Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni drama explained as she files sexual harassment lawsuit against him
Here's everything you need to know about the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuit following the sexual harassment claim she filed against him.
Lively and Baldoni worked together on the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book, It Ends With Us, which hit cinemas earlier this year in August.
The former played lead Lily Bloom in the romantic drama opposite Baldoni, who served as the film's director and played love interest Ryle Kincaid.
What does the lawsuit allege?
Obtained by The New York Times, a legal complaint filed by the Gossip Girl actor accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment and alleges he tried to launch a 'social manipulation' campaign against her.
Advert
Lively's suit claims this smear campaign and his behaviour caused 'severe emotional distress' for both her and her family.
It also claims a meeting was held during production for It Ends With Us to address her claims and alleged demands for working on the film.
What were Blake Lively's 'demands' when working with Justin Baldoni?
Lively's lawsuit alleges that during filming, a meeting was held so that Lively could outline her demands to Baldoni, and that her husband Ryan Reynolds was in attendance.
Allegedly, some of her demands included: "No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous 'pornography addiction', no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father."
According to the suit, she also allegedly demanded her co-star and director didn’t add any more 'sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing' to the film outside of what was in the script she had approved initially.
As well as alleging these demands, the suit accuses Baldoni of aiming to 'destroy' Lively's reputation.
What do the private text messages say?
Following the bombshell news of Lively's lawsuit, shocking text messages exchanged between publicist Jennifer Abel, who was hired by Baldoni as per the Daily Mail, as well as crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, have been revealed as a result of a subpoena.
The damning texts show Abel telling Nathan that Baldoni 'wants to feel like she can be buried' - an alleged reference to Lively.
Nathan replies: "Of course - but you know when we send over documents we can't send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble," continuing: "We can't write we will destroy her."
Nathan then writes another text, which said: "Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone but I can't write that to him. I will, I'd be very tough."
Abel then follows up with mentions of her 'reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with', before adding: "Just to get ahead of it. She's putting us through hell."
Which celebrities does the lawsuit mention?
In one exchange, which was dated August 4th, the complaint obtained by People last week (21 December) shows that Baldoni texted a screenshot of a post on X about Hailey Bieber which was titled 'Hailey Bieber's history of bullying many women'.
"This is what we would need," Baldoni wrote, accompanying the screenshot.
Abel then replied: "Yes I literally just spoke to Melissa about this on the break about what we discussed last night for social and digital. Focus on Reddit, TikTok, IG."
As per the complaint, on the same day, Abel sent a message to Nathan admitting: "I'm having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with… Just to get ahead of it."
"Same," Nathan responded at the time, adding that one journalist friend of hers was 'ready when we are,' according to the complaint.
The likes of Leighton Meester, Anna Kendrick, Ben Affleck, and Taylor Swift are also mentioned in the lawsuit.
What has Blake Lively said since filing the lawsuit?
Lively has since shared a statement following the sexual harrassment allegations against Baldoni, telling The New York Times: "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
What has Justin Baldoni said since the lawsuit was filed against him?
Attorney Bryan Freedman said: "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives."
Wayfarer Studios is a production company co-founded by Baldoni.
Freedman said Lively's suit was 'yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions'.
He continued: "These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."
He further stated that Baldoni 'made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film' as a result of due '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'.
Tyla has previously contacted Sony Pictures, Baldoni, and Lively’s representatives for comment.
Topics: Blake Lively, Celebrity, Justin Baldoni, TV And Film, US News, Gossip Girl
Rhiannon Ingle