Blake Lively has filed legal action against her former It Ends with Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, according to TMZ.
Lively accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment during their time working on the film and alleges a coordinated effort by Baldoni and his team to damage her reputation. However, Baldoni’s team denies the claims, calling them false and an attempt by Lively to rehabilitate her public image.
According to the lawsuit, the filming environment became so hostile that an all-hands-on-deck meeting was held to address the issues. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, was reportedly present at the meeting. The lawsuit outlines several demands related to Baldoni’s alleged behavior on set.
- Allegations include:
- No more showing nude videos or images of women to Lively.
- No further mention of Baldoni’s alleged “pornography addiction.”
- No discussions of sexual conquests in front of Blake and others.
- No comments about the cast and crew’s genitalia.
- No inquiries about Blake’s weight.
- No further mention of Blake’s deceased father.
The lawsuit also includes a demand that no additional sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxing involving Blake Lively (referred to as “BL”) be added to the film, beyond what was originally approved in the script she agreed to.
The claims and demands were accepted by the studio, but the film ended up flopping. One reason was a big disagreement about how to market the movie. Blake Lively wanted to focus on her character’s resilience, while Baldoni wanted to highlight domestic violence.
Lively claims that Baldoni and his team tried to destroy her reputation through a “social manipulation” campaign. The lawsuit includes texts from Baldoni’s publicist to the studio’s publicist, saying Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried,” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.” The lawsuit says this campaign hurt Lively’s business and caused her family a lot of emotional distress.
In a statement, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said, “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 earned 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, allowing the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”
Freedman added, “These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious, with the intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager before the film’s marketing campaign, to work alongside their own representative from Jonesworks, employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production. These included her threatening not to show up to set, threatening not to promote the film, and ultimately leading to its failure during release if her demands were not met.”
Source: TMZ, THR
