.
As annoying as Justin is…I hope he wins in court.
TEAM JUSTIN ❤️
Loved this breakdown
This was very interesting from a PR perspective; and also very affirming because I came to these same theories on my own based on all the writings and evidence. And I think most of the public who is interested did too. Although I do think Blake is a monster. She’s definitely emotionally abused by Ryan but it will take a lot of soul searching for her to ever regain any respect as an actress and person. Because from what I’ve seen, she is not kind to people.
Love this perspective though and I think as the public we should all be very interested in learning how different narratives are formed and how certain “information” machines like the media, social media, television, internet , and powerful forces behind them, attempt to brain wash us because they think we are stupid. lol
Molly you SO called it about Ryan Reynolds waaaay before Candance Owens got a source and dropped that theory that has really caught on. Your instincts are on!
Blake trolled him in the credits … she knew the whole time the agenda of Ryan 🥸she was in on it … in my opinion 😅
Ryan using "shapeshift" IMHO is a direct result of Blake's use otf he term to describe ... well... ACTING and her inability/unwillingness to do it.
Now we are blaming another man? It was her
She's in an abusive relationship, mental, psychological, verbal, fiancial, etc. People who bully usually bully to hide from dark things in their own closet. I am sure she is scared of him. I think Baldoni knows, thats why he didnt want to hurt her.
Or that’s what she wants him to think. I’m sure Ryan was also lied to and manipulated in the beginning.
really interesting, thank you.
I think you nailed this episode!!!
thank you for your honesty regarding your dislike of going against women. and your empathy towards Blake Lively At the end of the day, this isn’t about taking sides but about upholding values like integrity, honesty, and truth, virtues that transcend gender. Honest feedback is essential for growth, and to break free from toxic patterns and behaviours. . Hopefully, Ms. Blake can learn from the insights being shared about her!
This was absolutely amazing. Please keep reporting on this, and connect with Dave Neal (another content creator). You both seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to this story.
The pieces questioning his control over this situation and BL are coming in hot and fast.
Great work like always Molly
Any thoughts on why her team decided to draw attention to some sort of problem at the premiere?
I'm a double space after a period person and I am younger than them; I'm a "two handed no looking at the keyboard type-r" and I've only ever used a PC for typing. I used a typing program to train myself and it made me do it that way(or it would highlight it and tell you that you're wrong) as did my school at the time. I'm also from Canada, I don't know if that makes a difference in what we are taught in this specific instance but being from Canada vs the States does in many other spelling/grammatical ways...so maybe?
Fascinating analyses! Thank you
Great explanation! I was confused about how bots worked, this was super helpful
Wow. You are very exceptional researcher. You went deep. Esp. the Parkinson PR of Ryan
21:00 Wait. I thought the vm from JB to BL was in response to BL’s long message to him after his lukewarm reception to “her” rewrite of the rooftop scene… not an apology after his meeting with them at their penthouse. If you listen to the whole vm, it’s still very warm towards both of them, he even says “send my love to Ryan.”