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American actor Blake Lively has filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and running a smear campaign against her, Variety reported.

In the complaint, the Gossip Girl star claimed that Baldoni tried to launch a defamation campaign against her and that his behaviour caused her and her family “severe emotional harm”.

The lawsuit comes after a tumultuous press tour for the film where Baldoni was not in attendance with the rest of the cast and many accused Lively of taking a far too lighthearted approach while promoting a movie about domestic violence. Social media users claimed that Baldoni was shunned from film promotions for not seeing eye to eye with Lively, and was the only cast member actually raising awareness about domestic violence.

In the complaint, Lively alleged that Baldoni and Jamey Heath, one of the film’s producers, engaged in unprofessional behaviour, including describing “their past sexual relationships” to her and speaking to her about their “previous pornography addiction.” Lively also claimed that Baldoni said he could talk to the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively, who passed away in 2021. “It was off putting and violative for Mr Baldoni to claim a personal relationship with her recently deceased father,” the complaint stated.

In a statement to The New York Times, Lively said: “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.”

The filing said a meeting was held in January 2024 to address Lively’s claims and her requirements for returning to work on the movie. Her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was reportedly present at the meeting. According to Variety, Lively complained that Baldoni had discussed her weight with her trainer, pressed her to disclose her religious beliefs and spoke about his sexual life in inappropriate ways.

She claimed that Heath, who also serves as the CEO of Wayfarer Studios, the movie’s production company, showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth. The actor accused Baldoni and Heath of entering her makeup trailer without her consent, “including when she was breastfeeding her infant child.” It stated that “the concerns [Lively] raised were not only for herself, but for the other female cast and crew, some of whom had also spoken up.”

Lively apparently demanded the Jane the Virgin actor not add any more sex scenes outside of what was in the script of the movie that she had approved before filming began. The complaint stated that Sony Pictures, the movie’s distributor, agreed to her demands, but it goes on to accuse Baldoni of “social manipulation” and launching a campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation afterwards.

The lawsuit detailed that during the meeting Lively requested there be no more mention of Baldoni or Heath’s “pornography addiction” to her or other crew members, no more descriptions of their genitalia, and “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 BBC reported.

It added that the actor demanded that Baldoni stop saying he could speak to her deceased father.

Smear campaign

Heath and Baldoni had hired a crisis public relations expert, and her lawsuit included excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained through a subpoena, The New York Times, the first publication to publish Lively’s lawsuit in its entirety, revealed. The lawsuit alleged that their PR effort aimed to mar her reputation.

“The documents show an additional playbook for waging a largely undetectable smear campaign in the digital era,” the publication stated.

“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni wrote in an August 2 message to crisis management expert Melissa Nathan.

In another instance detailed in the lawsuit, the publicist, in an email to another member of his PR team said Baldoni “doesn’t realise [sic] how lucky he is right now we need to press on him just how f*****g lucky.”

The complaint stated, “Mr Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates embarked on a sophisticated press and digital plan in retaliation for Ms Lively exercising her legally-protected right to speak up about their misconduct on the set, with the additional objective of intimidating her and anyone else from revealing in public what actually occurred.”

The campaign included employing subcontractors who “weaponised a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed, and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums,” the filing claimed.

During promotions for the movie, netizens criticised Lively telling audiences to “grab your friends, put on your florals” and go watch the movie and repeated promotion of her haircare line and alcoholic beverages line, Betty Buzz. Lively’s company threw her a floral theme party for the release of the movie, which she shared on her official Instagram handle, much to people’s chagrin, who called out her “tone deaf” attitude.

Social media users also maintained that Baldoni was the “only person actually speaking against DV”.

Retaliation

According to the BBC, Bryan Freedman, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ lawyer, said: “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.”

He accused the Age of Adeline actor of making several demands and threats, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film”, which would end up “ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met”.

He claimed that Lively’s allegations were “intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.

In a statement via her attorneys to the BBC, Lively denied that she or her representatives planted or spread negative information about Baldoni or Wayfarer Studios.

Backlash and reactions

Talent and media agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) dropped Baldoni as a client, shortly after the lawsuit was filed, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Lively and Renolds are both represented by the agency.

It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, whose book the movie was based on, voiced her support for Lively amid the allegations.

Taking to her Instagram story, Hoover shared a picture of her and the actor embracing and wrote, “You have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”

Lively’s sister, Robyn Lively, shared The New York Times exposé to her Instagram and urged everyone to read the article because it “highlights the truth and what really happened, what she actually endured during the filming of It Ends With Us.”

She said in the digital age, audiences had access to people’s personal lives — especially actors — which made them feel they knew celebrities.

“But I do know my sister. She is one of the kindest, most honest and loving humans I know. Blake isn’t a villain. She’s a mama bear to her core, a loving and supportive wife, a sister, a friend, and someone who worked her a** off on a film in abominable working conditions.”

Robyn said people could disagree with the marketing campaign because mistakes were made, however, her sister wasn’t the creative behind the decisions and “shouldn’t shoulder the sole responsibility for them”.

Lively’s The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants co-stars America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, and Amber Tamblyn stood in solidarity with their “friend and sister”.

In an Instagram post, the trio said, “Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice.

“Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.”

They were struck by the reality that “even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment.”

The actors said they were inspired by their sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others, and directed people to The New York Times article for more information. The post was reshared by Hoover.