Blake Lively Sues ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar and Director Justin Baldoni for Sexual Harassment
The It Ends With Us drama hasn’t ended yet. Blake Lively, a star and producer of the film, has sued Justin Baldoni, her costar and the director of the project, for sexual harassment.
According to TMZ, which obtained the lawsuit, Lively alleged that the It Ends With Us set was a hostile work environment and said an all-hands meeting was called to address the issue, which included Baldoni’s conduct.
That meeting addressed various demands, including “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,” according to TMZ’s description of the lawsuit.
Another demand included “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxing by [Lively] outside the scope of the script [Lively] approved when signing onto the project.”
Lively previously complained that Baldoni and It Ends With Us producer Jamey Heath repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual comments and other inappropriate remarks to her, The New York Times reported.
The studio approved those demands, according to the suit, but more trouble came during the marketing of It Ends With Us, for which Baldoni wanted to focus on the film’s domestic violence storyline and Lively wanted to focus on her character’s resilience, TMZ said.
Lively claimed that Baldoni and others tried to destroy her reputation through a “social manipulation” campaign.
The Times shared excerpts of a message exchange between Jennifer Abel, a publicist working with Baldoni, and Melissa Nathan, a crisis management expert.
“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” Abel wrote, per the newspaper.
“You know we can bury anyone,” Nathan responded.
Lively said that the alleged social manipulation campaign hurt her business and caused “severe emotional distress” to her family, TMZ reported.
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, said the lawsuit is an attempt by Lively to “fix her negative reputation” and that the claims are “false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt,” according to TMZ. Freedman also said Lively “threaten[ed] to not showing up to set [and] threaten[ed] to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.”
Released on August 9 of this year, It Ends With Us is an adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, and stars Lively as a woman who suffers emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of Baldoni’s character.
During the It Ends With Us press tour, fans noticed that Baldoni did not pose for photos with other cast members, Lively included. (The Times reported that Lively, other cast members, and Hoover informed Sony Pictures and Wayfarer Studios they wouldn’t make appearances with Baldoni.)
Then came reports of creative differences between Baldoni and Lively, with Lively revealing that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, helped rewrite a scene. Ultimately, Sony and Wayfarer went with Lively’s cut of the film, per the Times.
Meanwhile, Lively got flak on social media for her upbeat promotion of the film and for her plugs for her hair-care and beverage lines, as TIME reported.