Blake Lively Made Reporter 'Uncomfortable' During Viral 2016 Interview: 'A Really Traumatizing Experience'

Kjersti Flaa is speaking out about the moment she decided to release her now-viral 2016 interview with Blake Lively.

In a recent discussion with an outlet, the longtime Hollywood reporter recalled feeling deeply “uncomfortable” during the conversation, which took place while Lively and Parker Posey were promoting Café Society.

“It was a really traumatizing experience,” Flaa admitted.

In the resurfaced clip, which Flaa later uploaded to YouTube, the journalist can be seen greeting the actresses before offering what she believed was a friendly compliment.

"First of all, congrats on your little bump!" she said at the time.

But the interaction quickly took an awkward turn. Instead of thanking Flaa, Lively also responded with, “congrats on your little bump,” despite the reporter not being pregnant.

At the time of the interview, Lively was expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds. The interview is believed to have taken place shortly before July 2016.

Things only became more tense from there. When Flaa attempted to shift the conversation toward the film’s costumes, Lively replied, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes.”

According to Flaa, the exchange left her confused, as Lively then began speaking directly with Posey, largely ignoring Flaa even though she was leading the conversation.

“I was just sitting there like, ‘Oh.’… I didn’t really understand all that. And then when I asked the next question about the costumes, [they] turned to each other and just ignore me. That’s when I started, you know, feeling like, ‘Oh my God. They’re actually doing this,'” the Norwegian reporter explained to Page Six.

“At first I was like, 'Wow, this is really uncomfortable,'" she shared. “As a journalist, you always have to take the high road, you know? So when I was sitting there, I couldn’t react to what they were doing to me in a sense of like leaving or talking back to them or doing anything like that, because I knew if I did, then I would never get opportunities like that again.”

At the time, Flaa remembered feeling “frustrated and angry.” She then emphasized the difficult “power dynamic” that can come with interviewing major celebrities.

“A journalist who wants to continue doing these kind of interviews, you just have to, you know, accept these terms,” she said. “Everyone who’s done these kind of interviews and been in those kind of situations, knows how much pressure you have in a situation like that.”

As OK! previously reported, the interview originally aired only in Norway back in 2016.

However, Flaa — who has been accused of participating in Justin Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against Lively — later revealed she had kept the footage and ultimately chose to upload it to YouTube in August 2024.

Lively and Baldoni recently settled their legal drama.

On Monday, May 4, attorneys for both sides — Wayfarer lawyers Bryan Freedman and Ellyn Garofalo, along with Lively's counsel Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson — issued a statement two weeks before they were scheduled to go to trial in New York.

"The end product — the movie It Ends With Us — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life," reads the statement. "Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind."

"We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments," the message continues. "It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online."

In 2024, Lively filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment and a hostile work environment against her It Ends With Us costar and director, Baldoni, claiming he created a "toxic" atmosphere.

Baldoni denied the allegations.