A flurry of internet commentary reignited over the weekend after Blake Lively filed a civil rights complaint against her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
The complaint, filed with the California Civil Rights Department, accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during filming, as well as retaliation against Lively, after she raised issues about his on-set behavior. She alleged that Baldoni hired a crisis publicity firm to engage in a “social manipulation campaign” to smear her while they were promoting the film this summer.
An attorney for Baldoni called the allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” and accused Lively of trying to salvage her reputation.
Such a filing with the state is often a precursor to a lawsuit.
The highly anticipated film “It Ends With Us,” which was released in theaters in August, is an adaptation of a popular Colleen Hoover novel, which Hoover said was inspired by her parents’ abusive marriage.
Hoover’s book is a favorite among the active bibliophile community on TikTok, known as BookTok. Baldoni bought the rights for the book through his production company, Wayfarer Studios, in 2019. Plans surrounding its development, including Lively’s casting, had been a buzzed-about topic in the years leading up to the movie’s release.
But during the film’s media tour, fans began theorizing about dynamics between stars behind the scenes. That led to a firestorm for Lively as an online narrative began to spread that accused her of being insensitive and controlling and of engaging in “mean girl” behavior.” She now says Baldoni’s team fanned the flames of such social media discourse to try to destroy her reputation, an allegation his attorney denies.
The media tour leads to online backlash
Interest in the film’s on-set dynamics was piqued over the summer when fans noticed that Baldoni followed his co-stars on Instagram but that neither Lively nor actor Jenny Slate followed him.
In the film, Lively portrays heroine Lily Bloom, while Baldoni plays her abusive romantic partner, Ryle Kincaid. Slate plays Allysa Kincaid, Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister.
It became evident in August that Baldoni was not doing interviews with other members of the cast, though he was a lead actor, the director and the producer. He did not take photos with the other actors at the premiere, though others joined in red-carpet group photos.
Fans began to speculate that behind-the-scenes drama was dividing the cast.As armchair detectives began to theorize about the cause of the rift and a possible power struggle, some pointed to Lively’s interview with E! in which she said her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrote a scene in the film.
A comment from Slate in an interview also raised eyebrows about Baldoni. Asked about Baldoni’s both directing and acting in “It Ends With Us,” Slate said the situation made her realize that “I really just want to have one job at once.”
The way the film was marketed sparked criticism, as well, as some felt that the tone of the media campaign was too lighthearted for a topic such as domestic violence.
Lively took the brunt of that criticism, as she encouraged women to “grab your friends” and “wear your florals” to go watch the film. During the publicity campaign, she also promoted her own businesses, a beverage company called Betty Buzz and a new hair care brand, Blake Brown.
Many online labeled Lively as insensitive and called her a “mean girl.” Some on social media accused her of ostracizing Baldoni to take control of the film, and her responses to interviewers were branded as rude.
Meanwhile, Baldoni contrasted Lively’s tone in his interviews by repeatedly bringing up survivors of domestic violence. He shared resources for those experiencing domestic violence in his personal social media posts, in addition to his interviews.
In an interview with NBC’s “TODAY” show in August, Baldoni touched on the online speculation of drama by broadly saying making a movie involves “navigating complex personalities” to get on the same page.
“And mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them,” he said at the time.
Civil rights complaint
Months after the film’s release, onlookers gained new insight into the situation onset that appeared to cause so much tension during the media tour.
The New York Times first reported Saturday that Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath and public relations experts hired by both men. NBC News has also obtained and reviewed the filing.
Lively alleged that she was the subject of repeated sexual harassment from Baldoni while she was working on the film.
She accused him of making inappropriate comments about her appearance, demanding she be nude in scenes in which the script did not call for nudity and unexpectedly biting her during kissing scenes. She also alleged that both he and Heath walked into her trailer unannounced while she was undressed. “Mr. Baldoni was caressing Ms. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles,” the filing said, detailing one incident it alleges. “When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you,’” it said.
Baldoni and Heath are also accused of discussing their sexual experiences and “pornography addiction.”
Baldoni “routinely degraded” Lively, according to the filing. She alleged that four months after she gave birth, Baldoni privately contacted her fitness trainer to imply that he wanted her to lose weight.
“Mr. Baldoni told the trainer that he had asked because he was concerned about having to pick Ms. Lively up in a scene for the movie, but there was no such scene,” the filing said.
The filing includes allegations of other incidents that made Lively uncomfortable, such as Baldoni’s claiming that he could speak to Lively’s dead father and his allowing nonessential crew members to walk through the set during scenes that required nudity.
The filing also included a letter from Lively’s attorneys dated Nov. 9, 2023, with a list of “protections” Lively required to return to the set.
Demands included: the presence of an intimacy coordinator with Lively at all times on the set, no discussions of personal experiences with sex or nudity, the hiring of an experienced producer to supervise the set, and no spontaneous improvisations in scenes of physical intimacy.
There was also an all-hands meeting on Jan. 4 to discuss the issues that “had nearly derailed production of the film,” the filing said.
The alleged smear campaign
In the lead-up to the film’s release, Lively alleges, Baldoni and his associates at Wayfarer hired a crisis communications firm because they feared that the behind-the-scenes issues would become public.
He hired Melissa Nathan’s firm, The Agency Group PR, to formulate a “social manipulation” campaign designed to “destroy” Lively’s reputation on July 31, the filing said. It alleged that Nathan delivered a proposal that included “creation of social fan engagement to go back and forth with any negative accounts.”
According to the filing, that method of engagement is called “astroturfing,” and it is designed to look like opinion commentary from the general public when it is actually coming from a particular group.
The filing included purported text messages between Baldoni’s publicist, Jennifer Abel, and Nathan discussing the plan. Abel is alleged to have told Nathan that “he wants to feel like she can be buried.”
Nathan is alleged to have replied that “you know we can bury anyone. But I can’t write that to him.”The filing alleged that the publicists worked to bury potential stories in news outlets about human resources complaints lodged against Baldoni and to post stories portraying Lively in a negative light.
The filing also said Baldoni began to deviate from the marketing plan devised by Sony, the movie’s distributor, which urged the cast to focus on selling the film as a tale of female “triumph.”
The filing said Baldoni publicly agreed to the plan but then chose to pivot “in an effort to quickly shift his own public narrative to focus solely on survivors and domestic violence organizations.”
What does Baldoni say?
The talent agency William Morris Endeavor dropped Baldoni as a client after Lively’s filing, Ari Emanuel, chief executive of the agency’s parent company, Endeavor, told the Times.
WME did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Bryan Freedman, the attorney representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and all its representatives, described Lively’s allegations as “categorically false.”
“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” he said in a statement.
He accused Lively of trying to salvage her own “negative reputation,” which she garnered when people began “to generate their own views and opinions.” Freedman said Lively engaged her own team to “plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media” before the film’s release, a move that he said prompted Wayfarer Studios to hire a crisis communications firm.
In a statement to the Times on Saturday, Lively denied that she or any of her representatives planted stories or spoke negatively about Baldoni or Wayfarer Studios.
“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,” she said.
Stars rally behind Lively
Lively has received a wave of support, including from Hoover.
Hoover posted a photo of her and Lively to her Instagram stories with a link to the Times article. She appeared to address Lively, writing that “you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn said in a joint statement that they “stand in solidarity” with Lively. The four women starred together in the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” film series nearly 20 years ago and have remained friends.“We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment,” the statement said.
Liz Plank, an author and journalist who specializes in gender equity issues, announced that she had asked her representatives to inform Wayfarer Studios that she will no longer co-host “The Man Enough Podcast” with Baldoni and Heath. Plank did not directly refer to Lively or either co-host, but she said she plans to share more about the matter as she continues “to process everything that has happened.”
“In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable,” she wrote.
Amber Heard criticized the destructive nature of social media in a response to a request for comment on Lively’s filing. Lively’s complaint alleged that the firm Baldoni hired had previously been hired by Johnny Depp while he sued Heard, his ex-wife, for defamation regarding her allegations that he abused her.
A jury unanimously found that Heard had defamed Depp, and he was awarded $5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages. Heard was also awarded $2 million in compensatory damages in her counterclaim but nothing in punitive damages.
“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’” Heard said. “I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”
