Blake Lively accuses co-star Justin Baldoni of waging a smear campaign

Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint against It End’s With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and a campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

According to legal filings, she accused Mr. Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image after a meeting in which she described her actor husband, Ryan Reynolds, as having been subjected to “repeated sexual harassment and other harassment” by Baldoni and a producer. behavior”. Movie.

Mr Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC that the allegations are “categorically false” and said they had hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In the romantic drama, Ms. Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with an attractive but abusive boyfriend, played by Mr. Baldoni.

The legal filing said the meeting between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni, along with others involved in the film’s production, took place on January 4 this year and was aimed at addressing the “hostile work environment” on the set.

Ms. Lively’s husband, Deadpool star Mr. Reynolds, who did not appear in It End’s With Us, joined her for the showdown, according to the legal complaint, which is a step ahead of the trial.

Mr Baldoni, 40, attended the meeting as co-chairman and co-founder of the company that produces the film, Wayfarer Studios. He was also the director of the film.

In the legal complaint, Ms. Lively’s lawyers alleged that Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer’s chief executive, Jamie Heath, both engaged in inappropriate and unwanted behavior toward Ms. Lively and others on the set of “It Ends With Us.”

In a filing with the California Department of Civil Rights, the meeting made a list of 30 demands related to the pair’s alleged misconduct in order to ensure they could continue production on the film.

Among them, Ms. Lively, 37, requested that no further mention of Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath’s past “addiction to pornography” be made to Ms. Lively or other crew members, and that no mention of her own genitals be made to Ms. Lively. With no details, and “no more”, the complaint states that BL (Blake Lively) has sex scenes, including oral sex or on camera, outside the scope of the script approved by BL when he signed on to the project. Including adding a climax.

Ms Lively also demanded that Mr Baldoni stop saying he could talk to her dead father.

Ms Lively’s legal team accused Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a “multi-layered scheme” to damage her reputation.

They allege that this was “the intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated and well-resourced counterplan to silence him and others from speaking out about the hostile environment created by Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath”.

Responding to the legal complaint, Mr Baldoni’s lawyer, Brian Friedman, said on Saturday: “It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and patently false allegations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives. “

Mr. Friedman accused Ms. Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including “threatening not to come to the set, threatening not to promote the film,” which would ultimately “lead to her death during release if Their demands were not met.”

He alleged that Ms Lively’s claims were “deliberately cowardly with the intention of hurting the public and repeating a narrative in the media”.

In a statement to the BBC through her lawyers, Ms Lively said: “I hope my legal action will help lift the curtain on these appalling retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak out about misconduct, and help those who “Will help protect people who may be targeted.”

He also denied that he or any of his representatives had spread or disseminated negative information about Mr. Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a box-office hit, although some critics said it romanticized domestic violence.

Shortly after the release date in August, another co-star, Brandon Sklenar, alluded to rumors of a rift between Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni in an Instagram post.

Speculations of rift intensified when they were not seen together on the red carpet.

It Ends with Us is the story of Boston florist Lily Bloom, played by Ms. Lively, who navigates a love triangle between her attractive but abusive boyfriend, Ryle Kincaid, played by Mr. Baldoni, and her compassionate first love, Atlas Corrigan, played by Makes. Mr. Sklenar.

It is based on the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover. The 45-year-old author had previously said that her inspiration was the domestic abuse endured by her mother.

In an interview with the BBC at the film’s premiere in August, Ms Lively said she felt “a responsibility to serve the people who care so much about the source material”.

The actress said, “I really feel like we’ve presented a story that is emotional and funny, but also funny, painful, scary, sad and inspiring and that’s what life is, it has every single color.”

Ms. Lively, who is also credited as a producer, told the BBC that she felt the film was made “with great empathy.”

“Lily is a survivor and a victim and although these are big labels, they are not her identity,” Ms Lively said. “She defines herself and I think that’s so empowering that no one else can define you.”