Blake Lively Accuses ‘It Ends With Us’ Co-Star Of Harassment, Trying To Destroy Her Reputation

Actress Blake Lively is suing her “It Ends With Us” co-star, Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliation, and attempting to “destroy” her reputation.

The filing confirms rumors about a tense relationship between the two stars during the press tour for the film before its August release. Baldoni also directed the romantic drama, which is based on a best-selling Colleen Hoover book by the same name.

Lively’s lawsuit accuses Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image after they had a meeting to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a lead producer, per NPR. 

During the meeting, Lively claimed that Baldoni spoke negatively about her weight, discussed his sex life, and compelled her to reveal her religious beliefs. She also accused producer Jamey Heath of showing her a video of his wife giving birth, per Variety.

The complaint filing includes texts and emails between Lively, Baldoni, and the crew. These messages allegedly prove that the team would try to retaliate if anything negative went public. 

Screenshots of the exchanges allegedly show that Baldoni and his team had a plan in place to launch a smear campaign “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.”

Lively also claims that she missed out on opportunities due to the drama with the “It Ends With Us” crew, Variety noted.

“The effects on Ms. Lively’s professional life were immediate and substantial,” the lawsuit says. “Given the ongoing nature of the campaign and the associated negative public sentiment, Ms. Lively did not believe she could proceed with public appearances or events without being forced to openly discuss what happened on set.”

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It continues, “For example, Ms. Lively canceled a critical Target corporate event for her hair care company, and she backed out of her scheduled role to host the premiere episode of the 50th anniversary season of ‘Saturday Night Live’ in September 2024.”

Bryan Freedman, an attorney for the Wayfarer Studios, called Lively’s claims “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.” He also said they represented “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”

Freedman confirmed the team hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not 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,” Freedman said.

The film received negative press not just for the rumored feud between Lively and Baldoni, but also for how social media users found Lively’s light-hearted promotion of the film “tone-deaf” due to the serious topics it explored, including domestic violence and abuse.