Lively has accused her It Ends With Us co-star of sexual harassment and targeting her with a social media smear campaign
Blake Lively is taking legal action against Justin Baldoni, her co-star in the film It Ends With Us, accusing the actor and director of sexual harassment and targeting her with a social media smear campaign.
The Gossip Girl star has accused Baldoni of creating a hostile work environment and embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to destroy her reputation.
Baldoni is named in the complaint alongside members of his team, including his publicists, and Wayfarer Studios – an independent production company that he co-founded.
A lawyer representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, said the claims were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious”.
Sexual harassment allegations
Lively has accused Baldoni and Jamey Heath, lead producer of It Ends With Us, of repeatedly violating physical boundaries and making sexual and other inappropriate comments to her during filming.
She claimed Baldoni improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, while Heath allegedly showed her a video of his wife naked, she claimed.
Both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding, according to the New York Times.
According to Lively’s complaint, a meeting was held in January during production about her claims, with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, attending.
The showdown aimed to address “the hostile work environment” on set, the legal filing says.
Lively says the alleged harassment left her with “severe emotional distress”.
Lively’s contract requirements
According to the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, 30 demands from Lively detailing Baldoni and Heath’s alleged misconduct were made at the meeting to allow production to go ahead.
They included guarantees that Baldoni’s previous “pornography addiction” and Lively’s lack of porn “consumption” would no longer be up for discussion.
There should also be “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Lively” and no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Lively, according to the legal complaint.
Other demands included “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”.
There was also a request to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator, bring in an outside producer and put other safeguards on set.
Crisis PR manager
The legal complaint includes accusations that Baldoni retained a crisis communications specialist who, with the director and “approval” of the studio, launched a “sophisticated, co-ordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan”.
Text messages in the legal document involve exchanges between Jennifer Abel, of PR firm RWA Communications, Melissa Nathan, of The Agency Group PR, and Baldoni.
Nathan’s public relations team had reportedly worked with Johnny Depp during his 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The plan would involve creating “manufactured content” that would “influence public opinion”, according to the legal filing.
‘We can bury anyone’
“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” Ms Abel, a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni wrote to the crisis management expert, Ms Nathan in August.
Ms Nathan replied: “You know we can bury anyone.”
Over the coming weeks, according to the legal filing, Ms Nathan tried to suppress stories about Baldoni’s behaviour, including how his “sexual connotations” had made other crew members “uncomfortable”.
At the same time, negative articles about Lively were boosted, according to text messages in the legal document.
This was intended to “retaliate against Ms Lively by battering her image, harming her businesses, and causing her and her family severe emotional harm”, according to the complaint.
Baldoni’s legal team have denied the allegations and say they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.
Sony back Lively
Sony Pictures, the film’s distributor, has said it “fully” supports Lively over her allegations against Baldoni.
“We have previously expressed our support for Blake in connection with her work on and for the film. We fully and firmly reiterate that support today,” a Sony Pictures Entertainment spokesperson stated.
“Further, we strongly condemn any reputational attacks on her. Any such attacks have no place in our business or in a civil society.”
‘People want to hate on women’
The legal filing includes references in emails to “proactive fan posting” and text messages citing efforts to “boost” and “amplify” online content that was favourable to Baldoni or negative towards Lively.
In one text, Ms Nathan wrote to Ms Abel: “Socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious.
“It’s actually sad because it just shows you how people really want to hate on women.”
Lively said in a statement to the New York Times: “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.”
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, said: “There were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario-planning and private correspondence to strategise, which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”