The blast radius from It Ends With Us has gone nuclear with Blake Lively denouncing director and co-star Justin Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios and others on the domestic violence film for sexually harassing her and subsequently enacting “a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation.”
“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,” Lively said today in a statement provided to Deadline. Baldoni, through his lawyer Bryan Freedman, calls the allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Still, in a dense 10-claim complaint filed late yesterday with the California Civil Rights Department, Lively details at length “the hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the Film” and the multi-pronged “Astroturfing” campaign that was allegedly launched against her by self-declared feminist Baldoni and his company.
“Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates embarked on a sophisticated press and digital plan in retaliation for Ms. Lively exercising her legally-protected right to speak up about their misconduct on the set, with the additional objective of intimidating her and anyone else from revealing in public what actually occurred,” declares the 80-page complaint, packed with seemingly damning text messages between Baldoni and “crisis communications specialist named Melissa Nathan, and her company The Agency Group PR LLC (TAG),”
Full of cameos of sorts from Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, pal Taylor Swift and more, plus apparent examples of boasting of media manipulation for Baldoni at the likes of the New York Post, the Daily Mail and others, the filing with the state agency is a clear prelude to further action coming in the courts unless the parties settle ASAP. Additionally, even with Hollywood heavyweight Freedman’s extensive response (see below in full), a reply filing from Wayfarer is almost certain after the holidays.
While tensions on and off the set of the film based on Coolen Hoover’s 2016 novel of the same name were made pretty clear around the time of It Ends With Us August release, Lively’s filing seems to reveal a much deeper rot. Also, with the “untraceable” strategy of “Astroturfing” by TAG for “social manipulation,” as texts and other extensive communications between Team Baldoni indicate, Lively’s action spotlights the pivotal power social media now has in PR tactics, molding messaging and controlling the narrative of the modern star machine and rollout through fact and fiction.
That’s nothing new in the 21st century media industry. Yet, similar to the Fox News insider correspondence that marked Dominion Voting Systems’s now $787 million settled defamation suit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet over 2020 election tampering, it is rare how deep the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
As the document from Lively’s Manatt, Phelps & Phillips attorneys and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP firm states:
Ms. Lively never sought out conflict with Wayfarer, Ms. Baldoni, or Mr. Heath, but instead consistently attempted to speak up for a safe and respectful workplace privately in the hopes of protecting herself, as well as the cast and crew, without jeopardizing a Film that she believed could make a difference in peoples’ lives. In response, Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, and those working for them, sought to destroy Ms. Lively and anyone else who knew the truth. Ms. Lively’s discovery of the full extent of the retaliatory campaign launched by the Wayfarer Parties has left her with no choice. Through this Complaint, Ms. Lively seeks to set the record straight, to hold the Wayfarer Parties and Associates accountable, and to shine a light on this new form of retaliation so that it will not be used against any others who seek to stand up and speak out against sexual harassment.
Alleging that Baldoni and IEWU producer Jamey Heath introduced overly sexual aspects to the film as well as displayed pornography, discussed XXX addictions, and used sexually inappropriate lanuage on the set the box office successful movie, Lively’s complaint also appears to lay out how her HR concerns were “rebuffed” repeatedly. “Following guild strikes,” a January 4 “‘all hands’ meeting was convened” to discuss “in detail the inappropriate conduct that Ms. Lively, her employees and other cast and crew experienced at the hands of Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.” Deadpool star Reynolds was in attendance “given that the meeting was about repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.”
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to disagree on specifics but “Wayfarer, Sony and Production respectfully acknowledge that [Ms. Lively] has concerns regarding safety, professionalism and workplace culture.”
According to the complaint, “after the list below was reviewed and discussed in its entirety, all parties present agreed that the outlined conduct would cease.” The 30-item list included:
- No more showing nude videos or images of women, including producer’s wife, to BL and/or her employees;
- No more mention of Mr. Baldoni’s or Mr. Heath’s previous “pornography addiction” or BL’s lack of pornography consumption to BL or to other crew members;
- No more discussions to BL and/or her employees about personal experiences with sex, including as it relates to spouses and/or others;
- No more mention to BL or her employees of personal times that physical consent was not given in sexual acts, as either the abuser and the abused;
- No more description of their own genitalia to BL;
- No more jokes or disparaging comments to be made to BL, and/or her employees about HR complaints Wayfarer has already received on set, or about “missing the HR meeting”;
- No more inquiries by Mr., Baldoni to BL trainer without her knowledge or consent to disclose her weight;
- No more mention by Mr. Baldoni of him “speaking to” BL’s dead father;
- No more personal, physical touching of, or sexual comments by Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath to be tolerated by BL and/or any of her employees, as well as any female cast or crew without their express consent;
- No more improvising of kissing. All intimate touch must be choreographed in advance with BL and an intimacy coordinator. No biting or sucking of lip without BL consent. And all on intimate on-camera touch and conversations must be “in character”, not spoken from Mr. Baldoni to BL personally;
- No more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.
With that, It Ends With Us resumed production the next day and completed work on February 9.
Now, having seen her cut of the movie ultimately being the one that was released in theaters and is now on Netflix, Lively says the consequences from the whole experience with Baldoni and It Ends With Us has not ended:
The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children. There are days when she has struggled to get out of bed, and she frequently chooses not to venture outside in public. While she has fought to maintain her personal life and business interests, behind closed doors she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety. She also has been experiencing repeated and painful physical symptoms as a result of this experience. Mr. Reynolds, too, has been affected mentally, physically, and professionally by his wife and children’s pain. Worst of all, however, has been the impact on their young children, who have been traumatized and emotionally uprooted in ways that have substantially impacted their well-being.
Lively’s complaint to the California Civil Rights department was first reported by TMZ.
Here is Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman’s full statement on Blake Lively’s allegations :
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, as 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. These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the 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. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address. The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.
