Blake Lively isn’t the first woman to fall victim to a smear campaign — and unfortunately, she won’t be the last.
Hollywood has always had a problem with how it treats women. But the recent drama surrounding Blake Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni, her It Ends With Us co-star and director, serves as yet another reminder of how quickly narratives about women can be weaponised against them.
In case you missed it: Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign to destroy her reputation. And if you were on social media during the It Ends With Us press tour, you’ll know how successful it was.
But of course, this isn’t the first time a woman has been publicly torn down, only for the tide to turn once new information comes to light. Lively is just the latest in a long line of female celebrities whose stories were flattened of all nuance and weaponised against them — until the world decided to listen.
In the 2000s, Britney Spears was everywhere, and so were the headlines mocking her every move. Unable to leave her house without dozens and dozens of paparazzi chased her relentlessly, the media documented her mental health struggles with glee, making cruel jabs at every turn.
In 2008, Spears was placed under a restrictive conservatorship, which she remained under for 13 years. During that time, she released several albums, embarked on multiple world tours, and completed a successful Las Vegas residency. Still, it wasn’t until the #FreeBritney movement that the narrative around Spears began to shift.
Over time, more details about the abusive and controlling nature of the conservatorship emerged, prompting people to re-evaluate how Spears had been treated by the media and the public, not just through the difficult parts of her personal life, but back to the earliest days of her career, when interviewers would routinely ask misogynistic and invasive questions about the then-teenager’s personal life.
Spears’ story has since become a lesson in how the media dehumanises women — until it’s profitable to support them.
Monica Lewinsky.
Monica Lewinsky at the PETA Honors The Animal Rights Movement. Image: Getty.
In the late 1990s, Monica Lewinsky became a household name for all the wrong reasons, when her sexual relationship with US President Bill Clinton made headlines.
Lewinsky was quickly reduced to a punchline, branded a homewrecker and a joke. She’s also been name-dropped in over 100 songs.
People were obsessed with the salacious nature of the so-called “sex scandal”. But the power dynamics in the situation? They were completely ignored. For context, Lewinsky was a 22 year old White House intern at the time, while Clinton was the 49 year old literal President of the United States.
Years later, Monica emerged as an anti-bullying advocate and public speaker, reframing the narrative around her life. In a post-#MeToo world, people began recognising her as a young woman exploited by one of the most powerful men in the world.
Megan Fox.
Megan Fox was Hollywood’s “it girl” in the late 2000s until she dared to call out inappropriate behaviour on set — specifically by director Michael Bay, who she worked with on the Transformers films.
“‘Be hot.’ I’ve had that note on set before,” she told Wonderland magazine at the time. “I’ll say, ‘Who am I talking to? Where am I supposed to be looking at?’ And he responds, ‘Just be sexy.’ I get mad when people talk to me like that.”
What followed was a career nosedive and public breakdown of Fox’s image, as she was labelled “difficult” and ungrateful.
In recent years though, Fox’s words are seen in a very different light. As conversations about misogyny in Hollywood grew louder, people revisited her interviews and realised what she was calling out was unacceptable behaviour all along. Fox’s experience have since become a textbook example of how women are punished for speaking up.
Amber Heard.
No one needs reminding of the media circus surrounding Amber Heard’s legal battle with Johnny Depp. Social media was weaponised against her in unprecedented ways, with memes and misinformation painting her as a manipulative liar. It seemed before any courts had made rulings, the discussion online had ruled in Depp’s favour against Heard, referring to her as “Amber Turd” and other distasteful names.
But as court documents emerged, some began questioning the fairness of the public’s treatment of Amber. Her case sparked broader conversations about the dangerous power of social media in influencing public opinion, often before any real justice could be served.
People began to examine how women who speak out about abuse are frequently disbelieved, vilified, or dismissed, with the court of public opinion often acting as judge and jury.
Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift is one of the most prominent examples of a woman who has been torn down, again and again, by online narratives.
While her dating life had been the subject of ridicule for years, her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in 2016 saw her branded a manipulative liar after Kardashian released a selectively edited phone call regarding West’s song ‘Famous.’
The online discourse quickly turned against Swift, with many branding her as a “snake” and prompting Swift to take a long hiatus from social media.
Years later, unedited footage vindicated Swift, showing that the narrative had been twisted against her. Through her music and advocacy, Swift was able to become a symbol of resilience and self-advocacy, and has gone onto become one of the most successful artists of all time.
Janet Jackson.
After the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Janet Jackson bore the brunt of public outrage over a wardrobe malfunction that saw her nipple exposed to the world. The backlash led to Jackson being blacklisted from major events and branded as unprofessional, while Justin Timberlake walked away unscathed. In fact, in his collaboration with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado ‘Give It To Me’, Timberlake even mocked Jackson’s attempts to save her career.
“Now I saw you tryna act cute on TV, ‘Just let me clear the air’ / We missed you on the charts last week, damn, that’s right, you wasn’t there,” he sings in the song, a direct reference to Jackson’s interview with Oprah Winfrey about the incident and the impact it had on Jackson’s career.
Decades later, the public began to reckon with the misogynoir and double standards at play, forcing Timberlake to issue a long-overdue apology regarding his connection to both Britney Spears and Janet Jackson.
“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he said.
“I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”
Jackson’s story remains a glaring example of how women of colour are disproportionately vilified and dismissed in public discourse.
Lindsay Lohan.
Lindsay Lohan’s struggles with addiction and mental health made her a tabloid fixture in the 2000s, as she was relentlessly mocked and dismissed as a cautionary tale, with her every misstep eagerly covered by the media. The harsh scrutiny of her personal life painted her as a reckless, troubled star, while offering little understanding or compassion for the challenges she was facing behind the scenes. Her public image quickly became synonymous with scandal, and the media’s fixation on her downfall overshadowed any attempts at recovery.
Now a mother and making a Hollywood comeback, Lohan is starring in Netflix Christmas films like Falling For Christmas and Our Little Secret. Over the years, Lindsay’s story has been reframed as one of resilience and redemption. The focus is shifting from her past mistakes to her perseverance in overcoming personal battles and rebuilding her career.
Blake Lively’s ongoing battle with Justin Baldoni isn’t just a personal issue — it’s a reflection of a systemic problem. Women in the spotlight are still too often vilified, their stories manipulated for entertainment or profit. And while the tide may eventually turn, the damage done in the meantime is irreparable.
As we watch this story unfold, let’s ask ourselves: why does it take years — and often an entirely new cultural movement — to believe women? And how can we, as consumers of media, stop perpetuating this cycle?
Because Blake Lively deserves better. And so do all the women who came before her.
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