NEED TO KNOW
- Blake Lively is forever thankful for her mom, Willie Elaine McAlpin, for watering the seeds of her passion throughout the years
- In an Instagram Stories post published June 5, the Gossip Girl alum said she was “grateful to my mama for always doing creative things with me”
- Last month, Lively spoke at the TIME 100 N.Y.C. event, where she thanked her mom once again and alluded to her infamous lawsuit with Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively is quite literally giving her mother flowers.
In a touching tribute shared to her mom, Willie Elaine McAlpin, via Instagram Stories on Thursday, June 5, Lively shared a photo of herself holding a bouquet. The image shows Lively smiling from ear to ear with a heartfelt note dedicated to her mom written on top of it.
“Grateful to my mama for always doing creative things with me,” her message began. “Even when she was working nonstop and had zero time. She always told me I ‘couldn’t mess it up,’ when I very much could.”
She continued, “What a lifelong gift that creative empowerment and trust has been. Most of my passions come from, or thanks to, her.”
Before her Instagram Stories post, Lively, 37, shared an up-close solo image of her bouquet arrangement, featuring pink, magenta and white flowers.
“My flower babies, from seeds to cutting, to arrangement,” she wrote on top of the image before jokingly adding, “@me for your next graduation funeral or wedding.”
Last month, the It Ends with Us star attended the TIME 100 Gala event in New York City, with her husband Ryan Reynolds. Lively, who was honored as one of TIME’s most influential people, gave a speech honoring her mother, while also alluding to her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.
Lively said it was “surreal and deeply significant” to be an honoree “in a time where the most valuable currency seems to be anger, it feels like an act of defiance to commune and celebrate all the good that is alive in the world.”
She continued, “I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” she said, instead speaking about “the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”
“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born,” she said.
The Another Simple Favor star said her mom credited a woman whom she heard speaking about a “similar circumstance” on the radio for giving her hope.
“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped. And because of hearing that woman speak about her experience instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today. She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know,” said Lively.
She concluded her speech by thanking “every man, including my sweet husband, who are kind and good when no one is watching.”
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Earlier this week, Lively requested to withdraw and dismiss her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress by Baldoni, who directed and costarred in It Ends with Us. Lively’s lawyers called it a “routine part of the litigation process,” later adding that she “continues to allege emotional distress, as part of numerous other claims in her lawsuit, such as sexual harassment and retaliation, and massive additional compensatory damages on all of her claims.”
Last December, Lively filed a sexual-harassment complaint against Baldoni, claiming misconduct on the aforementioned movie set and a retaliatory smear campaign. Baldoni, 41, then countersued Lively, the Deadpool star and their publicists, alleging extortion, defamation and more.
A trial is slated to begin in March 2026.
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