Blake Lively accuses It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni of smear campaign

Blake Lively has filed a lawsuit against It Ends With Us star Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a campaign to “damage” her reputation.

According to the lawsuit, she accuses Baldoni and her team of publicly attacking her after a meeting she attended with her actor husband, Ryan Reynolds, to address Baldoni’s “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by the producer. on video.

Mr Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC the claims were “absolutely false” and said they had hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to disrupt the film unless she got her way.

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

The meeting between Ms Lively and Baldoni, along with others involved in the production of the film, took place on 4 January this year, and the purpose was to address the “working space” in the preparation, says the law enforcement.

Ms Lively’s husband, Deadpool star Mr Reynolds, who did not appear in It Ends With Us, joined her on the show, according to the legal complaint, which is one step before a lawsuit.

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

In the legal complaint, Ms Lively’s lawyers say both Baldoni and Wayfarer chief executive Jamey Heath have acted “in an inappropriate and inappropriate manner towards Ms Lively and others in the It Ends With Us group”.

In a filing with the California Department of Human Rights, a list of 30 allegations of wrongdoing was made at the meeting to convince them to go ahead with the film.

Among them, Ms Lively, 37, asked that there be no further mention of the “obscenity” that Baldoni and Mr Heath had previously committed against Ms Lively or other members of the staff, no further disclosure of their private parts to Ms Lively, and “no more. sex, oral sex, or climax on camera with BL [Blake Lively] outside the script BL which was approved by signing the project”, said the complaint.

Ms. Lively also asked Baldoni to stop saying that she could talk to her dead father.

Ms Lively’s legal team is also accusing Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a “massive scheme” to damage her reputation.

He says this “was the result of a well-planned, coordinated, and coordinated retaliatory strategy to stop the woman, and others from speaking out about the brutal environment that Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath created”.

In response to the legal complaint, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: “It is disgraceful that Lively and her representatives would make false statements about Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and her representatives.”

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous threats, including “threats not to appear, threats not to promote the film”, which could “cause her to lose money on release, if her demands don’t happen”.

He added that Ms Lively’s comments were “deliberately false with the intention of causing public harm and repeating the news”.

In a statement through her lawyers to the BBC, Lively said: “I hope that my legal actions will help end the retributive ways of harming whistleblowers and protect victims.”

He also denied that he or any of his representatives planted or spread bad news about Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a huge hit, although some critics said it favored domestic violence.

Shortly after the release date in August, another friend, Brandon Sklenar, posted on Instagram about the rumors of a rift between Ms Lively and Baldoni.

Speculation about the fallout only grew when they were not seen together on the red carpet.

It Ends With Us tells the story of Boston florist Lily Bloom, played by Ms Lively, as she navigates a love triangle between her handsome but rude boyfriend, Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni, and her first love, Atlas Corrigan. Mr. Sklenar.

It is based on the best-selling book by Colleen Hoover. The 45-year-old author has previously said that her motivation was the domestic violence her mother endured.

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

“I feel like we’ve given a story that’s touching and fun, but also fun, painful, scary, scary and inspiring and that’s how life is, it’s every kind of thing,” said the artist.

Ms Lively, who is also known as a producer, told the BBC that she felt the film had been made with “a lot of compassion”.

“Lily is a survivor and victimized and even though it’s a capital letter, this is not her,” Lively said. “She explains herself and I think it’s very empowering that no one can explain it to you.”