Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni starred together in the 2024 hit film, ‘It Ends With Us’. Rumours of tension between the two started swirling when they didn’t pose together at the New York premiere of the movie. During press, it seemed as though they were promoting two different films. Baldoni was promoting a movie about domestic violence and abuse, the subject matter of the film. Lively promoted a romantic comedy. Nevertheless, the movie did well in the box office, grossing $351 million. The world seemed to hate Lively for her tone-deaf take on domestic violence. Baldoni was praised and recognized for his efforts on being an ally for women. It all changed, however, on December 20, 2024, when Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni & Co.
The filmmaker suffered greatly since then, and filed his own lawsuit against The New York Times, who published the story on Lively’s complaint against him. Here, we break down both lawsuits, take a look back on Baldoni’s career and advocacy before ‘It Ends With Us’, and decide whose side are we on.
Anna Kendrick: The Real Beauty Of Art Therapy In Healing Your Trauma – And How It Can Lead You To Finally Being Recognized For Your Real Talent After Years Of Work In Your Industry
Anna Kendrick is an established actress who’s made a name for herself in comedy movies such as the ‘Pitch Perfect’ trilogy, ‘Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates’, ‘Mr. Right’, and more. Most recently, she changed her path in her career, and starred in movies like ‘Alice, Darling, which also executive produced, and ‘Woman Of The Hour’, which marked her directorial debut. Though very, very different, both movies have the same subject matter – emotional abuse. These two movies marked big positive moves in Kendrick’s career, and they were established with great train of thought. In fact, it was a conscious she’d made for herself following her own experience of surviving a long-term emotionally abusive relationship with an unnamed ex. She put all her efforts into bringing awareness to emotional abuse through her work. As she said, ‘I was known as sort of quirky and relatable… I was being forced into a place of performance and dishonesty in my private life.’ This begs the question: How can we, as women, bring our personal lives into our work, how can we successfully put ourselves out there into out there without the fear of it breaking us down, and what is the reward for it in the end? Let’s discuss…
James Franco: What The Demise Of His Friendship With Seth Rogen Means To Sexual Assault Survivors – And How His Sexual Misconduct Allegations Didn’t Actually Impact His Career
James Franco is a renowned actor, writer, director, and teacher. He used to be everywhere. There was a time that we, the fans, couldn’t get enough of him, with hit movies like ‘Spiderman’, ‘127 Hours’, ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’, as well as his collaborative works with Seth Rogen. His fame and adoration nearly lasted two decades, but it all came crashing down in 2018 after 5 women sued him and accused him of fraud and sexual misconduct. He and his business partner settled the lawsuits for over $2 million. But with that being said, Franco’s career suffered a great deal as a result. By 2024, however, he made a comeback. As of the publishing of this blog post, he has 5(!) pending projects awaiting to be released. In October 2024, Franco admitted that his friendship with Seth Rogen, which lasted 20 years, as well his working with relationship with Rogen, was over following the sexual misconduct allegations that almost destroyed his career and reputation. They starred in movies such as ‘Pineapple Express’, ‘This Is The End’, and ‘The Interview’. Here, we break down Franco’s career, his personal life, and what his friendship breakup with Seth Rogen means to victims everywhere. We also discuss whether or not Franco is even deserving of a career comeback in the first place, even though none of us ever asked for it in the first place.
The Menendez Brothers: How The Misconception Of Male Sexual Assault Failed Them – And How The New Public Perception Is Saving Them
Lyle and Erik Menendez are known to the world as the two brothers who murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in cold blood in 1989. The legal system failed them in the 1990’s, which is why they’ve been serving their life sentences since then. And now, with brand new evidence being emerged that were dismissed and ignored in the previous two trials – the first ending in a mistrial and the second ending in two life sentences – as well as an entire new generation getting to know the case with much different perspective and views than the generation of the 1990’s after Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monster’ being released on Netflix, a brand new trial will be taking place in January 2025, which means that the Menendez brothers now have a chance of freedom after spending 35 years behind bars. Here, we break down their story of abuse to its entirety, examine what makes their case so intriguing, and argue why the brothers should, in fact, be freed. Let’s discuss…
Eminem: The Ultimate Girl Dad – And How He Broke Down Barriers & Became The Cycle Breaker Of His Family’s Dysfunctional Past
Everyone knows that Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, is father to his daughter Hailie Jade. What’s leader known is that he has two more adoptive children, Alaina Marie and Stevie, previously known as Whitney. He also raised his brother, Nate, and got him out of foster care. His children have been a big part of subject matters in his songs, most recently with singles ‘Somebody Save Me’ and ‘Temporary’. Eminem is considered to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. He even won an Oscar for his hit song, ‘Lose Yourself’ in the 2000’s. But even more so, he’s a better father than he is a rapper, and he always took his role of a father far more seriously than that of a rapper. He missed the Oscar ceremony that year because he was spending time with his daughter. He broke berries. He broke his family’s cycle. He’s what’s called, a cycle breaker. We give a full insight on how he broke barriers as a rapper, but even more so, as a father. We also define a cycle breaker, what it entails, and the best practices one needs to consider in order to break free from the past to provide a better future for the next generation – with Eminem as the primary example. Let’s discuss…
Megan Fox: A Deep Dive Into Her Relationship (And Many Breakups) With Machine Gun Kelly – And How An Unresolved Childhood Trauma Becomes The Core Cause For A Dysfunctional Love Story
In November, Megan Fox announced that she was pregnant with her fourth child, her first with longtime boyfriend, Machine Gun Kelly, after she suffered a miscarriage back in 2023. All seemed blissful between the couple, finally, after a rocky couple of on-and-off years. A month after the pregnancy announcement, though, it was announced that Fox and MGK split yet again. Now, Fox is faced to be pregnant and raise her child on all her own. These new developments begged some questions such as: How much toxicity can a relationship survive? What causes a relationship to be toxic, how does this toxicity affect the children? And finally, when should you say, ‘enough is enough’? We break down and answer these questions through the eyes and lens of Megan Fox’s very toxic relationship and breakup(s) with Machine Gun Kelly, their respective exes, their respective children, and now, their unborn child. Are the twin flames, as they call each other to be, really meant to be or should they stay broken up, for good this time?
Christina Haack: All The Reasons Why Her Breakup With Josh Hall Was The Best Thing For Her As An Independant Woman – And Why Divorce Should Never Be Viewed As Failure
Christina Haack is a businesswoman, real estate agent, and a reality star while initially got her start while working with her first ex-husband, Tarek El Moussa. They started their reality series, ‘Flip Or Flop’ when they were still married and continued to work together after their divorce. After ending their run in their long running series, they reunited again professionally to start filming ‘The Flip Off’ with their new spouses, Heather El Moussa and Josh Hall. In July 2024, however, Haack announced her divorce from Hall, as well as his departure from the new show. This will be Haack’s third divorce. She was also previously married to Ant Anstead, who’s currently dating ‘Bridget Jones’ star, Renee Zellweger. So that begs the question: Does divorce, or multiple divorces in the case of Christina Haack, always have to be considered a failure? Here, we break down Haack’s relationship with Josh Hall, throughly explain the real reasons their marriage ended, and why being with an insecure partner who lacks emotional intelligence is never someone a woman strives to have in her life. Let’s discuss…
Fiona Gallagher: Breaking Down The Characterization Of Parentification – Through The Looking Glass Of The Mother Lion That She Became
Emmy Rossum played the role of Fiona Gallagher for 9 of the 11 seasons of the hit series, ‘Shameless’. The perfect way to describe Fiona is as follows: ‘Fiona was there for everyone, but not everyone was there for Fiona.’ She became the mother figure and guardian of her siblings because their mother left the family when she was 9 and her father was a drunk and junkie, and didn’t care enough for the well-being of his children; in his drunken state, at least, which was almost always. In her official statement confirming her existence from the series, Rossum described Fiona as ‘mother lion’. And that’s true. She was a lion when it came to her 5 younger siblings. She was fearless. She was ruthless. She was bada**. Through the eyes of Fiona Gallagher, we break down parentification — ‘When a child takes on parental responsibilities for their siblings or parents, it’s called parentification. This can include caring for a sibling’s physical, mental, or emotional needs.’ We analyze Fiona’s characterization through the glass of parentigication, and what her leaving represented a positive change for her and the family.
Sierra Burgess Is A Loser: The 5 Different Ways The Movie COULD’VE Ended – And Why Veronica Should’ve Been The Main Protagonist Instead
If you’re a fan of Noah Centineo from the ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ movie franchise, or if you’re a fan of Shannon Purser of ‘Stranger Tings’, both streaming on Netflix, you probably know that the two of them previously made a movie together called ‘Sierra Burgess Is A Loser’. The 2018 Netflix teen romance was panned by critics and viewers alike, calling it transphobic and homophobic. The movie was also criticized for making fun of the disabled and promoting catfishing and sexual assault. It can’t be denied that the movie, particularly the main character, Sierra, is all of those things and more. She IS, in fact a loser, and that’s one thing the movie got right – the title. Here, we break down everything wrong with Sierra Burgess, we rewrite the script and come up with different ending the movie COULD’VE had to make it a more compelling story, AND we explore the reasons why Veronica, the antagonist, should’ve actually been the main protagonist instead of Sierra.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: Breaking Down Lara Jean And Peter Kavinsky’s Entire Relationship – And How It Was Defined By Grief, Loss, and Parental Neglect
With the news of the second seasons of ‘XO Kitty’ and ‘The Recruit’ both being released in January 2025, I was reminded of the ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ movie trilogy, starring Lana Condor and Noah Centineo as Lara Jean and Peter, a co-starring Anna Cathcart as Kitty. The movies were based on the book series written by Jenny Han. When we think of Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship, we think of them as cute teens being in love and having the ‘perfect relationship. Or we think of Peter being a toxic boyfriend. It all depends on how you yourself as a fan look at it. As I analyzed their entire relationship more in depth, I realized that it was more than just a cute teen romance. Instead, it was a relationship that was defined by loss, grief, and parental neglect. It was a romance that was almost broken not because of long distance, but because of unresolved trauma. That begs the question: Could Lara Jean and Peter have survived their trials and tribulations in the real world? Let’s discuss…