- Actress Blake Lively is suing her co-star Justin Baldoni
- The two played the leads in It Ends With Us
- Lively has accused Baldoni of leading a smear campaign against her
The Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni drama is unfolding.
In a shocking turn of events, Lively is suing Baldoni. The pair worked together on the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book It Ends With Us. Baldoni played Ryle, the abusive partner of Blake Lively’s character Lily.
During the movie’s press this summer, the topic of the film was overshadowed by bad press towards Lively. The internet dragged the actress for how she appeared to promote the movie, not addressing the heavy themes of domestic violence and control that her character deals with.
However, now Lively is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment. Lawyers released a legal document on December 20 revealing Lively’s complaints against Baldoni.
Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni and his studio, Wayfarer, alleging multiple incidents of sexual harassment. She also accused Baldoni of orchestrating a smear campaign against her. According to the legal documents, text messages suggest that Baldoni and his PR team aimed to damage Lively’s reputation during the film’s press tour in August 2024.
During this time, Baldoni reportedly hired a crisis PR team as rumors of a feud between him and Lively began to surface.
To fully understand the lawsuit, we need to start by unpacking the origins of the drama. Read on to get all the info you need.
Who is Blake Lively?
Lively needs no introduction – but if you don’t know, she is an American actress, best known for her role as Serena Van Der Woodsen in Gossip Girl. She has starred in films like The Age Of Adaline and A Simple Favor. Lively is married to fellow actor Ryan Reynolds and the two have four children together.
In the last few years, Lively has delved into other projects, releasing her haircare line Blake Brown this year and producing films, which she did on It Ends With Us.
Who is Justin Baldoni?
Baldoni is also an actor and director. Baldoni’s big break came on The CW show Jane The Virgin where he played the playboy hotel owner Rafael Solano. He starred in the show alongside actress Gina Rodriguez. In 2020, Baldoni jumped into directing and filmmaking. He formed his production studio, Wayfarer Entertainment.
He optioned It Ends With Us in 2019 and began directing the movie in 2023.
When did the drama start between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?
The drama between the co-stars didn’t come to light straight away. Previously Baldoni talked about his experience in casting Lively as Lily Bloom, where he did nothing but praise her.
However, at the New York premiere of It Ends With Us, something seemed off. Fans noticed that Baldoni wasn’t with the rest of the cast. Even during promotions, Lively and Baldoni didn’t interact. Instead, Lively was seen with her husband, co-star Brandon Skelnar (who plays Atlas), and actor Hugh Jackman.
Baldoni attended the premiere with his wife, Emily Baldoni, but notably stayed apart from Lively and the rest of the cast. When asked on the red carpet if he would direct a potential sequel, Baldoni replied, “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That’s what I think.” Fans interpreted his comment as sassy, speculating it might have been a subtle dig at Lively.
Afterwards, internet sleuths noticed that none of the cast appeared to follow Baldoni on Instagram—yikes.
During the movie’s promotion, fans observed that the cast, especially Lively, avoided questions about working with or for Baldoni. Speculation about a feud between the two gained traction after a Yahoo Entertainment interview added some fuel to the fire.
And it just kept on going.
What did the lawsuit say?
As we stated, the 37-year-old is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment. She accuses Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image in a smear campaign. A statement from the document reads that the bad press was the“intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath created.”
Mr Heath, or Jamey Heath, is also a producer on It Ends With Us.
PR Smear Campaign
The PR smear campaign in question includes stories that Lively alleges were planted in the media to make her look bad. Stories came out about Lively’s, stories implying she was hard to work with and was taking over the set. Supposed text messages between Baldoni and his PR team were some of the evidence that Lively and her legal team are using.
Baldoni’s legal team denied the allegations. They told the BBC the allegations are “categorically false”. And in hiring a crisis PR manager, they did so because they claim Lively threatened to stop filming if her demands went unmet.
Hostile work environment
Lively accused Baldoni of creating a hostile work environment. In January, she, Baldoni, and other members of the movie’s team held a meeting to address the issue, according to the legal filing.
The lawsuit states that Reynolds joined Lively at the meeting. Baldoni attended on behalf of himself and Wayfarer. During the discussion, 30 demands were laid out to ensure production could continue. The lawsuit claims Lively brought Reynolds to address Baldoni’s and Heath’s alleged “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior.”
One of Lively’s demands was to prohibit adding sex scenes that went beyond the script she had approved when signing on to the project. The filing alleges Baldoni intentionally added sex scenes that were not part of the original script.
Lively’s accusations also tied into other demands made during the meeting. She requested that Baldoni and Heath stop referencing their past “pornography addiction.”
Oh wow.
How did Baldoni respond?
Baldoni’s lawyers have denied the allegations put forward by Lively.
As we said, his lawyer did deny the allegations in a statement to the BBC. Bryan Freeman, Baldoni’s lawyer, accuses Lively of making unreasonable demands on-set and threatening not to show up to film. He also said her claims in the lawsuit were “intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.
How did Lively respond to the statement?
To the statement, Lively and her legal team denied any wrongdoing against Baldoni or Wayfarer.
Instead, Lively said to The BBC: “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.”
