Blake Lively has initiated legal proceedings against her It Ends with Us co-star, Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and attempting to damage her reputation.
The two actors shared the screen in the movie version of Colleen Hoover’s acclaimed novel, It Ends With Us, with Baldoni also serving as the director for the film.
Following the film’s debut in August, rumors of ‘friction’ between Lively and Baldoni quickly surfaced, with Lively facing criticism regarding her responses in interviews promoting the film.
According to a lawsuit, which was initially reported by TMZ and subsequently shared by the New York Times, Lively charges Baldoni with sexual harassment.
The lawsuit alleges that during the production, a meeting was convened due to the purported work environment on set, leading Lively to make specific demands.
These demands pertained to the film, including requests to refrain from adding sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxes outside the scope of the script Lively had approved when she joined the project.
Additional requests reportedly included prohibitions on sexual discussions in Lively’s presence, references to genitalia of the cast and crew, comments on Lively’s weight, mention of Baldoni’s alleged ‘pornography addiction,’ and the display of nude videos or images of women to Lively.
Though these requests were reportedly agreed upon, the lawsuit also claims that Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios, allegedly sought to ‘destroy’ her reputation through ‘social manipulation,’ causing severe emotional distress to her and her family.
Baldoni’s attorney has since addressed the lawsuit.
Bryan Freedman, the attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, declaring: “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”
The statement characterizes the allegations as ‘completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.’
It further claims that Lively made ‘multiple demands and threats during production,’ including ‘threatening to not show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film’ unless her demands were met. This situation allegedly led Wayfarer Studios to preemptively hire a crisis manager before the film’s marketing campaign, to assist alongside their representative from Jonesworks, employed by Stephanie Jones.
The statement also suggests that Lively’s supposed demands ‘ultimately lead to [the film’s] demise during release.’
The statement continued: “It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.”
“The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity.”
“What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”
Lively expressed to The New York Times: “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”