Blake Lively can’t seem to escape the spotlight these days. Amid ongoing headlines about her legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, the actress has now found herself at the center of a completely different kind of controversy. This time, it involves doughnuts and health codes.
The Gossip Girl star, 37, recently visited Rise Doughnuts, a small shop in Wilton, Connecticut, as part of what appeared to be a lighthearted PR stop. She shared cheerful clips and photos from the visit to her Instagram, including shots of her baking in the kitchen. “Baking with genius food friends and their kitchen mixer the size of a car. This is what my happy place looks like…” Lively wrote.
But the post didn’t land quite as sweetly as she may have hoped. Netizens quickly flooded the comments with concern over the fact that Lively wasn’t wearing a hairnet while prepping the treats. Some called the move “disgusting,” and soon enough, a wave of complaints began rolling into the Wilton Health Department. Many even accused the store of violating health code guidelines.
The backlash escalated when negative Yelp reviews appeared on the bakery’s page. And, some people who are being seemingly linked to supporters of Baldoni, suggested a retaliation campaign tied to her ongoing legal drama.
“Is it the practice at this doughnut shop to allow employees handling the food to wear their hair loose & hang a few inches above a tray of doughnuts?” one Yelp user, J.J., asked in a recent review.
“Why don’t your employees have to wear hairnets? This does not seem sanitary,” the same reviewer added.
Another critic wrote, “No matter who is baking or serving, food safety guidelines need to be followed.” They further said, “Friends shouldn’t be hanging out in the food prep areas, leaning on equipment and not having their hair up.”
Blake needs a new branding & PR team. The donut shop was obviously a PR stunt… but missed the mark (again).#BlakeLively #PopCulture pic.twitter.com/JC30akwl2v
— Ashley (@ashleybrianaeve) March 31, 2025
The situation became serious enough to trigger an official inspection by the Wilton Health Department. However, according to TMZ, the shop was eventually cleared of any health code violations. Inspectors reportedly found no issues during their review, despite the initial anonymous complaint.
What’s more, sources told TMZ that many of the complaints came from people who had never even set foot in the donut shop, or in Connecticut, for that matter.
“Targeting a lovely, small, family-owned business is a new low in the retaliation campaign,” one source said.
Here you go… Apparently, this is Blake’s “happy place…” pic.twitter.com/dPVIVtuaw1
— AKA The Cat Lady (@AKATheCatLady) April 4, 2025
Well the doughnut drama has now been put to rest. But for Blake Lively, the heat surrounding her name, be it in court or in the kitchen, doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon.
