Blake Lively is facing criticism after launching a line of alcoholic beverages, despite previously stating she does not drink. This has caused an uproar among her fans, with many taking to social media to voice their opinions on the matter. Some are accusing the 35-year-old Gossip Girl alum of a “cash grab,” while others are defending her latest career move.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants actress previously founded Betty Buzz, a brand of sparkling non-alcoholic mixers in 2021. This week, Lively released Betty Booze drinks that are composed of canned cocktails. As written in the captions of her recent Instagram posts, the mom of four is maintaining that she does not drink alcohol.
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Why Blake Lively’s Alcoholic Beverage Venture Isn’t Sitting Well With Some
The It Ends With Us star celebrated her new Betty Booze drinks on Instagram with colorful advertisements and photoshoot pics of herself posing with the canned products. She showed off the three new flavors: sparkling tequila with lime shiso, sparkling tequila with oak smoked lemonade, and sparkling bourbon with apple ginger sour cherry.
Lively wrote to fans, regarding her new launch: “Drinking isn’t my thing. But for f—k sake, flavor is. Homemade recipes. Real fruit. Real ingredients. Quality booze. No crap. Also a real time saver. Which is why I really did it.”
Fans immediately headed to her posts’ comment sections to share their thoughts. “How can you market/create a product you don’t openly consume yourself?” one wrote, adding: “come the f on now.”
Another chimed in, commenting: “What a confusing way to promote your alcohol, by saying drinking isn’t your thing.” One other replied: “It’s so lame when celebrities who don’t drink suddenly promote alcohol.”
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Lively Opens Up About Her Sobriety In People Interview
When Lively first launched her non-alcoholic Betty Buzz drinks, she wrote on its website: "I don’t drink. I know that’s odd coming from the wife of an infamous gin slinger. Over the past many years of mixing but not drinking cocktails, it became clear mixers are the unsung heroes of the drink world and deserve just as much love as alcohol."
In November 2021, Lively sat down with People Magazine and opened up about her sobriety, and how she's never liked how drinking alcohol made her feel. "I don’t drink because I don’t like the effects of alcohol, but I like being a part of it," she said at the time.
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The Age of Adaline star continued: "I like being social. I like people coming together. I found that sometimes not drinking, the thing that was interesting was that it was a little alienating, because you don’t feel — and maybe it’s just in your own head — but you just don’t really feel a part of it."
Not all fans are currently criticizing Lively's move to release alcoholic beverages along with her non-alcoholic ones. As one wrote under one of Lively's recent posts: "All those upset that someone who doesn’t drink is selling alcohol— relax."
They went on: "Why on earth wouldn’t she? She is talented and passionate about creating art from flavor, and any good company (or human) creates things for others (not only for others who happen to be/think the exact same as they do)."
