'It Ends With Us' Star Brandon Sklenar Defends Blake Lively And Colleen Hoover Amid "Swirling" Rumors

Sklenar, who plays the beloved character of Atlas, posted a lengthy statement on Instagram to address the back-and-forth rumors about his cast, crew, and It Ends With Us in general. He said, "Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves." Sklenar went on to note that "vilifying" these women actively goes against the message and "detracts what this film is about."

And while it's clear he's standing up for Hoover and Lively specifically, he doesn't deny that something may have happened regarding the rift everyone's commenting on. He said, "What may or may not have happened behind the scenes does not and hopefully should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film." Sklenar notes how "disheartening" this has all been since the film's release.

Sklenar also said that "there isn't a single person involved in the making of this film that was not aware of the responsibility we had in making this." This seemingly negates the criticism Lively's faced for turning the movie into a rom-com marketing moment to promote her brands, directly stating how serious the entire cast and crew took the subject matter at hand. And while that statement technically includes Baldoni, the cast's clear persona non grata, it also doesn't name or absolve him specifically in regards to the more direct rumors about him. In fact, Sklenar more actually notes that we shouldn't be making women the "bad guy" — which definitely doesn't include Baldoni in this semi-absolution.

Still, Sklenar stressed, "All I ask is that before you spread hate on the internet, ask yourself who it is helping."

Read Brandon Sklenar's Full Statement Here

I know this statement was meant to quell the fires, but TBH it's only made me (and likely everyone else) more curious about what happened and why.