Abbie Chatfield has scorched Blake Lively’s representation of a domestic violence victim during the press tour of the new It Ends With Us film which has been blowing up online for all the wrong reasons.
The 29-year-old reality star slammed the 36-year-old Gossip girl alum on her It’s a Lot podcast today for glamorising domestic violence.
Lively’s latest film is based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover which explores an abusive relationship. The 2024 cinema remake has Lively playing the victim.
Chatfield being a domestic violence victim and advocate, threw shade at the novel calling it horribly written, cliche and ineffective.
“It is written like fan fiction, the characters have no depth, this author cannot write a complex novel.
“I understand the goal was to show even those we hold in high regard can be abusers but it’s cliche, It feels like a fantasy novel, it isn’t realistic in any way,” she continued.
The missed opportunity for domestic violence victims and survivors to be heard is what fired Chatfield up the most.
“There’s an opportunity for a realistic story about domestic violence to be in the limelight and it feels like Twilight with a bit of violence and no trigger warnings being marketed as a romcom,” she said.
“The marketing of it from Blake Lively has been f***ing atrocious, it should have been marketed as a thriller or horror.”
Lively has been reported saying that the message domestic violence victims should take from the film is that survivors are more than their abuse story because women are multifaceted.
Chatfield called this message “lighthearted and insensitive” labelling Lively a “deeply unlikeable person”.
“She is claiming this movie is for domestic violence survivors, but she isn’t talking about domestic violence,” Chatfield said.
Chatfield criticised Lively for saying “grab your girlfriends, wear your florals and go watch the movie” calling her “not equipped” for the press tour.
The F-boy Island host suggested that domestic violence survivors “who align with the book and were helped by the book speak about their experiences” to the media instead of Lively who “seems as though she has never been affected”.
“She shouldn’t be spearheading this campaign, an army of women who have survived domestic violence should speak about these things and Blake should just be there.”