Blake Lively Urged To 'Take Notes' From Julia Roberts' Thoughtful Take On Domestic Violence
As Blake Lively rebounds from the public fallout over her publicity tour for her latest film, she’s been urged to “take notes” from another Hollywood veteran.
Lively returned to the big screen this month in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel, “It Ends With Us.” She plays Lily Bloom, the owner of a Boston flower shop who is navigating an abusive relationship with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film).
Though “It Ends With Us” is a box office smash, Lively has come under a flurry of criticism for appearing a bit too breezy about a film with such heavy themes.
In a recent TikTok video, for instance, the actor urges fans to “grab your friends [and] wear your florals” before heading to the theater. In contrast, Baldoni has actively championed the anti-domestic abuse nonprofit No More in the lead-up to the movie’s release.
Amid the discourse, a clip from a 1991 interview with Julia Roberts in which she discusses her film “Sleeping With the Enemy” with the late journalist Bobbie Wygant has resurfaced on TikTok. In it, Roberts ― who was 23 at the time ― speaks eloquently about her character, Laura Burney, who is a survivor of domestic violence.
“I can’t even fathom being in a situation quite that horrible,” Roberts said, when asked about how she’d personally react if she were experiencing abuse firsthand. “It’s not in my realm of understanding.”
Watch Julia Roberts discuss “Sleeping With the Enemy” below. Her comments on domestic violence can be found at the 5:33 mark.
Wygant followed up by suggesting that she could “just fight back,” to which Roberts replied: “I think it’s a process of manipulation that grows and becomes stronger than that. It’s not kind of that cut and dry. I think it’s