It Ends with Us sparked debate about domestic violence. Here's what Blake Lively had to say about it

CNN —

The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling 2016 novel It Ends with Us is hoping for a successful second weekend at the box office, but some reviews of the film have been less positive.

Beyond reports of creative differences and on-set tensions between the film's star and co-executive producer Blake Lively and her partner and director Justin Baldoni, attention has been focused on how Lively and the film's promotional campaign have, or in some cases, failed to address the issue of domestic violence, which is a central plot point of the film.

It Ends with Us follows Lily Bloom (Lively), who overcomes a traumatic childhood marked by abuse to realize her dream of opening a flower shop as an adult. She soon meets Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), with whom she has an intense connection. As the pair fall deeper and deeper in love, Lily soon discovers disturbing patterns that remind her of her relationship with her parents.

The film, released on August 9, featured posters of Lively with flowers, with slogans such as “We break the pattern or the pattern breaks us” and “We love. We break. We pick up the pieces.” But a post shared by the film’s Instagram account with distributor Sony Pictures on the day of release, with the caption “Grab your friends. Wear your flowers,” drew particular ire from users who criticized the post as tone-deaf and a massive letdown.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Lively and Sony Pictures for comment.

It didn't help matters that Lively also used the film's promotional tour as a marketing opportunity for her Betty cocktail line, as seen in an Instagram post from around the same time, with many users pointing out that promoting an alcohol brand around a film detailing domestic violence is problematic.

At the film's New York premiere earlier this month, Lively shared some thoughts directly related to domestic violence, speaking on the red carpet about what she would say to abuse survivors who see the film: I think you are so, and I don't want to minimize it, but you are so much more than just a survivor or just a victim. While that's a huge thing, you are just one person, and what someone did to you doesn't define you. You define you.

Earlier this week, Lively shared on her Instagram Stories a clip from an interview she did with BBC News, in which she said: “The film is about domestic violence, but what's important about this film is that she's not just a survivor, and she's not just a victim.”

And while these are important things to experience, they don't constitute her identity, she continued. She's not defined by something someone else did to her or by an event that happened to her, even if they're multiple events.

Later, the Gossip Girl star also shared a link to the National Domestic Violence Hotline on her Instagram Stories. In the United States alone, one in four women aged 18 and older have experienced serious physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. Domestic violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people each year in the United States. Everyone deserves relationships free of domestic violence, she wrote in the story.

But what stood out the most was Lively's response to journalist Jake Hamilton in Chicago around the time of the film's release, which went viral. When Hamilton asked her what she would say to someone who approached her publicly about domestic violence, Lively joked about the logistics of how she would have to share her phone number, address or location, which many found flippant.

What wasn't included in the widely shared excerpt on social media was her subsequent response, in which Lively said, “Unfortunately, we all know at least one person who has been through this,” going on to describe how often we know more than one person affected by domestic violence.

Sony has since defended its promotion of the film.

“So many women invested so much effort into this remarkable film, working selflessly from the beginning to ensure that such an important subject was handled with care,” Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement earlier this week.

Editor's Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

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