ANNABEL FENWICK ELLIOTT: Sometimes I wish I had a gaggle of female friends. Then I remember why I don't: Toxic, duplicitous and fake. I hate women
I wish I had a gaggle of girlfriends, truly I do. Even one would be nice.
Then I look at people like Blake Lively in the news and I am reminded of why I find women quite so scary.
Blake this week released another long, staggeringly narcissistic and deluded statement about her ongoing lawsuit against Justin Baldoni; the kind of guff a man would never write.
It is part of a dispute between the It Ends With Us co-stars, which began in December 2024 when Blake alleged that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the film set and then launched a ‘smear campaign’ against her – after which Baldoni filed his own defamation case.
Included in Baldoni’s 179-page suit last year were Blake’s mortifying texts, in which she referred to herself somewhat grandiosely as Khaleesi, the Queen of Dragons from Game Of Thrones, and alluded to Taylor Swift as one of her ‘dragons’. The messages were widely seen as an embarrassing boast and a thinly-veiled threat against her co-star – certainly nothing to be proud of.
Then, this month, a federal judge threw out 10 of 13 allegations in Blake’s case, including the harassment and defamation claims.
Nevertheless, in an Instagram post at the weekend Blake signed off her latest statement, in which she accuses Baldoni’s side, ironically, of ‘digital violence’ – with a dragon emoji.
Quite aside from the baffling lack of self-awareness, can you imagine a grown man doing something so infantile?
Blake, right, referred to herself in text messages Khaleesi, the Queen of Dragons from Game Of Thrones, and alluded to Taylor Swift as one of her ‘dragons’
It probably goes without saying that I am team Baldoni on this whole saga, just as I was team Depp in the Amber Heard versus Johnny Depp legal battle of 2022. I listened to the covert recordings of Amber viciously taunting Johnny, as in court she did her best impression, all dressed in white, of being a blameless angel. I wouldn’t trust her to look after a house plant, let alone be friends with someone like her.
There is no male celebrity in existence who makes my skin crawl in quite the same way as these women. ‘Not even Donald Trump, or Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor?’ – I hear you cry. No, not even.
I have a certain level of admiration for Trump’s audacity and refusal to self-censor. At least you know exactly what you’re getting with him. As for Andrew, he simply strikes me as a creepy dweeb, who doesn’t do much to conceal it either.
It’s the insidiousness of women like Blake and Amber; the vulgar layers of false niceties they paint on every morning under their make-up.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. 'I wouldn’t trust her to look after a house plant, let alone be friends with someone like her,' says Annabel
Justin Baldoni with Blake Lively in It Ends With Us. Blake alleged that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the film set and then launched a ‘smear campaign’ against her
I’ve known females like them since those dreadful years at an all-girls’ school, and they make my toes curl. Girls who were so mean to me that by sixth form I was eating lunch on my lap locked in a bathroom cubicle to avoid them.
Unlike boys at school, who resorted to fist fights when it came to conflict, these girls would write awful things about me on internet forums under pseudonyms, or break into my locker and hide my belongings.
Last year, I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism and perhaps that is why I find it so much easier to interact with people who are blunt – which men tend to be.
Genuinely, I’d rather you be extremely rude to my face than pretend to be sugary sweet, then turn around and burn me to the ground, Khaleesi-style.
You only need to watch that infamous clip of Blake filming a ‘sound-off’ dance scene with Baldoni while filming It Ends With Us.
Annabel believes toxicity, duplicity and fakery are constants in female friendships
The following year, when she had attempted to sue him for sexual harassment, she cited this montage as an example of him saying inappropriate things to her.
Thankfully for Baldoni, and unbeknown to Blake, their microphones had been switched on and anyone could hear what was clearly going on. Blake was giggling, bantering and positively purring at him with all the charm she could muster while Baldoni said nothing scandalous in return.
Indeed, women like her persistently whine about being hounded by the press (while continuing, with their antics, to attract as much attention as they can) – as if it were impossible to be famous and not all over the news every day. Such victimhood! And sadly, such a female trait.
Just look at Leonardo DiCaprio, who gets a fair bit of ridicule over his dating patterns and gets ‘papped’ and pointed at relentlessly every time he gets a bit fat, but who has always completely ignored it. No furious retaliation statements released on his Instagram. He just dons sunglasses and a baseball hat whenever he’s out-and-about in an attempt to go low-profile and quietly gets on with his life.
As a woman who believes in gender equality I wish it wasn’t so, but the fact remains that the vast majority of my friends and acquaintances have always been men.
I would love to have a girl gang, like most other women seem to. And believe me, I’ve tried. But there’s always toxicity and duplicity and fakery, the likes of which I just don’t experience with males and I’m consistently either kicked out of the gal pal circle or leave of my own volition.
I still hold out hope that some day I’ll find a sisterly tribe of some sort. But based on my experiences so far, it’s not looking promising.
