The drama behind the drama It Ends with Us shows no signs of ending, three days after the movie scored an impressive $50 million box office debut.
The Hollywood Reporter says the movie's star and director Justin Baldoni has hired a PR crisis team to help smooth over seemingly daily headlines and online posts of a reported rift between him and co-star and co-producer Blake Lively.
The trade notes Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, whose PR firm specializes in "communications, crisis, reputation management, personal publicity and digital team services," and that she was the person hired by Johnny Depp amid his court battle with Amber Heard.
Baldoni recently posted to TikTok an interaction with some fans, one of whom fawned over him, and although she knew he had appeared in Jane the Virgin and It Ends with Us, she thought his name was Ralph. "This is very humbling," he says, smiling in the clip, which he captioned, "Dear mom…I've finally made it. With love, Ralph."
He also posted an Instagram video from Sweden, thanking fans for embracing the movie. "Seeing this packed theater, connecting with some of you, and hearing your stories is a powerful reminder of why we brought this story to life," he said in part.
Meanwhile, after taking flak online for her lighthearted promotion of the film, in which her character is abused by her partner played by Baldoni, Blake posted to Instagram statistics about domestic violence, and resources victims can access, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.