Blake Lively is suing the director and her co-star It Ends With UsJustin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set and of having orchestrated a defamatory campaign against her after the troubled release of the film, which arrived in Italy on August 9, 2024 after several delays (and with not too positive reviews).
Rumors of a conflict between Lively and Baldoni had emerged at the beginning of August: during the promotion of the film, Baldoni had given interviews alone, while Lively was often accompanied by the other cast members and not by her co-star. In interviews, Lively — who also produced the film — praised the cast and crew, but never mentioned Baldoni despite numerous intimate scenes between the two on the big screen.
Now, four months after the film's release, the lawsuit filed by Lively – who claims “serious emotional distress” resulting from the experience – denounces what is described as a toxic set. In addition to Baldoni, the producers and a public relations executive from Wayfarer Studios (producers of the film) were also cited, so writes the New York Times.
In the lawsuit, initially reported by TMZLively claims that the work environment under Baldoni's direction had become so hostile that it required an emergency meeting with Sony Pictures, the film's distributors. On that occasion, a list of requests was drawn up for Baldoni, including that of refraining from talking about his previous “addiction to pornography”, his sexual conquests and the genital anatomy of the cast and crew.
The document also underlines that the director was ordered not to add further scenes of sex, oral sex or visible moments of orgasm in which Lively was involved outside of what was foreseen in the script approved by the actress at the time of signing the contract. The complaint also accuses Jamey Heath, primary producer of It Ends With Usthat he showed Lively a naked video of his wife and observed her in the dressing room while she was topless and had her body makeup removed. The lawsuit also alleges that both Baldoni and Heath entered Lively's dressing room uninvited, including at times when she was breastfeeding her youngest child, Olin, from her marriage to Ryan Reynolds.
The problems would also continue during the promotion of the film's theatrical release. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios' PR team and a special “crisis” team orchestrated a campaign of “manipulation” in an attempt to “destroy” Lively's reputation. The complaint cites alleged messages sent by Baldoni's press officer, in which we read that the director “wants to feel as if [Lively] may it be buried” and “we cannot write that we will destroy it”. According to what we read, the accused would have noticed the first sign of this potential crisis when Reynolds blocked Baldoni on Instagram.
Lively said in a statement to New York Times: “I hope that my legal action helps expose sinister retaliation tactics against those who report bad behavior, and that it helps protect others who may be targeted.”
Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, told Variety that Lively's lawsuit is an attempt to “fix her negative reputation,” adding that the allegations are “false, outrageous and deliberately sensationalist,” and that they are “intended to publicly harm” her client.
«It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives have made such serious and categorically false allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and his representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to “clean up” his bad reputation, accrued by his own statements and actions during the campaign for the film; publicly observed, real-time, unedited interviews and press activity that allowed the Internet to generate its own opinions and viewpoints,” Freedman added.
Following the lawsuit, the talent agency to which Baldoni was linked, William Morris Endeavor, decided to sever relations with the director.
