Blake Lively is taking legal action against her It Ends with Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, for alleged sexual harassment during the filming of the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
This comes months after rumors of tension behind the scenes first surfaced.
In the complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department and obtained by ABC News, Lively claims Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused her “severe emotional distress.”
A representative for Lively said in a statement that “Blake was retaliated against because she raised concerns about sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior that she and other members of the cast and crew experienced on the set of the film.”
The complaint further alleges that a meeting was held to address Lively’s concerns, adding that it was attended by key stakeholders in the film and Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds.
According to the complaint, Lively said she laid out specific demands at the meeting to ensure a safe and professional working environment, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake” and “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.”
Lively claims Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, then engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, according to the complaint. The complaint includes alleged texts from Baldoni’s publicist to a Wayfarer publicist, whom the complaint alleges said Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried,” and “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
In a message to his publicist, according to the complaint, Baldoni allegedly wrote, “We should have a plan for IF she does the same when [the] movie comes out. Plans make me feel more at ease.”
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations in a statement to ABC News:
“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,” Freedman said. “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Freedman added, “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.”
In the film, Lively plays a woman with a traumatic upbringing who enters into a relationship that turns abusive.
Baldoni previously told Good Morning America that Lively was an integral part of the film and that he partnered on the project with a foundation dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
