Blake Lively has filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni, who also served as the film’s director.
The blockbuster film, which is based on the Colleen Hoover book of the same name, was released in August and was quickly surrounded with controversy with A-list actress Lively, 36, at the centre of it.
At the time, there were claims she and Baldoni, 40, were embroiled in a bitter feud, but the reason why was never clear.
While Baldoni has tiptoed around the rumours, claiming in a ‘movie like this’ there is ‘always friction’, Lively largely stayed silent on the matter and chose not to address insider claims that Baldoni made her feel ‘uncomfortable’ about her postpartum body.
Now, it seems she has made her feelings very clear, with TMZ reporting that she has filed a lawsuit against the star, claiming he coordinated an effort to destroy her reputation.
According to the news outlet, the lawsuit further claims that during filming, the atmosphere on set became so uncomfortable that an all-staff meeting was called to try and work through the problems creating what Lively claimed was a hostile set.
The actress’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, who co-wrote some scenes, was in attendance at the meeting, the lawsuit claims.
In the meeting, the filing claims the resolution was that Baldoni obliges by alleged cast and crew demands that he stop showing Lively nude videos and images of women and no longer talk about sexual interactions in front of the actress, no discussion of her weight, her deceased father, and no discussion of the cast and crew’s genitalia.
It was also noted that there were to be ‘no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL (Blake Lively) outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.’
Another demand the news outlet says was included in the meeting that is listed in the lawsuit was that the cast and crew were not to mention Baldoni’s alleged ‘pornography addiction’ that he had suffered from in the past.
According to Lively’s lawsuit, the demands listed in the meeting were approved by the studio. However, another conflict came when it was time to market the film.
Lively claims the film was a failure because of the disagreements regarding its marketing. She reportedly wanted it to be focused on her character’s resilience and Baldoni wanted it to be focused on domestic violence.
She further claims Baldoni’s team conducted their own marketing campaign that was more like ‘social manipulation’ to ‘destroy’ the actress’s reputation.
TMZ reports that the suit cites text messages between Baldoni’s publicist and the studio
The suit includes texts from Baldoni’s publicist to the studio,
Columbia Pictures Wayfarer Studios’s publicist, claiming Baldoni ‘wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried’, and ‘We can’t write we will destroy her.’
Lively said in the suit that her conflict with Baldoni caused ‘severe emotional distress’ to her family and her business.
Baldoni’s team have since hit back at the claims, calling the allegations false and insisting Lively’s lawsuit is an attempt to salvage her reputation.
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, said the lawsuit is for Lively to ‘fix her negative reputation’ and said her claims are ‘false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.’
He added that according to his client, Lively was difficult to deal with on set, ‘threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.’
During the promotion of the film earlier this year, Lively came under fire from fans for her seemingly light-hearted approach to promoting a film that includes heavy themes such as domestic violence.
During the multiple premieres and media interviews, the Gossip Girl alum was been seen promoting her new hair care range, speaking in depth about her character, Lily Bloom’s clothes, and, on the official It Ends With Us movie TikTok page, even encouraging viewers to ‘Grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it.’
Metro has contacted Lively and Baldoni’s representatives for comment.
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