Justin Baldoni has responded to criticism that ‘It Ends With Us’ glorifies domestic violence

It Ends With Us is undoubtedly the most talked-about film of the summer, with the box office hit making over £30 million in its opening weekend.

The Colleen Hoover adaptation was highly-anticipated, with the beloved book and its sequel, It Starts With Us, amassing a cult following since its 2016 publication. And with rumours of a cast fallout between star and producer Blake Lively, and star and director Justin Baldoni, talk around the 2024 film adaptation has reached new heights.

Conversation this week has surrounded the film's messaging, with the adaptation receiving backlash for its portrayal of domestic violence.

Domestic abuse is a central theme to the novel-turned-film, with It Ends With Us exploring the intergenerational cycle of violence experienced by lead character Lily Bloom. However, the filmmakers have come under fire this week, with some fans accusing them of glorifying domestic abuse.

This is something that director Justin Baldoni spoke about this week, addressing the backlash directly.

“[People] are absolutely entitled to that opinion, and it makes perfect sense as to why they would feel that way," Baldoni explained in an interview with the Associated Press.

“Look, we live in a culture where, unfortunately, too many things are glorified. And we are fighting for attention, we're in an attention economy…and so it makes perfect sense that people would feel that way.”

He continued: “Also, if anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel. To them I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.”

The film adaptation has also been criticised for not focusing enough on the theme of domestic abuse, something that Blake Lively spoke out about this week.

"I think she's so much more than just a victim of domestic abuse," Lively explained to TNM about her character, Lily Bloom. "That's something that happened to her, but nothing any one person did to her can define her. She's a woman of multitudes, she's an entrepreneur, a shop owner, an artist, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a sister, a lover. She's all of these things. And so to get to play a woman who gets to experience so many things and all the colours of the human emotion was such a gift."

If you, or someone you know, is suffering domestic abuse, you can contact the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit Women’s Aid or Refuge.