As a survivor of domestic violence, Jana Kramer has some thoughts about Blake Energetic’s It Ends With Us promotion.
“I might love the messaging to go to DV with media, as a substitute of talking about riffs and all the pieces else. The movie is about domestic violence,” Kramer, 40, stated on the Monday, August 26, episode of her “Whine Down” podcast. “I haven’t seen the movie. I actually have a troublesome time watching movies that take care of domestic violence given my history with it.”
Energetic, 37, has faced some criticism for not focusing enough on the film’s domestic violence messaging in press for the movie. Kramer, for her part, was under the belief It Ends With Us was a “rom-com, bring your girls to the movie[s]” style of film based on its promotion before being informed of the story.
“Then I began hearing stuff concerning the interviews, and for me, I used to be just, like, it made me sad because I just want the messaging to be about domestic violence and tips on how to help people and tips on how to get help,” she said.
Based on creator Colleen Hoover’s 2016 book of the identical name, It Ends With Us follows Lily Bloom (Energetic) as her relationship with a neurosurgeon named Ryle (Justin Baldoni) turns abusive around the identical time she reconnects together with her childhood love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar).
Kramer went on to notice that “it’s hard for people to speak about domestic violence once they haven’t, themselves, been, in real life, had the hands of domestic violence on them.” She added: “So, for people to say it doesn’t define you, it does define you. … It has made me who I’m. And though people can say, ‘It doesn’t define you,’ it’s certainly one of the largest pieces of me, is domestic violence, and has been the largest thread in my life.”
Kramer’s comment was seemingly in reference to BBC News‘ interview with Energetic on the film’s August 8 London premiere, during which she stated that Lily is “not defined” by her domestic violence experiences. “She defines herself, and I feel that that’s deeply empowering to remind people who no-one else can define you. No experience can define you. You define you,” Energetic explained of the character on the time.
Kramer has previously spoken out about suffering abuse during her marriage to Michael Gambino in 2004. He was convicted of premeditated attempted murder in 2005 and was sentenced to 6 years in prison before he died by suicide in 2012.
Energetic — who has made headlines for her rumored on-set feud with costar and director Baldoni, 40 — also faced backlash for her response on how she would handle a fan approaching her about their very own domestic violence situations during an August interview with Chicago-based reporter Jake Hamilton.
“Perhaps asking for, like, my address, or my phone number. Or, like, location share?! I could just location-share you after which we could …” she replied before trailing off.
She continued: “What’s been beautiful about this movie is that, unfortunately, everyone knows at the least someone … who’ve experience[d] this. The fantastic thing about this has been to see people and to see this movie alongside women who haven’t experienced this — thank goodness — go, ‘Woah. I fell in love too.’”
Hamilton later reacted to his viral interview with Energetic, stating on a neighborhood news bulletin earlier this month, “After she made those comments about my initial query, she did go on to reply the query. That part isn’t necessarily ending up in anyone’s viral TikTok videos, but it surely does just yield a much bigger conversation of an actor who does press for a movie about such a serious topic. You gotta speak about it.”
Following the film’s August 9 premiere, Energetic took to Instagram to share domestic violence resources together with her fans. “1 in 4 women aged 18 and older within the US alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner of their lifetime,” the caption read. “ Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including greater than 12 million people yearly in the US. Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides confidential support 24/7/265.”
If you happen to or someone are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.