Rumors of disagreement between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were rife on the sidelines of the promotion of the film It ends with us, released last August. The director and the actress, who is also a producer, each chose to promote this feature film which talks about domestic violence. The wife of Ryan Reynolds had been criticized on the web because some considered that she had spoken in a much too light manner about the nevertheless important subject of the film directed by the actor seen in Jane the Virgin. On December 21, the media TMZ announced that the actress had filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, but not only that! She also accused him of having mounted a smear campaign against her to damage her reputation.
The cloth is burning
The content of the complaint was disclosed and Bryan Freedman, the actor and director’s lawyer, quickly spoke in the columns of Variety magazine to denounce this attack which he considers to be “shameful” et “false”. According to a source from the Daily Mail, Justin Baldoni appeared “macho” et “almost abusive” on the set of the film. According to TMZ, tensions were very high during filming to the point that a meeting was organized in the presence of Ryan Reynolds.
Requests had been made from the actress who demanded, for example, that she no longer see “videos or images of naked women”, of “stop mentioning Baldoni’s alleged ‘pornography addiction,’ stop talking about sexual conquests, stop mentioning the genitals of cast and crew, stop asking about Blake’s weight, and stop mentioning Blake’s deceased father”.
Justin Baldoni speaks through his lawyer
Bryan Freedman, Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, had already spoken to our colleagues at Deadline to announce that “the truth will shock those who have fallen for Blake Lively’s manipulative and deceptive narrative”. To the Daily Mail, this time he clarified that complaints were being prepared. “I’m not going to talk about how many complaints we’re going to file. But as soon as we file the first one, the truth will shock everyone.”he assured.
He took the opportunity to point the finger at Leslie Sloane, Blake Lively’s publicist whom he accused of being responsible for “defamation of Justin Baldoni”. Also, he emphasizes that the WhatsApp messages leaked in the press “were taken out of context” and that the publicist was responsible for publishing articles against the actor “in association with media”. Serious accusations that the lawyer completes by declaring that if the actress filed a complaint, it is only with the aim of “to rebuild her public image after all the negative criticism she received during the promotional tour”.