Actress Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint alleging that “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni and his crew mounted a smear campaign after she voiced her concerns about “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” on set by him and a producer.
This summer, during the press tour for the movie, which deals with domestic violence, Blake Lively received widespread criticism for what some saw as her adopting a lighthearted, upbeat tone to promote a film that tackles such a serious subject. Meanwhile, commenters on social media widely praised Baldoni’s messaging about the film.
Lively’s legal complaint, first reported by The New York Times, reveals allegations of sexual harassment, physical boundary violations, and a coordinated effort to “destroy” her reputation. The complaint was filed on Friday with the California Civil Rights Department.
In a statement sent to The New York Times, studio lawyer Bryan Freedman called Lively’s accusations “categorically false” and “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”
“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
According to the complaint, in January, Lively, Baldoni, studio CEO and producer Jamey Heath, met to discuss on-set conduct, and the parties had agreed to a list of conduct that would no longer be permitted.
The agreed-upon demands included no showing nude videos or images of women to Livey or others on set and no discussions about pornography, sexual experiences or genitalia.
Baldoni and Heath’s studio, Wayfarer, also committed to providing an intimacy coordinator on-site at all times and other safety measures so that filming could resume. The studio also agreed not to retaliate against Lively.
Around the film’s release, the complaint claims that Lively was obligated to follow a marketing plan that told the actors to focus “more on Lily’s strength and resilience as opposed to describing the film as a story about domestic violence” and to refrain from making the film appear “sad or heavy.”
The filing includes texts and emails obtained through a subpoena between Baldoni and his PR team detailing their online strategy after tensions grew between the two actors.
“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.”
According to the document, Baldoni also hired a crisis communications specialist who reportedly created a strategy to gather favor for the actor and sway social media narratives. Lively’s legal team also alleges Baldoni and the Wayfarer PR team discussed generating pointed and misleading stories to discredit Lively.
The complaint alleges that on Aug. 2, in a message sent to crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, a publicist for Baldoni wrote, “He wants to feel like she can be buried,” to which Nathan responded, “You know we can bury anyone.”
In the past, Nathan has worked for other high-profile clients such as Johnny Depp, Drake, and Travis Scott.
The studio’s lawyer said in a statement to NPR that the studio retained a crisis manager before the film’s marketing campaign “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production,” such as threatening not to show up to set and not promote the film if her demands weren’t met.
“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.”
Lively shared her hopes behind filing the complaint 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.”
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
