Interview

Reporter Kjersti Flaa says Blake Lively's "It Ends With Us" drama wasn't on her radar, or at least it wasn't when she uploaded their cringe interview -- instead, she insists it's pure coincidence.

We spoke with Kjersti in the aftermath of her video blowing up ... and she shared further insight into the tense convo, and made it clear she had no ulterior motive when posting the interview online.

Most viewers of the viral clip assumed Kjersti posted the 8 year old exchange in response to Blake's "It Ends With Us" drama with costar and director Justin Baldoni ... but she says it was more innocent than that.

Blake Lively’s dealing with the "It Ends With Us" scandal by putting damage control on ice and turning up the volume on her BFF Taylor Swift's fandom ... 'cause priorities, right?

The actress quipped about her wish for 47-hour-long Tay Tay concerts Wednesday, when a caller on BBC Radio 1’s "Unpopular Opinion" segment suggested cutting "Love Story" from the set list to make room for another lesser-known track from her "Fearless" album.

Blake wasn’t having it ... grilling the caller, asking if they just hated happiness, joy, or even their own ears, with that dry humor of hers ... which hasn't exactly translated well in her past interviews -- but we’ll dive into that tea later.

Blake Lively is catching more heat for an "uncomfortable" -- to say the least -- interview ... one that has nothing to do with the nasty "It Ends With Us" feud with Justin Baldoni.

Reporter Kjersti Flaa uploaded footage from her 2016 sit-down with Blake to promote "Cafe Society" ... and the journalist blasted their chat as her "most uncomfortable interview situation" ever.

Watch the vid ... there's tension right out of the gate when Kjersti congratulates Blake on her baby bump -- the actress was pregnant with her 2nd daughter, Inez, at the time.

Meghan Markle's opening up about her own experiences with suicidal thoughts ... but, she says she still hasn't even "scraped the surface" publicly.

The Duchess of Sussex and her husband, Prince Harry, sat down for a new "CBS News Sunday Morning" interview that aired on Sunday during which they discussed their new The Parents' Network program aimed at supporting parents whose kids have been impacted by social media-related trauma.

Of course, Meghan's dealt with her own mental health struggles ... admitting during the royals' bombshell 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey she once considered taking her own life -- telling OW she "just didn't want to be alive anymore."

J.D. Vance is bound to catch flak for his latest resurfaced interview -- as he once again went after childless people ... making a wild pitch on how to combat their "anti-child" POV.

Donald Trump's vice presidential pick sat down for an interview with The Federalist way back in 2021 -- which, of course, is surfacing anew right now -- and he shared his thoughts on folks choosing to not have kids ... and what conservatives can do to change their minds.

As Vance put it ... Republicans need "to go to war against the anti-child ideology that exists in our country," and from the sounds of it -- his words may have been geared toward women ... that's certainly how many are taking it anyway.

Haliey Welch's fame has reverberated across generations it seems ... 'cause she sat down for an interview on Bill Maher's podcast -- and pulled the curtain back on the real Haliey.

The "Hawk Tuah" Girl joined Maher on his 'Club Random' podcast in an interview published Sunday ... and, like the name suggests, the talk got really random -- ranging from working in a spring factory to family to country music.

One thread tied the whole convo together ... with BM telling HW early on he wants to help her figure out where her career's going from here -- a pretty serious move from a guy more used to cracking jokes about hard-hitting political subjects.

Bobbi Althoff's sounding off on rumors that she bangs the dudes she awkwardly interviews ... saying she doesn't have to sleep around to get ahead.

The social media star -- who's skyrocketed into viral fame over the past year and change -- launched into a diatribe on her Instagram story late Tuesday night ... responding to a hater's direct message claiming she spent her weekends jumping from famous guy to famous guy.

BA says she doesn't usually respond to DMs like these -- which she claims she's received repeatedly of late -- but goes on to explain she's sick of seeing these claims from people who have no idea why her marriage ended ... and she wants to set the record straight.

Don't worry UFC fans, if Paddy Pimblett has it his way ... he'll be sticking around the UFC once his current contract with the promotion runs out, telling TMZ Sports the UFC is the place he wants to be!!!

We caught up with Paddy "The Baddy" as the star MMA fighter prepares for his upcoming bout vs. Bobby "King" Green at UFC 304 in Manchester, England. A fight, for Pimblett, which could mark the last with Dana White's promotion ... 'cause it's the last on his deal.

Paddy's been asked about his future in recent interviews, and some have perceived him to be signaling a desire to go elsewhere.

Cheryl Tyler, a former Secret Service Special Agent, is defending her female peers from a wave of criticism following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

In addition to protecting 2 presidents herself, Cheryl trained other agents, and she joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" -- in the wake of Saturday's attack -- to counter those hating on female agents, and to explain how difficult it is for any agent to get that detail ... whether they're female or male.

As Cheryl put it ... being a part of the Secret Service is no easy thing -- it's an elite group of specialists who are put through rigorous training and probation to earn the detail.

President Biden says he regrets using the term "bullseye" to refer to Donald Trump -- especially now that there's been an assassination attempt on him ... but there's a catch.

POTUS sat down for an interview with Lester Holt, which is airing Monday -- the first look of which was played on NBC ... where the veteran news anchor peppered JB with questions about using that phrase during a donor call last Monday post-debate debacle.

If you hadn't heard, Joe was quoted as saying ... "It’s time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye." Of course, in the wake of Thomas Matthew Crooks trying to take a shot at DT ... many have been critical of Biden saying that, suggesting it may have incited the young to action.

Nikki and Brie Bella say the restaurant industry got them ready for the ring ... claiming they learned all about confidence while slinging wings for man-favorite Hooters!

The retired WWE stars -- who went by the moniker "The Bella Twins" while competing -- opened up about working in the restaurant in an interview with the New York Post ... and, they swear it taught them some valuable wrestling listens.

Brie says working at the restaurant down in San Diego instilled them with confidence to go up and chat with the customers ... and, they also quickly developed a thick skin with some of the more vulgar comments.

If J.J. Watt wants to flaunt his new bod, one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time is willing to help ... 7x Mr. Olympia Phil Heath tells TMZ Sports he'd have the future Hall of Famer stage ready in 3 months!

"He actually looks pretty damn good," 44-year-old Heath said, adding ... "I think he would actually do well at the amateur level."

Not too shabby a compliment coming from a man who won the Olympia seven times straight (he also finished second in 2010 and 2018).

D.L. Hughley is going scorched earth on George Clooney for calling on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race ... and he says Democrats are missing the big picture.

The comedian joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and ripped into George and his fellow Dems for asking for Biden to make way for a different candidate to run against Donald Trump.

D.L. says the whole tone of George's NYT op-ed letter calling on Biden to step down is "insulting" ... and he finds it alarming Clooney never mentioned Project 2025, a series of proposals D.L. warns will do serious damage to Americans, especially minorities.

Shawn Porter had the best seat in the house for Nate Diaz's scrap with Jorge Masvidal on Saturday, with the former boxing champ saying the Stockton star trained hard for the fight, as opposed to when he lost to Jake Paul a few months back!

"[Diaz was] the same fighter, but more prepared. The same fighter, but really ready to fight," Porter, who called the fight for Fanmio, told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

Shawn continued ... "They said Nate didn't really train for the fight with Jake Paul. He didn't take it as serious as he should have. And it showed."

LeBron James says his son's mind is already NBA-ready ... revealing this week Bronny James does not care one bit about the opinions of his haters.

In fact, the Lakers superstar said in a sit-down interview with ESPN this weekend his teenage boy "doesn't give a f***" about any of the outside noise.

"He doesn't," LBJ said. "Bronny plays. He works his tail off. When he goes home, he plays video games."

President Biden's debate gaffes are ticking off some folks who work in the White House, because they've reportedly been kept away from him ... and now it's causing a divide among staffers.

Alex Thompson, the national political correspondent for Axios, joined us Monday on "TMZ Live," and broke down the disconnect happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Alex says lots of people who work with Biden are only given access to him between 10 AM and 4 PM when POTUS is at his sharpest, and that's why they were so shocked to see his slip-ups at Thursday's debate, which started at 9 PM ET -- a time when Alex says Biden is more prone to make mental mistakes.