Actress Blake Lively, wife of actor Ryan Reynolds, sued actor and director Justin Baldoni for sexually harassing her while filming ‘It Ends With Us’.
In a lawsuit filed by Page Six on December 21, Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of performing impromptu kissing scenes and physically intimate moments. She also accused Justin of adding gratuitous sexual content.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni on set. Photo: GC
The lawsuit alleges that the 40-year-old director frequently made lewd comments, bragged about his conquests of women and talked about his past pornography addiction in front of Blake Lively and others.
According to the 37-year-old actress, the film crew held a “full meeting” to address Justin Baldoni’s behavior. At the meeting, Lively asked the director to stop showing her videos of naked women; stop talking about her porn addiction; stop discussing sex; stop mentioning her weight; and stop adding “hot” scenes outside the script. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, was said to have been present at the discussion.
Blake Lively also accused Justin Baldoni of then carrying out a media campaign to destroy her reputation while promoting It Ends With Us this summer. The Gossip Girl actress said the director and co-star’s actions and hostile work environment caused her psychological trauma and affected her family.
Blake and Justin in the movie.
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has denied Blake Lively’s allegations, calling them “completely false, outrageous, and a deliberate attempt to defame Justin.” The lawyer believes the actress filed the complaint in an attempt to salvage her reputation after a series of scandals. The director has accused Blake of having a “diva” attitude on set, often making demands and threats – such as threatening to not appear on set or not promote the film – if her demands were not met.
However, a day after Blake Lively filed her lawsuit, Justin Baldoni was fired from talent agency WME, according to Deadline . Meanwhile, Blake is still a client of the agency.
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively are the two main actors in the film It Ends With Us directed by Justin. The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, released in August, a box office success with a revenue of more than 350 million USD. During the promotion of the film, Justin and Blake did not appear together, sparking rumors of conflict. After that, Blake received a lot of criticism for choosing a promotion method that was different from the spirit of the film. At the same time, past videos were dug up, focusing on the actress’s bad behavior, negatively affecting her image.