As Blake Lively finds herself entangled in a highly publicized legal spat with her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, a fresh wave of controversy has emerged, this time stemming from a disconcerting encounter with a fan in the lobby of a Texas hotel.
Kaitlyn Cooper, a 27-year-old from Houston, shared her account of what began as an innocuous celebrity sighting of Blake Lively but soon escalated into an experience she described as "completely unforeseen and perplexing."
Cooper was staying at the posh Hotel 1928 in Waco, Texas, on March 8, Saturday, when hotel staff, allegedly in a slip of the tongue, mentioned the presence of a "VIP guest." To her surprise, she discovered later that this VIP guest was none other than Blake Lively, the former "Gossip Girl" star who had been in Austin the previous day for the SXSW premiere of her latest film "Another Simple Favor," co-starring her rumored rival Anna Kendrick.
After dining with her mother at the hotel's restaurant, Cooper ventured back to the lobby, hoping for a fleeting glimpse of Lively. Her wish was granted when she caught sight of the actress and quickly captured a brief video clip on her phone.
"I just whipped out my phone and started recording a short snippet. It was nothing remarkable," Cooper recounted to Daily Mail. "I just wanted to show my friends."
In the video, according to Cooper, Lively could be seen entering the lobby in a white blouse and jeans, partially obscuring her face with her hand after apparently noticing she was being filmed.
"Blake walked in, making quite a racket. Her voice was unmistakably familiar," Cooper recalled. "She glanced our way. I think she spotted us filming her."
However, it was what transpired the following morning that garnered even more attention.
As Cooper and her mother were packing up their car to depart, she alleges that the "Another Simple Favor" actress approached her outside the hotel.
"I heard a woman's voice say, 'Hi,' and when I looked up, there was Blake," Cooper narrated. "She had her phone raised, as if recording me. Instinctively, I returned the greeting because what else could I do?"
Cooper claims that Lively remained silent and instead circled the car with her phone, at one point seemingly capturing the vehicle's license plate. She further alleges that Lively then handed her phone to a security guard, who made a second circuit around the car before both returned inside the hotel.
What ensued left Cooper even more disturbed.
During her drive back to Houston, Cooper posted videos to her Instagram Stories, recounting the bizarre interaction. She noticed unexpected viewers almost immediately, including a Hotel 1928 staff member and a woman she suspected to be part of Lively's entourage.
Cooper furnished the Daily Mail with screenshots depicting these purported views, characterizing the conduct as "utterly paranoid." "[I believe they were] keeping tabs to ascertain whether I'd release the video of her," she conjectured. In the subsequent days, Cooper recounted her ordeal in a series of TikTok videos, but swiftly encountered a fierce and unyielding backlash. She alleges that she was bombarded with views from obscure troll accounts and subjected to relentless cyberbullying.
"The remarks from perfect strangers online have been astoundingly harsh," she lamented, describing the scenario as "deeply troubling." "When the initial encounter unfolded outdoors, with Blake and her security guard approaching us unexpectedly, we were completely taken aback and perplexed," Cooper elaborated. "But when the Instagram story views from her entourage, hotel personnel, and the harassment accounts started to flood in, it escalated into something genuinely disturbing."
This latest twist in the saga unfolds amidst ongoing legal tensions that have strained the relationship between Lively and Baldoni. The co-stars of "It Ends With Us" have been entangled in a contentious and highly publicized legal spat since December, when Lively initiated a lawsuit against the actor and producer.
Following Lively's initial legal action, Baldoni counterpunched in January 2025 by filing a $400 million defamation lawsuit against both his co-star and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
