The spectacle at this year’s Met Gala might be considered one of the most bittersweet triumphs of the 21st century.
Blake Lively’s appearance on the iconic Met steps, where she was seen instructing her entourage just moments after resolving her legal dispute with Justin Baldoni, only underscores the perception of her as disconnected and self-important.
Anna Wintour’s decision to extend an invitation to Lively, notably without her husband Ryan Reynolds by her side, speaks volumes about the event’s current ethos.
The glamour of the Met Gala seems to have faded, revealing an assembly that some might argue showcases the world’s most controversial personalities, made possible through the patronage of Jeff Bezos.
Curiously, Bezos did not make his entrance on the red carpet with his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, leaving one to wonder if the display of opulence would be too much even for this grand event.
Despite efforts to entice her, Anna Wintour was apparently unable to persuade her silver screen counterpart, Meryl Streep, to make an appearance at the gala.
Nor, reportedly, was she able to convince Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Instead, we proles were treated to: Katy Perry, currently accused of sexual assault (that she denies) by the actress Ruby Rose; Ryan Murphy muse Sarah Paulson, a multimillionaire, wearing a dollar bill mask across her eyes as some sort of ostensible protest; morbidly obese false-rape accuser Lena Dunham; Amy Griffin, currently being sued by a former classmate who alleges Griffin stole the story of her childhood rape for her own memoir The Tell; 14-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, who ignored father Jay-Z’s repeated requests to remove her sunglasses; Jay-Z himself, who was a longtime friend of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and who has said nothing against him; and the Kardashians, who generally represent the worst of pop culture.
One look at Blake Lively atop the Met Gala steps, remonstrating her male minions just hours after her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni was settled, only ratifies how delusional, entitled and out of touch she is.
So for Blake Lively to outshine all these terrible people as the worst of the worst is truly an accomplishment.
Congrats, Blake!
As the Daily Mail exclusively reports, even her husband was long ago fed up with Blake’s insistence on refusing to settle – in spite of the federal judge on this case reportedly urging just that on multiple occasions.
Despite that judge – brother of Hollywood director Doug Liman – recently tossing out the bulk of Lively’s case, those sexual harassment claims against Baldoni, in April.
And, as the Daily Mail exclusively reports, Reynolds ‘has always been of the mind that she needed to settle and move forward. This has been bad for her [and] bad for their careers… He has pretty much raised his hands and been hands off.’
That’s a convenient narrative, given that Reynolds himself was heavily involved in his loathsome wife’s battle with Baldoni – accused of bullying him and badmouthing him in emails and texts to other A-list stars, Hollywood execs and It Ends with Us author Colleen Hoover.
According to court filings, Reynolds wrote in a text to Matt Damon and his wife Luciana: ‘[Justin is] a malignantly vein [sic], sociopathic FAUXminist with almost no sense of boundaries or shame.’
There were also texts between Lively and then-BFF Taylor Swift, who had been present during a meeting between Lively, Reynolds and Baldoni held in the couple’s $5.7 million Tribeca loft – the purpose of which, Baldoni alleged, was to threaten him into complying with their wishes.
In a text to Swift before this meeting, Lively asked her to say she was ‘freaking out’ over a script rewrite Lively had done.
‘Having the greatest living storyteller unknowingly echo to him how much you love what we’re doing, (giving him credit as if he wrote them with me) will go such a long way,’ Lively wrote.
Swift: ‘I’ll do anything for you!!’
After the meeting, Lively texted Swift: ‘You were so epically heroic today… This clown falling for all of it. But also resisting it. You are the world’s absolute greatest friend ever. I won the lottery.’
Swift: ‘I WON THE LOTTERY. You are the COOLEST PERSON IN THE WORLD and you like me !!’
Again: These people are awful.
Once these texts went public, Swift made it known that she would be keeping her distance from Lively, now and possibly forever.
Reports are that Lively, who named Swift godmother to three of her four children with Reynolds, is not on the guest list for Swift’s summer wedding – in New York City.
Savage.
As for the notion that Lively can somehow spin her way out of this, that her appearance at the Met Gala was something of a rebirth – it’s the exact opposite.
We’re not seeing, as some suspicious social media accounts claim, a ‘strong woman’ refusing to be cowed by the patriarchy.
We all know what we’re seeing: A remorseless celebrity, her talent inversely proportional to her ego, so desperate to remain not just relevant but beloved that she showed her face within hours of the settlement announcement.
Even her husband Ryan Reynolds was reportedly long ago fed up with Blake’s insistence on refusing to settle
The public well knows that dressing for the Met Gala takes months of planning: Meeting with top design houses (Lively wore a candy-colored Atelier Versace princess dress, how subtle); securing the best hair and makeup artists; prepping for questions from the press.
Reynolds had the good sense to stay home. But he’s in just as much of a career crisis. During this lawsuit, it was reported that Paramount had dropped several of his projects.
And over on my podcast, The Nerve, we revived a story he surely thought long forgotten: That when he was a teenager, Reynolds set fire to his elementary school, which burned to the ground.
He later joked to a reporter that he hoped some ‘poor schmuck’ wasn’t in prison for what he had done.
So sayonara to Blake and Ryan. Blake, in particular, will likely never get good work again: What director could, or would, possibly trust her?
