Norwegian entertainment reporter Kjersti Flaa, who nearly quit her job after a 2016 interview with actress Blake Lively, says the star has yet to apologize for the comments made during their exchange—an apology she would still welcome.
Lively, who is currently embroiled in controversy involving her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni, came under fire after Flaa posted a clip on August 9 of an “uncomfortable” chat they had during a 2016 press event for Café Society.
In the snippet, Flaa congratulated Lively on her “little bump”—referring to Lively’s then-public second pregnancy—only for the actress to sarcastically throw the comment back at the non-pregnant interviewer. The situation became even more uncomfortable as Lively shifted her attention to co-star Parker Posey on her left, seemingly ignoring Flaa in front of her, despite Posey’s attempts to include her in the conversation.
After uploading the video to YouTube, Flaa, who “hadn’t read up on all the other controversy” surrounding Lively and her new movie, shared another video on her channel explaining why she chose to release the “horrific” interview.
“It affected me for a while because it made me nervous when interviewing other people after that. I blamed myself for a long time, feeling like I did or said something wrong,” Flaa confessed.
She recounted meeting another reporter who had experienced a negative interaction with a different celebrity but had the tape confiscated.
“They confiscated his tape after the interview, and he wondered if something similar had ever happened to me,” Flaa shared. “I told him about the horrible interview I had with Blake Lively and [said] that I never wanted to share it with anyone because the experience had traumatized me so much.”
Flaa revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail that as someone who is infertile, Lively’s comment left her “almost paralyzed.”
“To be honest, it hurts because I obviously wasn’t pregnant, and I could never get pregnant, so to me, that comment was like a bullet,” she said.
In her recent video, Flaa remarked on the overwhelming support she has received from thousands of people sharing their own experiences with “mean-girl energy” or feeling “left out or bullied.”
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all make me want to continue doing this job, and the way that this situation, which was so horrific for me, turned into something positive and maybe can help other people in the future.”
Despite the time that has passed since the 2016 interview, Flaa remains skeptical that Lively will ever apologize but hopes that this situation will encourage others to rethink their behavior, especially when it comes to small misunderstandings or unnecessary hostility.
Flaa speculated that many Hollywood A-listers “don’t own up to their mistakes because they’re afraid that it’s going to backfire or make them look bad,” adding, “It’s time to change that.”
“If she wants to apologize, that would be amazing,” Flaa told TMZ. “I think if you behave badly, if you own up to that and say, ‘I had a terrible day, I’m so sorry,’ maybe she will learn something from that and not behave like that again. Of course, that would be very welcomed.”
“I don’t think that will happen though,” she added. “I don’t.”