Blake Lively claims footage Justin Baldoni's legal team released in the wake of her sexual harassment allegations shows she was uncomfortable during the It Ends With Us scene.
The actress, 37, referred to raw footage Baldoni's team shared to the press on Tuesday night following her claims he acted inappropriately during filming of the film.
Her lawyer told TMZ: "Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint."
The explosive video shows all three takes of a dance scene between Lively and Baldoni, 40, who directed and starred in the film alongside her. Lively's teams claim the video "shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character."
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Courtesy of Bryan Freedman)Lively's lawyer also added that none of the intimacy shown in the video was choreographed. They continued: "Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present. Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss."
Lively's legal team claims that her "leaning away" from Baldoni during the scene was not acting, and that the clips shows her "repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk."
"Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent," the lawyer added.
Her team claims that releasing the video to the media "is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public' and 'a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign."
"We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his associates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts," her lawyer stated.
It was one of the biggest bombshells in a lawsuit packed full of them – that Baldoni sexually harassed Lively while filming a dance scene by dragging his lips down her neck and telling her "it smells so good".
Blake filed her lawsuit against Justin and his production company in December, accusing her co-star of causing a "hostile work environment" with "disturbing and unprofessional" behaviour.
She specifically cited a slow dance scene, in which she claimed he “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good.’ ”
Meanwhile in his own lawsuit, Justin accused Blake of having suggested he should get cosmetic surgery to fix his nose while they filmed a "romance montage".
In the newly-released video, both could be seen joking about his nose and the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants star mentioning an operation.
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