Blake Lively has sued It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment.
According to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ and The New York Times, Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused Lively, 37, “severe emotional distress.”
The lawsuit alleges that there was a meeting conducted to address Lively’s claims that there was a “hostile work environment” on set. The meeting was attended by numerous people, including her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Some of her demands that were addressed included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
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The lawsuit also requested that there be “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.”
The outlet noted that Lively’s demands were approved by the studio, Sony Pictures, and added that there was a “huge conflict” over how the movie should be marketed.
However, Lively claims that Baldoni, 40, allegedly conducted a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation. Per TMZ, the lawsuit included texts from Baldoni’s publicist to the studio publicist, which allegedly state that Baldoni “wants to feel like [Lively] can be buried” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, addressed Lively’s “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” accusations in a statement to Us Weekly, claiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” regarding the film’s production. Freedman further alleged that Lively made “multiple demands and threats” while filming It Ends With Us, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.” (Us reached out to Lively’s rep for comment.)
In a statement to the Times, Lively denied spreading negative information about Baldoni. “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,” Lively continued.
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Rumors of a reported rift between Lively and Baldoni began during promotion for the film, which was released in August. Fans noticed that Lively was promoting the film with some of her costars, while Baldoni didn’t join for interviews or press opportunities.
“There were two camps on the film — team Blake and team Justin,” a source told Us exclusively. “This creative struggle set the tone for the negative experience behind the scenes and grew into them not speaking anymore.”
