Why is Blake Lively making allegations of a smear campaign against her? | Entertainment news

Hollywood star Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint against her director and It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, accusing him of “repeated sexual harassment” on set and an intense smear campaign against her after the film's release.

Lively filed the complaint, which precedes a lawsuit, on Friday with the California Department of Civil Rights, according to reports from the Associated Press. Baldoni, his publicists and senior executives at Wayfarer, Baldoni's studio behind the 2024 film, are all named as defendants in the complaint.

“I hope my legal action will help pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to hurt people who speak up about wrongdoing and help protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said in a statement to journalists.

Baldoni, who is known for speaking out about “toxic masculinity” and supporting women, has not personally responded to the allegations. However, his legal team called them “completely false”.

Here's what we know about the dispute:

What was the movie It Ends With Us about?

August 2024 Drama is based on the 2016 bestseller of the same name. of writer Colleen Hoover. Set in Boston, Massachusetts, the film follows the story of florist Lily Bloom, played by Lively. Lily is raised by an abusive father who often beats her mother and eventually falls in love with and marries neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni.

When her first love, Atlas, played by Brandon Sklenar, re-enters her life, Lily begins to see Ryle's abusive side. She eventually finds the courage to leave the marriage, fueled by the need to protect her baby girl and a promise that the cycle of abuse will end with her.

Lively co-produced the film, while Baldoni directed it. The film was met with mixed reviews as some critics accused the makers of romanticizing domestic violence. Still, it was a box office hit, earning $351 million worldwide while costing $25 million to make. Other big Hollywood names in the film include Jenny Slate and comedian Hassan Minhaj.

What happened on the set?

During the filming of the movie from April 2023. until the beginning of 2024. Lively complained that Baldoni and Wayfarer CEO Jamie Heath violated physical boundaries and directed sexual, inappropriate comments at her, according to the legal complaint obtained by The New York Times.

According to the complaint, Lively raised concerns with Baldoni before filming began and said she objected to the sex scenes he wanted to add and that she thought they were unnecessary.

Later, she said, Baldoni talked to her about his sex life, pressured her about her religious beliefs and called her fitness trainer about her post-pregnancy weight behind her back. The actress gave birth to her fourth child in February 2023.

In November 2023, Lively approached Wayfarer with a request that safety measures be implemented on set.

During a meeting with Baldoni, Heath and other producers, she complained that Baldoni had improvised unwanted kisses on set and discussed her sex life, revealing details of encounters when he may not have been consented.

Heath, Lively claims, showed her a video of his naked wife and watched the star in her trailer while she undressed. Both men, she added, entered her trailer unannounced while she was undressed, including while she was breastfeeding.

Wayfarer agreed that the two men would not be allowed in Lively's trailer and would no longer show or talk to Lively about nude videos or images of women or sexual experiences, genitalia or pornography. Baldoni was forbidden to improvise sex scenes, ask about Lively's weight, press her about her religious beliefs or mention her late father. The studio also hired an intimate coordinator to oversee Baldoni and Lively's scenes.

According to The New York Times, Lively later told people she worked with that the men's behavior had changed.

Why does Lively say she was the target of a smear campaign?

However, Lively also alleges in Friday's lawsuit that Baldoni and Wayfarer targeted her after the film's release in an “elaborate and well-financed” plan to damage her reputation in retaliation for speaking out on set. Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz was also named in the complaint.

The actress backed her complaint with thousands of pages of text messages and emails between Baldoni and his team, which she obtained through a subpoena, according to a report by The New York Times.

Lively said in the complaint that Baldoni hired publicists to spread theories about her online and publish news stories critical of her. Baldoni's team “created, planted, expanded and amplified content designed to undermine Ms. Lively's credibility,” the complaint said. “They used the same techniques to build credibility with Mr. Baldoni and suppress any negative content about him.”

According to text messages included in the complaint, Wayfarer and Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, a public relations crisis manager with high-profile clients including actor Johnny Depp and rapper Drake.

In their initial communication, Baldoni told Nathan he wanted a stronger PR plan than the one she presented. “He wants to feel like she can be buried,” Jennifer Abel, Baldoni's publicist, later texted Nathan, according to records in the legal complaint.

The PR team later agreed to work on an “untraceable” social media strategy that would work to “change the narrative” around Lively, painting her as the on-set bully and portraying Baldoni as her victim. The team also worked to bury stories that alluded to Baldoni's alleged inappropriate behavior on set, according to the text documents.

Has Lively's reputation been damaged in any way?

Lively received negative comments online following the film's release, although it is unclear how much of this was created or reinforced by outside forces. A marketing firm hired by Lively produced a report in August that concluded she may have been the target of a “multi-channel online attack.”

Critics accused her of being “tone-deaf” because she wore florals in several appearances in line with her character's style in the film. Many also accused her of not promoting domestic violence advocacy in the film's media campaign.

Social media users began reposting instances of Lively's past rude or unkind behavior. In one instance, Norwegian entertainment reporter Kjerssti Flaa re-uploaded a 2016 interview she conducted with Lively to YouTube. In the clip, Lively tapped the reporter for comment about the actor's baby bump. Fla has since said her actions were not part of an organized campaign.

What does Baldoni say about the controversy?

Baldoni has not personally responded to the allegations. Brian Friedman, a lawyer representing him, Wayfarer and its senior executives, rejected Lively's claims, saying they were “totally false, outrageous and intentionally obscene.”

Friedman said Lively threatened not to appear on set or promote the film if her demands were not met. Wayfarer, he added, has hired a crisis manager to “proactively” deal with what he described as “multiple demands and threats.”

Lively's complaint alleges that Baldoni played a key role in the PR campaign against her, encouraging his team and flagging sample social media posts for him to use.

At times, however, texts reviewed by The New York Times show that he also expressed concern about articles critical of Lively. “How can we somehow say we're not doing any of this – it looks like we're trying to take her down,” he said in one text.

Baldoni was absent from several appearances during the film's media campaign and was never photographed with Lively.

On Monday, global nonprofit Vital Voices, which focuses on women's empowerment, rescinded the Dec. 9 award it had presented to Baldoni for his solidarity with women. Baldoni's podcast host Liz Plank also announced Tuesday that she is leaving his show Man Enough.

What are other stars saying?

After the film's release, Internet sleuths noticed very quickly that It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover was not following Baldoni on Instagram. Additionally, in a statement posted on the social media site Saturday, Hoover described Lively as “honest, kind, supportive and patient.” She stopped short of commenting directly on the allegations against Baldoni.

Co-star Sklenar defended Lively in an Instagram post, saying it was “disheartening to see the amount of negativity projected” on women in the film, adding that the negative coverage distracts from the film's message.

America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, who starred alongside Lively in the 2005 film. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, meanwhile, also supported her in a joint statement posted on Instagram on Sunday.

“During the filming of This Ends With Us, we saw her muster the courage to demand a safe workplace for herself and her colleagues on set, and we are horrified to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that followed her discrediting her voice.” said in the statement.