I found a deeply unsettling detail everyone missed in the Blake vs Justin legal war. This is so much worse than we thought: AMANDA GOFF on the Hollywood trial of the year

I have a confession to make.

Few things in the news cycle upset me these days, but something has been bothering me for months — as a woman and as a journalist.

Why don’t I like Blake Lively?

It’s a question many of us have been grappling with since a flood of negative stories about the actress hit the press last year during the fraught release of her romantic drama It Ends with Us, in which she plays the victim of an abusive relationship.

It has since emerged that these stories were allegedly the result of a shady PR campaign involving her co-star Justin Baldoni in retaliation after she complained about alleged sexual harassment and an unsafe work environment on set.

But let’s go back to August — before the lawsuits and the explosive NYT report about Blake being the victim of a so-called “Hollywood smear machine” — and remember what so many of us thought about the saga at the time.

‘Blake is a diva.’ “She must be a nightmare to work with.” “I always thought she was like that.” “Poor Justin.”

I’ll be the first to raise my hand. When I saw the flood of news articles and social media posts, I immediately jumped on the anti-Blake Lively bandwagon.

Do I regret it now? It’s hard to say. Justin and Blake haven’t had their day in court yet and I’m not taking sides yet – but one thing is abundantly clear: there’s a lot more to the story than we initially thought.

As we await the start of Hollywood’s most brutal legal battle since Depp vs Heard, many women like me are wondering why we were so willing to believe the story we were fed about Blake.

Was it her perfect white teeth? Her enviable, shiny, sun-kissed hair. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s trapped one of the few genuinely nice guys in Hollywood, Ryan Reynolds, and he’s clearly obsessed with her. Not all of us do you want a man like that?

Or could it be that she played one of the most iconic “mean girls” of the 2000s, Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, and I’m having a hard time separating her from her character?

Or is it that infamous interview from 2016, in which Blake was angry about a journalist’s apparent criticism? innocent comment: ‘Congratulations on your baby bump.’

Or maybe – probably, definitely – it’s just Blake’s… vibe.

The first sounds of conflict on set emerged during the premiere of It Ends with Us last August

There’s just something about her and I can’t put my finger on it. So many women I know feel the same way, and we’re not proud of it. It’s a gut feeling, a deep-seated reaction.

It could be her beauty, her success, her marriage, but that’s there too something about her just rubbing women the wrong way. It probably says more about us than it does about her, but it’s worth some introspection: a significant portion of the female population punched the air and shouted, “I knew it!” when the world turned against her six months ago.

You won’t find any of that in the volumes of legal documents being filed left and right, but trust me, that’s the heart and soul of this case. It’s not just Lively vs Baldoni that’s going to trial, but also Lively vs Other Women.

And the worst is yet to come. The battle between Blake and Justin is the kind of Hollywood drama that no script could ever capture. I could list all the accusations flying between them, but at this stage I’m struggling to keep track of it all.

It seems like every day there are more mud fights, more lawsuits, more accusations. One minute I’m Team Blake, the next minute I’m Team Baldoni. But before I go any further, let me make this clear: Blake is accusing her co-star of some pretty serious and unacceptable behavior, including impromptu kissing, unsolicited visits to her trailer and crossing boundaries with sexual conversations, plus legal documents claim that Justin Blake’s brought up weight for a scene where he lifts her (he has back problems).

Then there are the NYT’s allegations that Baldoni’s camp launched a negative media campaign and social media manipulation to discredit Blake after she spoke out.

Justin denies this, calling the allegations “false, outrageous and deliberately salacious” and has filed a whopping $250 million lawsuit against the newspaper.

And then there’s the “he-said-she-said” texts flying around, plus the issue of an upside-down smiley emoji being misinterpreted.

There’s just something about Blake and I can’t put my finger on it. So many women I know feel the same way, and we’re not proud of it. It’s a gut feeling, a deep-seated reaction

Christ. Give me a Panadol, it’s giving me a headache.

Are you as confused as I am? Who do we believe? No woman deserves to be sexually harassed and belittled at work, whether she is a cleaner or a celebrity, and the allegations are serious. But Justin’s return serve cannot simply be dismissed.

Fortunately, I am not the judge or jury (although I will be glued to the screen as this civil case is streamed live) and will refrain from commenting on what I believe happened. I will reserve judgment for now, however difficult that may be.

But what raises my eyebrows is this: Scroll through the thousands of comments on TikTok, Instagram, or any news article about the stoush, and one thing is surprisingly clear: Team Justin is alive and well, and there are plenty of people out there who are anti-Blake position regardless of the evidence.

I won’t judge you for taking sides. But we also need to investigate why large parts of the audiences so quickly accepted the claim that Blake was “terrible to work with” and a “real mean girl.”

Sure, she’s had her moments. What Hollywood star has never had a bad day at the office, or lost his temper after sitting in a hotel room for nine hours during a media call.

One thing is clear in all of this: there were a lot of people waiting for Blake to fall off her pedestal America’s sweetheart. And it’s more than a little disturbing.

They say the truth comes in the wash. I’m afraid this is just the beginning.