Reporter Says She’s Been Smeared Amid Lively-Baldoni Drama

Journalist Kjersti Flaa is lashing out at The New York Times for suggesting that she had a role in the alleged smear campaign against Blake Lively, according to a report.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Flaa accused Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the Times of attempting to frame her as “the bad guy.” She accused the publication, which detailed Lively’s claims, of poor reporting practices.

Lively has been embroiled in a feud with Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director for the film It Ends With Us, after she alleged in a lawsuit that he and his public relations team sought to ruin her image over fears that she would out him for on-set sexual harassment.

Baldoni has denied that he led a smear campaign against Lively and has filed a suit against The Times for libel. His attorney has said that a countersuit against Lively herself is incoming.

Flaa—a Norwegian-born, U.S.-based entertainment reporter—was caught in the crossfire of the dispute because of a video she shared in August 2024, when Lively claims the smear campaign was unfolding.

Flaa shared a clip from a 2016 interview with Lively, which included an awkward exchange about the star’s baby bump.

The Times article mentioned Flaa’s video and noted that she had previously posted in a support of Johnny Depp, another controversial client of the PR firm used by Baldoni.

Flaa had spoken out soon after the story broke, claiming that she posted the video on her own, with no encouragement by Baldoni’s PR team. Now, she is expressing her discontent with how the Times covered her in the story.

“It was so shocking to read that in the newspaper, with this very strong insinuation that I was involved in this alleged smear campaign,” Flaa told The Hollywood Reporter. “People picked up on that quickly. I started getting backlash online and getting hate mail.”

Flaa said that she wasn’t contacted by the Times before the article published. Only after the fact did the publication add her statement denying that she coordinated the video’s resurfacing with Baldoni’s team.

“Of course, my video didn’t put [Lively] in a good light, so I’m sure they were happy about that,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “But at no point did anyone contact me from his team or from [Lively’s] team. The thing is, she smeared herself in that video, and people reacted to it online. [The reason] for her becoming unpopular is because of her own behavior.”

“I was just really disappointed that they didn’t contact me, [but] just followed one narrative without having any critical thinking around it,” Flaa added. “It hurt my reputation and it hurt me personally. I’m so disappointed in The New York Times. I have no words for it.”

Flaa told The Hollywood Reporter she was not yet sure if she would file a lawsuit against the Times.

The Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation from the Daily Beast.