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While <\/span>Blake Lively’s<\/a> new film <\/span>It Ends With Us<\/a> <\/span><\/em>is a tale of love, loss, pain, and hope — there was nothing but true love and joy in her real-life friendship with co-star <\/span>Jenny Slate<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Lively and Slate sat down with ET’s Rachel Smith in New York City on Sunday while promoting <\/span>their new romantic drama<\/a>, and the pair had nothing but words of kindness and support for the bond they formed during filming.<\/span><\/p>\n “I love Jenny so much, and she was such an anchor for me in so many ways,” Lively, 36, marveled. “She’s just full of love and light,\u00a0but she’s also deeply grounded.”<\/span><\/p>\n For Lively, her connection with Slate was fostered by how much they both “really love our personal lives a lot, and love our jobs.”<\/span><\/p>\n “We love our work and we take it very, very seriously, and we work very, very, very hard, and we completely immerse ourselves in our work — but who we are is defined by our personal life so much more than our work,” Lively explained, “and we can be both of those things at once.”<\/span><\/p>\n “When you’re working, sometimes you feel guilty for, you know, not being in your personal life in those hours you\u2019re at work,” said Lively, who <\/span>shares four children with husband Ryan Reynolds<\/a> —\u00a0daughters James, 9, Inez, 7 and Betty, 4, and son Olin, 1. “Just knowing that someone was having that same experience was very grounding.”<\/span><\/p>\n Slate, meanwhile, <\/span>shares a 3-year-old daughter<\/a>, Ida, with her <\/span>husband, author Ben Shattuck<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n “I deeply fell in love with her,” Slate said of Lively and their time on set. “Obviously, I have admired Blake for so long… [she’s] so fresh, so detail-oriented, so prepared — knowing, like, what page on the script things occurred on. She’d be like, ‘Well, I see that, but she doesn’t really find this out until page 96…'”<\/span><\/p>\n Slate gushed over getting the opportunity to not only act opposite Lively, but also getting to become a close friend when the cameras weren’t rolling.<\/span><\/p>\n “[She’s a] deeply trustworthy person who is also willing to share. We had long talks,” Slate recalled. “I was never expecting to have the off-set experience that I had.”<\/span><\/p>\n “I was really eager to work with Blake, but to really make a friend and someone who is so capable in so many ways — like, just like a genuine winner… I’m just so grateful for this sweet person,” Slate added with a smile.<\/span><\/p>\n It Ends With Us<\/span><\/em> — adapted from\u00a0<\/span>Colleen Hoover’s<\/a> novel of the same name —\u00a0 <\/span>follows flower shop owner Lily Bloom’s<\/a> (Lively) volatile relationship with boyfriend Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) amid the reappearance of her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar). Slate stars as\u00a0Allysa Kincaid, Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister.<\/span><\/p>\n It Ends With Us<\/span><\/em>\u00a0hits theaters Aug. 9.<\/span><\/p>\n RELATED CONTENT:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n