"I wonder who forced Anna"- Kjersti Flaa reacts to Blake Lively's "awkward" interaction with co-star at Another Simple Favor's London premiere

During the latest episode of her Flaawsome Talk with Kjersti Flaa podcast, journalist Kjersti Flaa reacted to what she described as an “awkward” interaction between Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick at the London premiere of Another Simple Favor on April 15, 2025.

"Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are in London together promoting Another Simple Favor. There's a premiere there today, seeing the two of them together again after what we saw and heard on South by Southwest is just shocking to me. It looks so awkward," she stated.

Flaa further added:

"I wonder who forced Anna to do this," Flaa said.

Flaa explained how "shocking" this Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick interaction was to her, especially in light of Kendrick’s behavior at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festival on March 7, 2025, premiere in Austin.

According to the Statesman report dated March 8, 2025, Kendrick had arrived the day before at SXSW and faced pointed questions on the red carpet. A Variety reporter had asked her how the film had been impacted by “everything going around in the world”—a likely reference to controversy surrounding her co-star, Blake Lively.

"Why, what happened? I did Ayahuasca and the last year of my life is just gone," she responded.

Keeping the SXSW Anna Kendrick interaction in mind, Flaa wondered what could have been the reason for Anna Kendrick doing a joint appearance with Blake Lively now. She speculated that Kendrick’s decision to participate in joint promotions could also be tied to pressure from director Paul Feig,

"If Paul Feig was like, ‘Anna, you have to do this, you have to save this movie—no one’s going to watch it, and I just need you," Flaa guessed.

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“More forced and fake smiles” - Kjersti Flaa discusses Blake Lively’s Interaction with Anna Kendrick

Blake Lively: Image from Getty Images

In the latest episode of her podcast, journalist Kjersti Flaa took a deep dive into Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick’s recent red-carpet appearance, referencing a Daily Mail article published on April 15, 2025. The two actresses were promoting their upcoming Prime Video film at a London event, scheduled for release in May.

According to Flaa, the event was memorable not just for the film’s buzz but for the “awkward” chemistry. Flaa echoed the sentiments from the Daily Mail (dated April 15, 2025), which highlighted how social media users commented on the physical contrast between the women.

"We need a new word for awkward. Look at the body language of these two standing together on the carpet posing and look at the face of Blake Lively when she’s looking down at Anna Kendrick like ‘hey oh let’s show them we are friends,'" she explained.

Flaa further stated that this interaction wasn’t entirely unexpected to her as she had "predicted" that something like this was going to happen at South by Southwest. But, since only Anna Kendrick appeared at the SXSW premiere, "the opposite" had "happened".

"I knew it would happen sometime — that they would pretend that they were friends and look at us we’re having so much fun together' and Blake Lively in her cute little outfit- I have never seen more forced and fake smiles," Flaa said.

The podcaster also commented that "pretending to be friends with" Lively would negatively impact Anna Kendrick, given the lawsuit that Lively is involved in. Flaa also speculated on the aftermath that Kendrick would have to deal with, stating:

"She probably has to close off her comment section on Instagram for about a month now."

Apart from the release of her latest film, Another Simple Favor, on May 1, 2025, Blake Lively is involved in a legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni, the trial scheduled for March 9, 2026.