Blake Lively, star of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us, has filed an explosive legal complaint against the movie’s director Justin Baldoni. In the filing, submitted to the California civil rights department on Friday, Lively alleges that Baldoni sexually harassed her during the film’s production and orchestrated a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation after she complained about his behavior.
According to the complaint, the situation on set deteriorated to the point that Lively’s husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, had to intervene. In a crisis meeting attended by the couple, Lively and Reynolds reportedly demanded that Baldoni cease making inappropriate sexual comments, refrain from discussing his alleged “pornography addiction” in front of Lively, stop inquiring about her weight, and never again mention her deceased father.
Lively demanded during filming that she would no longer be asked to add sex scenes, beyond what she had approved when she signed on to the troubled project.
Alleged Retaliation Campaign
While Lively claims the studio agreed to her demands, she alleges that Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios then launched a coordinated effort to tarnish her public image in retaliation. The purported plan involved:
- Planting negative theories about Lively on online message boards
- Engineering a social media smear campaign against the actress
- Placing news stories critical of Lively in the media
Lively also claims that Baldoni abruptly changed the film’s marketing strategy to focus on domestic violence survivor content as a way to “protect his public image” amid her allegations. Text messages from Baldoni’s publicist included in the complaint state that the director “wants to feel like [Ms Lively] can be buried”.
Baldoni Fires Back
Baldoni vehemently denies Lively’s accusations. In a statement released by his lawyer, the director called the complaint “shameful” and “categorically false”. He claims Lively made “multiple demands and threats” of her own during filming, including refusing to show up on set and threatening not to promote the movie unless her demands were met.
This is yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film.
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman
The scandalous allegations cap off months of public controversy surrounding It Ends With Us. Speculation about tensions between Lively and Baldoni first ignited in August when sharp-eyed fans noticed the director was conspicuously absent from the film’s publicity tour. Reports soon surfaced that the production was in disarray, with two competing cuts of the movie in the works as Lively attempted to wrest creative control away from Baldoni.
An awkward 2016 interview with Lively also resurfaced and went viral during this period, in which the actress was described as exceptionally difficult by the journalist. Baldoni, meanwhile, faced backlash from abuse survivors who felt the It Ends With Us adaptation romanticized intimate partner violence.
As Lively’s legal complaint moves forward, the actress says she hopes her case will expose the “sinister” tactics used against victims of sexual misconduct who speak out. “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 said in a statement. The director has not yet indicated whether he plans to countersue for defamation.
