Journalist Says Blake Lively Made Her Feel 'Broken' After Being Pulled Into Legal Drama, Demands Apology

Blake Lively's ongoing legal war with Justin Baldoni continues to see different twists and turns as they inch closer to trial.

Kjersti Flaa, the Norwegian journalist who once slammed the actress as "rude" over an interview, has demanded an apology.

Flaa claimed Blake Lively's team went as far as to subpoena Google to receive information from her in hopes they would find "evidence" that Justin Baldoni paid her to share the video.

At the height of Lively's legal battle and eyebrow-raising headlines last year, journalist Kjersti Flaa thought it good to unearth an old interview where the "Gossip Girl" actress took a pointed jab at her.

In the 2016 conversation, Flaa notably congratulated a then-pregnant Lively, but the actress shocked her by making a nasty joke about her "bump."

The "uncomfortable" exchange left the journalist in shock as she described the encounter as "humiliating" and "rude."

Flaa seemingly went home seething as she later told the Daily Mail that her inability to conceive made their conversation all the more "traumatizing."

So when she decided to post the clips from their interview, it was because she thought "it was time people behaving badly in Hollywood got called out," only for her to be dragged into the actress's fight with Baldoni.

She has now opened up about the negative toll the case had on her, telling the news outlet that being "pulled unexpectedly into the high-profile lawsuit" left her feeling "completely broken and powerless."

At the time, Lively was making headlines for all the wrong reasons, so when Flaa's clip hit the Internet, netizens thought it was part of a "smear campaign" Baldoni launched.

In fact, things didn't stop there as she revealed that Lively and her team subpoenaed Google to provide information about her account as they were on the hunt for "evidence" that the actor paid her to share the video.

But now that the latest filing in the legal drama proved that Lively's team "has not put forward any evidence to suggest [Flaa's] video was not genuine," Flaa is finding her voice again and speaking out.

"When I uploaded that Blake Lively interview, I had no idea it would trigger such a massive reaction," she recalled in her new interview with the Daily Mail. "Being pulled unexpectedly into a high-profile lawsuit is incredibly intimidating - you feel powerless."

Flaa added that she was "completely broken" for some time and that the criticism she suffered left her unable to celebrate Christmas well enough at the time.

She continued, "When you're accused of lying or acting maliciously, it hits you deeply. Your instinct is to defend yourself, but online, it often feels like the harder you fight the truth, the louder the misinformation becomes. It was an incredibly vulnerable time."

Flaa went further to insist that she never took money to share the video, and by doing so, she was only acting out of her own free will.

She maintained that she had never had any contact with the actor or his team, saying that "the idea that exposing someone's bullying behavior somehow made me the bully - it's absurd."

"I  have never and would never take money to attack anyone. Suggesting that is not only false, it's offensive," Flaa said.

The huge public attention on the matter seemingly came with a silver lining for Flaa as she said it "opened new doors" for her.

"I've built an amazing investigative community on YouTube who follow my reporting closely, and that support has given me confidence, purpose, and a whole new direction in my work," she noted.

Flaa believes the "A Simple Favor" actress owes her and many others an apology after she didn't dispute Baldoni's latest filing, where he said she has yet to "put forward any evidence to suggest the 'little bump' video is not genuine, or that Defendants had any contact with the reporter in the video."

"I'm probably far down on the list [of people whom she owes apologies]," Flaa said. "Targeting journalists and content creators was a major mistake."

She added, "A lot of people have spent significant money and emotional energy defending themselves because she couldn't tolerate criticism. It's scary - and sad."

All is at stake for the former "It Ends With Us" costars when they head to trial on May 18, 2026.

The legal showdown was earlier scheduled to commence on March 9; however, according to CNN, Judge Lewis Liman moved it at a discovery status hearing to accommodate other criminal cases.

Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on the set of the movie and also launching a smear campaign to tarnish her image. The actor denied the claims and countersued her, in a now-dismissed lawsuit, for allegedly trying to seize creative control of the film from him.