[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Blake Lively got very candid about assault during her TIME100 speech — but this time, she wasn’t talking about her alleged experiences with Justin Baldoni!
On Thursday night, the actress stepped out at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC for a gala after she was named one of the mag’s Most Influential People of 2025. She was listed as a “Titan,” credited mostly for making a donation to the NAACP in 2019… after she was called out for getting married on a plantation…
Related: Why Blake Does NOT Regret Her Decision To Sue Justin Baldoni!
Nevertheless, she’s taken the honor with pride and doubled down on the gratitude of having a voice to fight back against injustice during her powerful speech all about her mother, Willie Elaine McAlpin. The 37-year-old began her speech by referencing what she knew everyone was expecting her to talk about — her legal battle after allegations of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us and an alleged smear campaign that followed. She shared:
“I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum.”
Inneresting…
Instead, she chose to emphasize the importance of women speaking out about crimes they’ve been victims of, noting:
“What I will speak to, separately, is the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”
Blake went on to motion to her mother, who joined her and Ryan Reynolds at the gala. She called her momma an “eternal optimist” despite being the victim of “the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.” The Gossip Girl star said the 77-year-old concealed “her raw and undeserved shame” throughout her life, but her mother asked to share her story during the event because “if we name it, we change it.”
@people #BlakeLively and her mom #ElaineLively had a sweet mother-daughter moment on the #TIME100 Gala redcarpet. #CelebrityFamily
She didn’t get into too many specifics about what happened — but she did reveal it was with a “work acquaintance,” detailing:
“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born.”
Yikes. She didn’t detail more about the assault — but credited an anonymous woman who shared her own story of survival on the radio for helping save her mother’s life at the time. Blake expressed:
“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped, and because of hearing that woman speak about her experience instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today. She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know.”
Whoa. That’s why it’s so important to speak out!
The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants alum then declared:
“Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain.”
The Another Simple Favor star also thanked “every man” and her “sweet husband” Ryan for being “kind and good when no one is watching,” saying:
“And to all the communities across the gender, age, political, geographical and racial spectrum who fight every day just to be safe, I see you.”
Elsewhere in her speech, Blake referenced fellow TIME100 honoree Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who was drugged and raped by her husband. Quoting the woman, she said:
“It’s not for us to have shame … it’s for them.”
See some of her speech (below):
@people At the #TIME100 Gala, honoree #BlakeLively shared that her mom is a survivor of “the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.” Her remarks come amid her legal battle with her #ItEndswithUs director and costar JustinBaldoni.
An emotional talk. And we’re so sorry to hear her mother went through that!
It’s interesting timing that she’s speaking up about this now — as things in her legal battle are getting rocky — rather than during the promo tour for her domestic violence film, but it must have brought an even deeper purpose to her work on the Colleen Hoover movie.
Thoughts? Tell us (below).
For more information on violence against women, go to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/resources-for-survivors. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
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