Blake Lively accuses ‘It Ends With Us’ director of harassment and smear campaign

Actor Blake Lively accused her And it ends with us Director and co-star Justin Baldoni was accused of sexual harassment during the filming of the film and a subsequent attempt to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint.

The complaint, obtained by The Associated Press, precedes a lawsuit. On Friday, it was filed with the California Department of Civil Rights, the New York Times reported.

It’s called Baldoni, the studio behind it And it ends with us Baldoni’s propaganda is among the defendants.

In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-level plan” to damage her reputation after a meeting in which she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a producer on the show. The movie.

The plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign, and publish news stories critical of Lively, the complaint said. The complaint also says Baldoni “abruptly deviated from” the film’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence survivor content to protect his public image.”

“These allegations are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally offensive with the intent to publicly hurt and reshape a narrative in the media,” attorney Brian Friedman, who represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, said in a statement.

Friedman responded to Lively’s claims of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production.” He said Lively threatened not to appear on set and not promote the film “if her demands were not met.”

These demands were not specified in the statement.

“I hope my legal action will help draw the curtain on these evil retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak out about misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said in a statement to The Times.

A representative for Lively referred The Associated Press to the Times report, in which Lively denied planting or publishing negative information about Baldoni or the studio.

And it ends with usan adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best-selling novel, was released in August, surpassing box office expectations with a $50 million debut.

But the film’s release was surrounded by speculations about a rift between the lead duo. Baldoni took a back seat in promoting the film while Lively took center stage alongside Reynolds, who was in the press circle for Deadpool Wolverine At the same time.

Baldoni, who starred in the telenovela transmission Jane the Virginwave Five feet apart And he wrote man enough, A
A book that opposes traditional notions of masculinity, responded to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, saying at the time that critics were “fully entitled to that opinion”.

“If anyone had that real-life experience, I can imagine how difficult it would be to imagine their experience in a romance novel,” he said. “For them, I would just say that we were very intentional in making this movie.”