Blake Lively victim of a smear campaign? What we know about the affair between him and Justin Baldoni

PEOPLE – 1.3 million French spectators and 300 million dollars in revenue (worldwide) later, the film adaptation of the best-seller Never again (a version original It Ends With Us) is back in the news. In question, a complaint filed in recent days by the star of the film Blake Lively against its director, Justin Baldoni.

In this complaint, the 37-year-old actress not only accuses the filmmaker – to whom she stars in this romance against a backdrop of domestic violence – of having repeatedly violated physical limits that she had set and then made comments inappropriate, but also of having orchestrated a campaign aimed at damaging his reputation.

A plan which would have been developed after a meeting during which Blake Lively would have expressly mentioned, in the presence of her husband Ryan Reynolds, “ repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviors” from Justin Baldoni and one of the main producers, Jamey Heath.

As recalled by New York Times, who was able to consult the complaint of the actress filed this Friday, December 20 in California, social networks, tabloids and the media have always been used by people in the shadows to shape public opinion on celebrities. However, the case denounced by Blake Lively may not be trivial.

Shortly before the film's release in August, an article in Hollywood Reporter was already speculating on a potential disagreement between the actress and Justin Baldoni, after users on TikTok noticed that the two stars were not posing together during the world premiere of the film, in New York.

Justin Baldoni calls Melissa Nathan

Speculations that the 80-page document, provided by Blake Lively's lawyers to the American justice system, seems to confirm. Several screenshots of text message exchanges attributed to Justin Baldoni and his teams are provided. Among them, conversations with a certain Melissa Nathan.

An expert in crisis public relations, she is known, among other things, for having worked with Johnny Depp during his trial with Amber Heard, who was the target of a sexist campaign on social networks throughout the duration of the affair. . Melissa Nathan would have been hired by Justin Baldoni at the beginning of the media whirlwind surrounding the promotion of Never againbefore mid-August.

In their exchanges, we can see for example Justin Baldoni asking the communication teams to “ reverse the narrative » on Blake Lively. We also read an employee of Melissa Nathan alerting to the case of a TikToker, whom she accuses of “ lead a very dangerous crusade » against the director while she raised questions about him.

Through his lawyers, Justin Baldoni says he finds “ ashamed » that Blake Lively makes such serious accusations and believes that it is “ another desperate attempt to repair its negative reputation “, in part ” due to his own remarks and actions during the film's promotional campaign ».

Betty Booze

At the time of writing these lines, it is not possible to verify the veracity of the accusations, nor to establish to what extent Melissa Nathan and her teams influenced or amplified this bad publicity for the actress who, as raises Justin Baldoni, suffered from several of his own speeches.

During several interviews, she never referred to domestic violence, even though it was one of the major themes of the film. Instead, she notably promoted her Betty Booze alcoholic beverage company on several occasions (and not her Betty Buzz sodas), even though alcohol promotes violent behavior (including that committed against women, recall this article from Monde).

She was also heard explaining that her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, helped rewrite a scene. However, he plays no role in the film. Worse: this would have potentially made it possible to divert the strike of screenwriters who, for more than 140 days, fought to demand better supervision of their profession from Hollywood.

Blake Lively renounces SNL

Added to this is the rediscovery of an interview with Blake Lively from 2016, in which she appeared irritated throughout after a question about her « baby bump ». Its author, Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa, posted it online during the month of August, indicating in the title of the video that this conversation had “ made me want to leave [son] work ».

Kjersti Flaa who, during the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, was one of those who openly supported the actor accused of domestic violence, assured the press that she had in no way contributed to the smear campaign that Blake Lively denounces.

So, who is telling the truth? In either case, the affair has already had consequences. After the complaint was filed, the WME agency chose to no longer represent Justin Baldoni, but not Blake Lively. For its part, the latter saw some of its commercial activities fall. His hair care company, which was still a hit this summer, lost nearly 80% of its sales. And in September, she had no choice but to give up hosting the first episode of the 50th season of Saturday Night Live. Never again don't stop there.

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