Blake Lively is suing her former It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment and has cited Hailey Bieber as inspiration for an alleged PR takedown of Blake.
The actress, 37, worked with Justin, 40, on the movie adaption of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel. The movie divided critics and was plagued by reports of backstage drama. Following months of rumours about a fallout between the leading stars, Blake has now accused her co-star and director of a co-ordinated effort to destroy her reputation, in legal papers seen by US outlet TMZ. Baldoni has furiously denied the accusations.
Baldoni's team have responded by branding Blake 'shameful' and accusing her of a 'false attempt' to rehab her own reputation. Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, lashed out at the lawsuit, slamming Blake's claims "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt."
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Variety via Getty Images)Blake's team has said that text messages included in their legal documents show that there was a "multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as 'social manipulation' designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation." Blake has claimed that Baldoni hired crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, who has previously worked with Johnny Depp, as part of a PR team that also included Baldoni's publicist, Jennifer Abel.
Blake has claimed in her lawsuit, as reported by MailOnline, that Baldoni sent a screenshot of an X thread about allegations against Hailey Beiber, telling Abel that "this is what we would need." It is not suggested that Hailey is involved or associated with the alleged smear campaign.
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GC Images)Image:
GC Images)In another message, it is alleged that Abel stated that Baldoni, "wants to feel like she [Lively] can be buried". Abel receives a response from Nathan, who is also part of Baldoni's PR team, which allegedly reads: "Of course - but you know when we send over documents we can't send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble. We can't write we will destroy her".
Abel then allegedly responds to this by speculating: "Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone but I can't write that to him. I will be very tough."
Months after the release, Blake claims Baldoni's alleged behaviour caused her 'severe emotional distress'. According to TMZ, the lawsuit states a meeting was held to address Lively's claims and her demands for working on the film. It was attended by various figures working on the movie, including Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds. Earlier this year it was revealed that Reynolds had written a pivotal scene for the film that made it into the final cut, with Baldoni only finding out after Blake revealed it in a red carpet interview.
According to Blake's lawsuit, cited by TMZ, some of the demands that were addressed in the It Ends with Us meeting 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.
"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," were other demands mentioned in the lawsuit, according to TMZ. The suit claims the demands were approved by the studio.
In a statement given to the Mirror, from the attorney of Justin Baldoni, Bryan Freedman, described Blake's allegations are described as 'shameful.'
The statement reads: "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 garnered 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, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.
"These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.
"It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.
"The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”
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