Skip To...
Whoever says money can’t buy you happiness hasn’t walked in Blake Lively‘s shoes. The controversial actress recently reaped the rewards of her past donations, scoring a place in TIME Magazine’s annual list. She made the 100 Most Influential People of 2025 despite her legal drama with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
The pair have leveled scandalous allegations against each other, both claiming a smear campaign was orchestrated against them. Fans have since been divided between Lively and Baldoni, with some believing the actress and others supporting the actor. Unfortunately for the Gossip Girl star, her TIME achievement only made the criticism against her louder.
Sherrilyn Ifill, a renowned civil rights attorney, wrote a piece about Lively for the publication. She conveniently avoided Lively’s legal drama, hailing her as “a philanthropist and a student of our country’s most intractable problems.” Her love for Lively stemmed from the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds’ big donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Ifill noted the pair weren’t just charitable by nature, claiming Lively had researched the organization sufficiently. Additionally, the attorney praised the entertainer as someone who understood the horrors of systemic racism. She claimed Lively was focused on making America a fairer place for all people, regardless of skin color or ethnicity, per TMZ.
Critics Call BS On Blake Lively’s TIME Honor
While Ifill sang Lively’s praises in the blurb, critics slammed her for allegedly bribing her way into the list. “How much did Blake Lively’s team pay TIME to get her on the ‘Titan’ list? TIME must’ve got the Venmo request mixed up with the press release,” someone quipped on X. Another echoed similar sentiments, claiming TIME always honored “big donors to the @DNC and @thedemocrats.” The bribe theories continued with an X user noting Lively’s achievement proved money could buy anything “except relevance.”
A fellow critic compared the actress’ situation to Amber Heard, whose infamous court battle with Johnny Depp sparked media outrage. “Note to self: trying to ruin someone’s career can make me a Titan,” someone joked while another wondered if Reynolds was involved. “You have to wonder how much Blake’s baby daddy influenced this fluff piece?” they speculated before labeling Lively’s personality “bratty behavior.”
Blake Lively Reportedly ‘Crawls’ Back To Taylor Swift
Days before her TIME honor, Lively made waves for refusing to let her friendship with Taylor Swift die. We covered the story, reporting a source claimed the Green Lantern actress had apologized to the singer. The pair fell out after Lively’s private texts with Baldoni implied she used the Bad Blood hitmaker’s reputation to influence him. In their chats, Lively referred to herself as Game Of Thrones character Khaleesi while calling Reynolds and Swift her “dragons.”
Naturally, the singer didn’t like being implicated in the legal drama and distanced herself from her former bestie. However, the insider claimed she accepted Lively’s apology, seeing it as “genuine.” “It was important to Blake to be on good terms again with Taylor. It was never her intention to hurt Taylor or cause any harm to their friendship,” the source said about Lively’s apology. They claimed the actress missed hanging out with the singer and hoped they could reconcile someday.
