Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@kjersti_flaa / YouTube/kjersti_flaa
Topics: Blake Lively, Celebrity, TV and Film, Viral, Originals
Olivia Burke
Topics: Blake Lively, Celebrity, TV and Film, Viral, Originals
When you go toe-to-toe with a Hollywood titan and later reveal that an encounter with them made you consider abandoning your career, you know that everyone is going to want to know every single gory detail of the drama.
And thankfully, Kjersti Flaa is more than happy to oblige.
The Norwegian journalist, 51, has been thrust into the spotlight since she uploaded footage of that extremely awkward interview with Blake Lively on YouTube.
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It couldn't have come at a worse time for Ryan Reynolds' other half really, seen as though she's currently wading through criticism following the messy press tour for the controversial new movie, It Ends With Us.
On the bright side though, the hard-hitting film has just outperformed Deadpool & Wolverine at the box office - so it's swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
Now, Flaa has shared further details of the 'unsettling' sit down with Lively in an exclusive chat with LADbible, explaining that she wasn't kidding when she captioned the video: "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."
She said she was 'kind of in shock' when she eventually exited the room following her uncomfortable interview with the mother-of-four and her Café Society co-star Parker Posey in 2016.
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Flaa said she found it 'hard to actually digest what had happened', while revealing that she was left feeling 'insecure' while worrying that she had 'said something wrong'.
"I felt ashamed and upset and it made me want to quit my job, as I said in the YouTube video title," she explained.
The Los Angeles-based reporter is no stranger to rubbing shoulders with A-listers and has interviewed a string of high-profile stars throughout her career, such as Robert De Niro, Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Flaa says the majority of megastars she has had the pleasure of interviewing 'have been very nice' - but added: "There are just a few bad apples."
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And after sitting on the footage of her interview with Lively for eight years, she decided it was finally time for it to see the light of day in the hopes that it will encourage other people in her line of work to call out rude celebrities.
Speaking of her motivations behind sharing the clip where the 36-year-old actress sniped back after she complimented her baby bump, Flaa says that the timing of it was 'kind of a coincidence'.
The veteran journalist told LADbible: "A week ago, I was contacted by another reporter who had just gotten his interview confiscated at a press junket.
"He asked me if it had ever happened to me and we started comparing notes. I remembered the horrible interview I had with Blake Lively that I never wanted to share with anyone because the experience had traumatised me so much.
"But after talking to him, I decided to put it on my YouTube channel. I think it’s about time that people behaving badly in Hollywood gets called out for it. It’s not okay, even if you are rich and famous."
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Flaa explained Lively or her team have not been in touch since the video went viral, and she isn't holding her breath for any kind of acknowledgment either - however, fellow journalists have been flooding her inbox.
She continued: "It’s been very interesting how other people in the industry have contacted me to tell me about their own experiences. They are all afraid to call anyone out in fear of losing their job or other forms of retaliation.
"I have seen so much bad behaviour in this business, especially towards journalists, and I think it’s time someone says something about it. It’s not okay. I hope more people will share their experiences."
The reporter believes the criticism which Lively is receiving for her conduct 'is legit', while adding that she isn't surprised to hear rumours of a heated feud between the actress and her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni.
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Flaa told LADbible: "I don’t know what happened behind the scenes in regards to Justin Baldoni, but having experienced the interview that I did, I am sure it wasn’t a breeze to be on that set."
Who reckons that the journalist needs to sit down with him next, then?