Ellen DeGeneres’ bizarre connection to It Ends With Us amid Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni drama

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s film, It Ends With Us, has perplexed viewers for many reasons, ranging from major plot holes to its feuding stars’ bitter legal battle. 

Although the real-life drama between Lively and Baldoni has dominated headlines since their frosty press tour, in which they avoided each other at all costs, a bizarre  subplot of the movie involving Ellen DeGeneres has also left audiences stumped. 

In several, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments, the former talk show host was referenced three times in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book of the same name, which hit Netflix last month. 

For those that have not read the novel, Lively’s character, Lily Bloom, chooses to address her diary entries as letters to the former daytime talk show host during her difficult upbringing with a violent father.

While the film brushes past Lily’s adoration for the comedian, who is a close pal of Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, Ellen is considered a major character in the book and practically a surrogate parent to the protagonist. 

Lily and her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), even bond over watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show together after school every day during the early stages of their relationship.

The pair also connect over watching DeGeneres’ animated film, Finding Nemo, and the phrase ‘just keep swimming’ in it. 

Lily identifies with Dory (played by DeGeneres) and sees Atlas acts as her ‘Marlin’ (Albert Brooks) because he helps her navigate through challenging situations.

In one memorable scene from the novel,  Atlas gifts Lily a copy of DeGeneres’ memoir, Seriously…I’m Kidding, with the words ‘just keep swimming’ inscribed on it. 

The phrase is a mantra Lily repeats to herself during tough times in the book, but is left out of the film. 

The movie nodded to the phrase by featuring a poster for the find Finding Nemo hanging on the wall of Lily’s teenage bedroom at the beginning of the film.

Lily even pays homage to her relationship with Atlas and her love for DeGeneres by giving her daughter the middle name Dory. 

Following the film’s release screenwriter and producer Christy Hall spoke out about the decision to leave DeGeneres out of the movie.

‘That was a big piece of the heartbeat of the book, so we wanted to acknowledge it. But for me, personally – I can only speak for myself – I just really wanted to use the precious real estate we had to keep our focus on the core characters,’ she told  Business Insider.

In several, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments, the former talk show host was referenced three times in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book of the same name

Hall noted that the decision to DeGeneres’s presence was unrelated to the allegations against the host, who was accused of fostering a toxic workplace and mistreating her employees.

‘I don’t feel like that was ever discussed if I think back on it,’ she told the outlet. ‘Our primary goal was to honor this beautiful thing that Colleen Hoover has created and manifested in the world, and so it just felt important that whatever was happening in the outside world and swirling around us, our north star was always this cherished novel.’ 

Hall continued: ‘Instead of Lily spending 30 seconds talking about Ellen, I wanted to spend those 30 seconds of her talking to Atlas. It was like, let’s just stay focused on the core characters.’

DeGeneres has not commented on being referenced It Ends With Us. 

DeGeneres did make a small cameo in the movie during a flashback scene, featuring Lily and Atlas as teenagers, in which they are seen briefly watching her show. 

While the film brushes past Lily’s affinity for the comedian, Ellen is considered a major character in the book and practically a surrogate parent to the protagonist 

The stars of It Ends With Us, which hit theaters in August, have been locked into a dramatic legal saga, which has nearly eclipsed the film itself.

Baldoni, 40, has launched a $400M lawsuit against Lively, 37, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, as well as Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane, for alleged defamation, as well as civil extortion, and false light invasion of privacy, among other claims.

It follows an earlier lawsuit seeking $250 million that he filed against the New York Times over its reporting on Lively’s complaint accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.

In August, rumors first began to swirl of tension between the two stars.

Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her last month before officially suing him and various others, alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign targeting her reputation in retaliation for her speaking out about her treatment on set.

The stars of It Ends With Us, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, have been locked into a dramatic legal saga, which has nearly eclipsed the film itself (seen together in the 2024 film)

Lively’s initial complaint led to a wave of backlash against Justin, and he ultimately filed a lawsuit against the NY Times over their reporting of the matter before filing a lawsuit against Blake, her husband, and publicist.

It Ends With Us is the most popular of Colleen’s works, but she has had multiple successes which have racked in sales. 

Although she built a strong fanbase early in her career, her sales soared during the pandemic, when her books became a sensation on TikTok. To date, the hashtag #colleenhoover has amassed more than 2.4 billion views.

Libby McGuire, head of Colleen’s main publisher, called the phenomenon ‘the reverse of the Oprah book club’.

Whereas Oprah Winfrey was one woman making a recommendation, and sometimes selling two million books, now it’s 100 people making a recommendation ‒ and selling four million books, McGuire says. ‘We’re all just sitting back going, ‘OK, what’s the next one they’re going to pick?’