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"R*ped at 13 yrs old" — Melanie King recalls her mother's struggles as she slams Blake Lively for allegedly seeking "clout" in TIME100 Gala speech
On April 27, 2025, YouTuber Melanie King took to X to share her thoughts on Blake Lively's story about her mother, shared at the TIME100 Gala. King linked it to her own Mother's harrowing tale of being "r*ped at 13 years old".
In the post, Melanie King expressed that her 74-year-old disabled veteran mother was "appalled after hearing the details of the legal feud between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, along with Lively's inclusion in TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2025. King shared the reason behind the same writing:
"Not only did she live through Jim Crow but was r*ped at 13 yrs old with a machete to her throat."
Melanie also shared that this resulted in her mother getting pregnant at a young age. She added that her mother persevered through the experience and joined the Air Force and the civil services.
Melanie explained that she related to the Another Simple Favor star, mentioning in her speech that "her mother went through the worst thing imaginable for a woman and watched her mother's pain her whole life".
However, she criticised Blake Lively for using this story to gain "sympathy" and "clout" after falsely accusing It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni of s*xual assault and orchestrating a smear campaign to destroy her reputation online. Melanie described her actions as "beyond grotesque."
Melanie King further expressed her frustration with the mainstream media, saying:
"The media labeled women like me who don’t believe Blake as misogynistic and 'don’t want to believe women'. No, we believe women. We just don’t believe Blake."
King also linked her post to an article by Late Nighter, which revealed that Blake Lively would appear on the Late Night with Seth Meyers talk show on May 1, 2025.
Melanie expressed her disappointment towards this move, commenting:
"Hollywood has no shame."
Blake Lively's speech at the TIME100 Gala
On April 24, 2025, the 37-year-old actress arrived at the TIME100 Gala accompanied by her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and mother, Willie Elaine McAlpine.
Blake Lively paid tribute to her mother during her speech at the TIME100 Gala at Lincoln Centre in New York City. She narrated a harrowing story of her mother getting assaulted by a work acquaintance, before Lively was born, as reported by Variety.
"My life was influenced most by my mother, Willie Elaine McAlpin, who’s here with me tonight, an eternal optimist who’s always leaving me messages, hoopin’ and hollerin', Life’s just a bowl of cherries," Lively said.
After introducing her 77-year-old mother to the crowd, Blake noted:
"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."
Blake Lively shared how an anonymous woman on the radio, going through the same circumstances, saved her mother's life.
"She has always credited her beating heart today with the story she heard from another woman in a similar circumstance, speaking on the radio as my mom drove home one day."
The Another Simple Favor star continued:
"The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped, and because of hearing that woman speak to 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."
Blake Lively credited the anonymous woman on the radio for saving her mother's life by standing up for herself in challenging circumstances. According to Variety, Blake briefly mentioned the legal feud between her and Justin Baldoni by stating:
"I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum. I know the superpower of female triumph though. I have touched it, shaken hands with it."
Lively further gave words of strength to women going through the same circumstances, relating to her personal "pain" and "trauma." She expressed the belief that it is possible to survive physically and emotionally and that women will thrive, even when it seems impossible or when they are enduring intense pain.
Lively ended her speech by commenting:
"Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain."
On April 16, 2025, Lively was included in TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2025, under the "Titans" category alongside popular celebrities such as Ed Sheeran, Mark Zuckerberg, Serena Williams, and more.
Civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill told TIME that Blake is a "philanthropist and a student of our country’s most intractable problems." She also mentioned the couple's contribution to the NAACP Legal Defence Fund in 2019.
The legal feud between It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni gained public attention when the actress filed a lawsuit on December 20, 2024, against Baldoni, film producer Jamey Heath, Wayfarer Studios, and its co-founder Steve Sadwitz. The lawsuit included allegations of s*Xual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign to destroy her reputation, as reported by People.
In response, on January 16, 2025, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for alleged civil extortion and defamation.
Meanwhile, the trial is scheduled for March 9, 2026, following the ongoing legal back-and-forth between the It Ends With Us stars.
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