What's New
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's alleged conflict has entered a new chapter after the actress filed a lawsuit against him.
Why It Matters
The movie It Ends With Us, helmed by Baldoni and with Lively serving as a producer, made headlines during its summer press tour amid rumors of conflict between the two.
The movie is based on Colleen Hoover's book of the same name, a fictionalized retelling of her family's experience with domestic violence.
In the lawsuit filed on Friday, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and allegedly launching a publicity campaign to tarnish her reputation.
Baldoni has denied any wrongdoing, with his legal team telling Newsweek the claims were "categorically false."
Newsweek contacted Baldoni and Lively's representatives by email on Monday morning for comment.
What To Know
Lively filed the suit against Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the CEO of Wayfarer Studios, which also produced the movie.
Lively claimed there was "unwanted kissing" on set and Baldoni often spoke inappropriately on set, including about his sex life.
The lawsuit said there had been an "all hands" meeting during filming to address "the hostile work environment" on set, which during the meeting the parties agreed to not show nude photos of images of women to Lively or her staff.
"No more personal, physical touching of, or sexual comments by, Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath to be tolerated by [Lively] and/or any of her employees, as well as any female cast or crew without their express consent," read another agreement from the list.
Another demand from the meeting included to cease talking about "personal times that physical consent was not given in sexual acts, as either the abuser or the abused," It also asked for Heath to stop talking about his previous "pornography addiction."
The lawsuit also alleged that there had been an agreement to bring in an intimacy coordinator on set but did not eventuate and Baldoni allegedly changed scenes with little notice to include unplanned sex scenes.
At their initial meeting on set, the parties agreed there would be "no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project."
The New York Times also claimed to have sourced text messages between Baldoni, Heath and crisis public relations experts, Melissa Nathan and Jed Wallace. The article alleged Baldoni and Heath hired the PR gurus to smear Lively's reputation should she make any of her allegations public.
Another of Lively's criticisms include that she had been told the publicity of the movie would focus on the main character's resilience in a violent relationship, but Baldoni shifted the focus to make it about raising awareness of family violence. As a result, Lively faced a lot of backlash for seeming to not address the serious issues in the movie during the summer press tour.
"To that end, he and his team used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image," the suit said. "What the public also did not know was that this was the beginning of a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as 'social manipulation' designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation."
What People Are Saying
Hoover broke her silence over the clash between the Hollywood stars with a post on Instagram, alongside a statement of support issued by Lively's friends and fellow actresses Amber Tamblyn, America Ferreira and Alexis Bledel.
"@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," she captioned the post. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."
She also linked to a New York Times article that reported on the lawsuit and claimed to have proof of Baldoni's concerted effort to create a "smear campaign" against Lively after she complained about on-set misconduct.
Lively issued a statement to media after the suit was filed.
"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," she said through her lawyers.
Baldoni and Wayfarer's legal team also spoke on behalf of their clients.
"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," attorney Brian Freedman said on Saturday.
He accused Lively of being demanding and issuing threats while filming such as, "threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film," and alleged Lively's suit was "intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."
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