CAMOUFLAGED CRIMES

For months, the public impression of the actor Blake Lively was not favorable at all.

- SHARANYA MANIVANNAN

Chatter online as well as in the press recorded offense at many things she did during the promotional tour of It Ends With Us, which she also co-produced. The film, based on a novel by Colleen Hoover, is about domestic violence. Lively shilling her beverage and haircare brands while discussing a piece of cinema about a serious issue was looked down on, for example. At the same time, rumors swirled that she and her spouse Ryan Reynolds were highly controlling of the production. Old footage of Lively being rude to interviewers started making the rounds. Everything about Lively's personality and choices in life and work was suddenly annoying en masse.

Now, the most shocking revelations of all have come out. The widespread negativity around Lively had been engineered by her