The reporter who was ‘humiliated’ by Blake Lively has claimed that the ‘rude’ interview left her ‘terrified’ to speak to other celebrities – and revealed the one star who ‘saved the day’ by treating her with kindness afterwards.
Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa, 51, recently posted a clip of an ‘uncomfortable’ chat that she had with the Gossip Girl alum, 36, back in 2016 – and it went viral, sparking immense backlash for Blake.
During the sit-down, the actress made a snarky comment about Kjersti’s ‘bump’ after she had congratulated a then-pregnant Blake on her impending arrival, but the reporter was not expecting.
Now, she has revealed how the ‘horrific incident’ completely shattered her confidence and resulted in her feeling ‘nervous’ when she would interview stars for a long time afterwards.
‘To be honest with you, it took me a while to actually get over it,’ she shared in a new video uploaded to her YouTube account this week.
Reporter Kjersti Flaa (left) who was ‘humiliated’ by Blake Lively (right) has claimed that the ‘rude’ interview left her ‘terrified’ to speak to other celebrities
‘It affected me for a while, [I was] nervous when I was interviewing other people after that.
‘I blamed myself for it for a long time because I felt like I did or said something wrong. So that’s the reason why I waited so long [to post it].’
Kjersti recalled having to speak with Kristen Stewart just hours after the Blake interview – but she said the Twilight alum was ‘so sweet’ and ‘saved her day.’
‘I want to shout out Kristen Stewart, who was the person I interviewed after the horrific incident,’ she continued.
‘She was the most wonderful person to interview. She saved my day. I was terrified walking into that interview because I had just experienced what I had, so for her to just like treat me [so kindly]…
‘She was so sweet so I’m so happy I interviewed her afterwards.’
In the end, Kjersi said she hoped that sharing the interview would help others who have been ‘bullied’ in the past.
‘It’s not okay to behave like that and I think it needs to be called out,’ she stated.
Kjersti (seen), 51, recently posted a clip of an ‘uncomfortable’ chat that she had with the Gossip Girl alum, 36, back in 2016 – and it went viral
Now, she has revealed how the ‘horrific incident’ completely shattered her confidence and resulted in her feeling ‘nervous’ when she’d interview stars for a long time afterwards
‘A lot of people could resonate with this situation. I’ve been contacted by a lot of women.
‘I feel like a lot of people have experienced something not exactly like this but similar to it, like that mean girl energy from someone or you felt left out or bullied.
‘Most of the time this happens when we’re younger but as you can see from this video it does happen when you’re grown-ups too.’
She noted that most parents tell their kids to apologize when they’re caught being mean to someone else, but that she felt like that didn’t apply to celebrities.
Kjersti recalled having to speak with Kristen Stewart just hours after the Blake interview – and she said the Twilight alum was ‘so sweet’ and ‘saved her day’
‘Most parents would tell their children if they’re bullying someone, «You go and say sorry to that boy or to that girl right now.» But in this situation the opposite happened,’ she added.
‘No one came out and apologized. [Her team] probably told her, «Don’t come out, don’t react, don’t do anything, we’ll take care of this for you. We’ll just say that it’s the journalist’s fault and that you were offended by her and then we’ll just plant some other good positive stories.»
‘I think that’s the problem in Hollywood and many other places, people don’t own up to their mistakes because they’re afraid that it’s going to backfire or that it’s going to make them look bad and I think it’s time to change that.
‘I hope this video that I posted could help people own up to their mistakes.’
Blake has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks, as rumors of an ongoing feud between her and It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni continue to make headlines.
Amid the drama, award-winning journalist Kjersti posted the old interview to her YouTube channel, which she titled, ‘The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.’
‘First of all, congrats on your little bump,’ Kjersti, who is the founder of Content Now TV, gushed during the chat.
‘Congrats on your little bump,’ Blake fired back, as the interviewer giggled nervously.
Kjersi said she hoped that sharing the interview would help others who have been ‘bullied’ in the past. Blake is seen earlier this month
The actress has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks, as rumors of an ongoing feud between her and It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni continue to make headlines
After the moment went viral, Kjersti told DailyMail.com exclusively that Blake’s response was especially hurtful because she cannot conceive.
‘[Her comment] left me almost paralyzed. To be honest it hurts because I obviously wasn’t pregnant and I could never get pregnant so to me that comment was like a bullet,’ she shared.
‘I didn’t know how to react. I felt very uncomfortable throughout the interview and all I wanted to do was leave and get out of there as fast as I could.
‘It made me feel like a complete failure. I kept going through the interview in my head afterwards trying to figure out what I had said or done to make them behave like that. It made no sense to me.’
She said Blake made her feel ‘belittled and ignored’ throughout the entire sit-down, and ultimately, it resulted in her questioning if she ‘ever wanted to do these types of interviews again.’
‘It was such a traumatizing experience to me. I was there to do a job and they made sure to make it as difficult as possible for me to do that,’ she added.
‘I was there so they could promote a movie. I was invited to meet them. It certainly did not feel like that.
‘I felt belittled and ignored and it made me question if I ever wanted to do these types of interviews again.
‘It took me a while to get over it and build up my confidence again.’
