The writer said she left the movie set “hyperventilating and sobbing.”
ByJaelani Turner-Williams
July 29, 2026
After once being excited for her debut novel to become a film, author Tomi Adeyemi is sharing her turmoil over the project.
One day after Paramount held a trailer launch event for Children of Blood and Bone at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City, Adeyemi escalated her public condemnation of the movie adaptation in a new TikTok.
The 32-year-old claimed that she is “still being antagonized behind the scenes” and called the film “the worst thing I’ve ever had to live through.”
“I’m not going to speak on what I endured to make it through the young adult trilogy. And I’m not going to speak about everything that I also suffered through or endured to make the adaptation a reality,” Adeyemi said. “I’m actually only going to speak about what happened after I left that set of my own film adaptation.”
The author said that while she was on set for the film, which was shot in South Africa and the Canary Islands, she was “hyperventilating and sobbing” and that there were “many witnesses.”
“I came back to America and suffered such severe somatic pain and so many panic attacks,” she continued. “And I knew it was so bad that I would never, ever be able to watch this film. And I made peace with that. But as it is being marketed, and as I’m still being antagonized behind the scenes, which is where I hoped all of this would stay, that that reality needs to at least be made known so that you guys can understand how this film, which I worked on to make it a little better for us to be alive, is also the worst thing I have ever had to live through.”
Adeyemi added that she doesn’t “wish to speak on it anymore,” although she doesn’t “know if that’s possible.”
“I understand that I have a public presence and that this is a global project. It’s probably useless posting a video. I don’t do things like this, but I also understand that being silent about it is making the pain a lot worse.”
Adeyemi concluded by saying she wants to “move on” from the project and to distance herself from those who were involved in the film’s creation.
Earlier this month, Adeyemi hinted at a rift with actress Amandla Stenberg, who stars as Princess Amari in Blood and Bone.
In a since-deleted TikTok, Adeyemi said that she would no longer speak about the film and shared a screenshot of a direct message she allegedly sent to Steinberg that read, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.”
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood,Children of Blood and Bone is scheduled for release on Jan. 15, 2027.
