Behind Blake Lively's complaint against Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, a massive smear campaign?

The American star filed a complaint for sexual harassment on Friday against the director and main actor of the film “Jamais plus” (“It ends with us”). She also accuses him of having orchestrated a massive smear campaign.

C‘is a case that says a lot about how public relations works in Hollywood, and how easily a woman's reputation can be ruined. The American star Blake Lively, on display last summer in Jamais Plus (It Ends With Us)filed a complaint on Friday, December 20 in California against the director, co-producer and lead actor of the film Justin Baldoni. She accuses him of sexual harassment on set. But also “retaliation” and of having orchestrated a smear campaign against him.

The complaint also targets producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, their studio Wayfarer – of which Baldoni is a co-founder – and their communications team. The actress accuses them of having designed a “multi-level plan” to damage its reputation; it is based on thousands of emails and text messages obtained via a legal subpoena. The New York Timeswho had access to it, details its content in an edifying investigation.

“The Baldoni/Wayfarer team created, distributed, amplified and reinforced content intended to eviscerate Ms. Lively’s credibility,” is noted in the complaint. “They used the same techniques to boost Mr. Baldoni’s credibility and remove any negative content about him. » Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said it was a “desperate attempt [de l’actrice pour] “repair” its bad reputation. According to him, the complaints are “completely false, scandalous and intentionally salacious.”

A scrutinized promotion

Adapted from a novel by TikTok star Colleen Hoover, Never Again is one of the summer's surprise box office hits, despite criticism of a certain romanticization of domestic violence. The film's promotional strategy was widely scrutinized and discussed, with many Internet users noticing that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni never appeared together. In fact, tells the New York Timesbefore the film's release, Lively and other performers, as well as Colleen Hoover, informed the film's producers that they did not wish to promote the film. Never Again alongside the director.

It was shortly before the film's release this summer that Justin Baldoni and his team called on several communicators Melissa Nathan, an expert in crisis management. She has worked for rappers Drake and Travis Scott, and for actor Johnny Depp. In 2022, he attacked – and won – defamation against his ex-wife Amber Heard, who accused him of domestic violence. The highly publicized affair gave rise to media and popular excitement largely favorable to Depp.

Blake Lively reportedly expressed concern about Baldoni before filming began, objecting to sex scenes he wanted added to the film that she deemed gratuitous. In November 2023, as filming resumed after the writers' strike, she reportedly asked the Wayfarer studio for « protections ». In January 2024, she detailed her grievances during a meeting with producers, according to the complaint filed Friday. She accuses Justin Baldoni of having improvised non-consensual kisses, of having spoken to her about his sex life, in particular of meetings during which he did not have the consent of his partners. She also accuses producer Jamey Heath of showing her naked videos of his wife, and claims the two men entered her dressing room several times while she was undressed.

After this meeting, Blake Lively, among other things, obtained the presence of an intimacy coordinator, that there be no addition of sex scenes, that the two men did not enter her dressing room, and that 'There is no discussion of pornography or sexual experiences on set, nor of his weight or his deceased father, reports the American press agency AP.

Eloquent messages

In August, when the film was released, a number of articles and publications reported “difficulties” caused by Blake Lively on the set. The actress quickly became the subject of several controversies online, accused of having broken the writers' strike, or of being « insensible » to domestic violence. She had barely addressed this issue during the promotion of the film, following the official communication plan around Never Again. After seeing that she was criticized on this subject, Justin Baldoni changed his own communication and posed as a defender of survivors of domestic violence, explains the New York Times.

It is difficult to precisely assess the extent of the work of communicators, and of their interference. But the complaint cites eloquent messages: “He wants to feel that she can be buried” wrote a Wayfarer communicator to Melissa Nathan on August 2. On August 16, after the Daily Mail titled “Is Blake Lively about to be CANCELED? “, Jennifer Abel writes to Melissa Nathan: “You really outdid yourself with this paper. »

A report commissioned in August by Blake Lively showed that 35% of Google results for her also mentioned Justin Baldoni – a surprising figure given the actress's status and the longevity of her career. Revealed in 2005 by the film Four girls and jeansBlake Lively rose to fame with the series Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012. Actress, producer and entrepreneur, she is one of the most prominent personalities in Hollywood. Justin Baldoni starred in the series Jane the Virgin. He presents himself as an “ally” of women and the feminist fight, and has given conferences on toxic masculinity. Saturday, December 21, after the complaint was made public, the WME agency, which represented the actor and director, announced that it had parted ways with it. Two years after the Depp-Heard trial, during which it was shown that the discrediting of Amber Heard's words had been organized, notably by masculinist circles, this affair is undoubtedly far from over.