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It was one of the biggest releases of the year, but when the beloved Colleen Hoover adaptation of It Ends With Us finally made it to cinemas, the apparent drama between co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni was all anyone could talk about.
For months preceding the film’s release, and well into the high profile press tour, it was clear that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni wanted nothing to do with each other. Headlines began circulating around the pair’s alleged feud, with a swell of instant, almost unbelievable backlash levelled against the film’s lead that continued to pick apart everything from her press tour wardrobe choices, to her newly-launched haircare company.
Everywhere you looked, it was impossible to escape the rumours of on-set conflict, spurred on by a wave of criticism unleashed upon Lively that felt reminiscent of Olivia Wilde’s experience during the Don’t Worry Darling press tour.
Additionally, Lively’s public treatment drew similar comparisons to the internet’s offensive against Amber Heard during the Johnny Depp trial – a parallel, it seems, that may be more grounded in reality than it first appeared.
A bombshell investigation by The New York Times has revealed that Blake Lively has filed a complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment.
Lively’s filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that her legal team obtained through a subpoena, including the alleged inner workings of Baldoni’s crisis PR team led by none other than Johnny Depp’s own – Melissa Nathan.
Now, as Justin Baldoni continues to suffer through the fallout from his alleged actions, and attempts to reclaim the narrative in his favour by suing The New York Times for libel, Lively and her legal team have officially escalated their initial complaint in response.
Blake Lively Files Lawsuit Against Justin Baldoni In Federal Court
It appears the legal hangover from the It Ends With Us drama has made its way into the new year, with news of not one – but two – new lawsuits breaking within hours of each other.
Initial reports of Baldoni launching a countersuit against Blake Lively broke just before New Year’s Eve, after his legal team alluded to a filing that would “shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative.”
Though it was implied the rumoured lawsuit was being prepared against Lively, it has now been confirmed that Baldoni and his team have redirected their suit towards the publication that broke the story in the first place – The New York Times.
The 87-page complaint was filed by Baldoni’s lawyers alongside 10 additional plaintiffs including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz of Wayfarer Studios, accusing the publication of libel and false light invasion of privacy.
Baldoni’s filing includes various claims that attempt to reverse the smear campaign narrative, alleging that both Baldoni and his co-plaintiffs have themselves been victims of a targeted campaign at the hands of Lively.
The filing also makes mention of Lively’s decision to submit her initial complaint to the California Civil Rights Department – a choice, reads the document, that “spared her from the scrutiny of the discovery process, including answering questions under oath and producing her communications. The decision was no accident.”
Almost as fast as the words were submitted – and documents released to the public – came Lively’s swift response by way of her own legal escalation.
Eleven days after the actress filed her initial complaint against Justin Baldoni and his team, she has formally sued her It Ends With Us co-star and director in federal court.
“As laid out in this Complaint, the Baldoni-Wayfarer-led public attack of Ms. Lively was the intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath created,” reads the 13-claim complaint submitted to the Southern District Of New York court on the 31st of December 2024.
The claim continues: “As such, it was not only unconscionable and a breach of contract, but also illegal under both state and federal law. Ms. Lively brings this action to hold Wayfarer and its leaders, Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, and Mr. Sarowitz, accountable for the ongoing retaliation threats and harm they have caused Ms. Lively, other cast and crew, and all of their families”
Blake Lively’s Initial Claims Against Justin Baldoni
Lively’s complaint – filed with the California Civil Rights Department as a precursor to a lawsuit, alleges sexual harassment and retaliation, among other claims.
According to the claims reviewed by The Times, Lively had complained that both Justin Baldoni and lead producer, Jamey Heath, had “repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.”
In response, their studio Wayfarer, agreed to enlist a full-time intimacy coordinator, bring in an outside producer and ensure there were other safeguards introduced on set – including a contract signed by Health that promised not to retaliate against Lively.
According to Lively’s legal complaint filed on December 21, the two men grew concerned about how the allegations could impact public perception and immediately sought to mitigate the situation.
In hiring crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan and her “hired gun” Jed Wallace, to lead a digital strategy aimed at tarnishing Lively’s reputation, Baldoni and Heath doubled down on their attempts to silence and reframe a potentially damaging narrative of their own.
The filings reveal a documented “playbook for waging a largely undetectable smear campaign in the digital era”, with initial texts between a representative for Baldoni and Nathan, uncovering the extent of its intended purpose.
“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni wrote in a message sent on August 2 to Melissa Nathan.
“You know we can bury anyone,” Nathan replied.
The Origins Of Blake Lively’s Claims
In November 2023, as the cast was preparing to resume production on the film following a writer’s strike, Lively approached the studio to ensure safeguards would be put in place.
“Our client is willing to forego a more formal HR process in favor of everyone returning to work and finishing the Film as long as the set is safe moving forward,” her legal team wrote in the request.
Outlined in the request were allegations of serious misconduct that included Baldoni improvising “unwanted kissing” and discussing his sex life “including encounters in which he said he may not have received consent.”
Health, too, was included in the letter, with Lively alleging he had shown her a video of his wife naked, and watched her in her trailer when she was topless having her body makeup removed.
Lively also alleges that both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited “while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.”
The studio agreed to the terms and studio reps acknowledged that “Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount.”
But the division had already begun festering, with Lively locked in a creative dispute so significant, she felt the need bring in editors and a composer to make her own cut of the movie – with the support of Sony – the film’s distributor. Sony and Wayfarer opted to release Lively’s cut, leading to her producer credit.
Following the release of the film, Lively and other cast members informed the studio that they would not be taking part in joint appearances with Baldoni – a stance supported by Colleen Hoover – who reportedly had her “own dissatisfactions” with Baldoni.
Such opinions were only heightened after Hoover learnt of Lively’s allegations, according to uncovered text messages between Baldoni and Health.
The author responded to the breaking news with an Instagram story showing both she and Lively hugging after a screening of It Ends With Us, accompanied by the text:
“@blakelively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.” Hoover has since been joined by a chorus of supportive ex-cast members, family and industry heavyweights voicing their support.
Justin Baldoni’s Texts With PR Crisis Team
As revealed in the subpoenaed communications between Baldoni and his crisis PR team, an initial document sent to the studio suggested “talking points” for Baldoni’s promotional tour, including the insinuation that Lively used an imbalance of power to take control of the film.
According to the exchange, Baldoni wasn’t happy with the angle and “wanted more”.
“Not in love with the document they sent,” he responded in a text exchange between Jennifer Abel (a Wayfarer publicist) and Heath. “Not sure I’m feeling the protection I felt on the call.”
Abel allegedly expressed his frustration, telling Nathan: “I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel like she can be buried.”
“Of course- but you know when we send over documents we can’t send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble,” Nathan responded, before adding, “We can’t write we will destroy her.”
Almost immediately, Nathan followed up with: “Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.”
Three days later, Baldoni messaged Nathan with a link to a social media thread accusing another celebrity of bullying. The thread had 19 million views – a response Baldoni allegedly wanted to replicate.
“This is what we would need,” he wrote to Nathan, before she responded with proposals to that effect.
She outlined possible courses of action that included “full social account take downs,” by starting “threads of theories” and generally working to “change the narrative.”
“All of this will be most importantly untraceable,” she said of the proposed strategy.
The court documents also reveal the insidious nature of the alleged strategy, with communications between Nathan and Abel revealing they had already sought to steer the narrative through multiple journalists.
“He wants to feel like she can be buried”
Jennifer Abel
On August 4, Abel wrote to Nathan saying: “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it,”
Nathan responded by stating she’d already spoken with journalists off the record, one of which was “ready when we are.”
In the weeks that followed, a slew of negative and wildly confusing press coverage surrounded the apparent on-set scandal, with backlash heavily leaning towards Lively. A strategy that Nathan declared a huge success, as laid out in a text message to Abel that read: “ALL Press is so overwhelming Weve [sic] confused people So much mixed messaging It’s actually really funny if you think about it.”
The Alleged Blake Lively Smear Campaign In Action
On August 10, Norwegian entertainment journalist Kjersti Flaa, uploaded a video to YouTube showing an exchange between her and Lively during a 2016 interview.
Entitled “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job”, the snippet showed Flaa commenting on Lively’s “baby bump” and the uncomfortable interview that followed.
In an interview with The Daily Mail, the journalist said “it’s time that people behaving badly in Hollywood, or anywhere else for that matter, gets called out for it.”
The very same journalist also sided with Nathan’s previous client – Johnny Depp – posting glowing clips of the disgraced actor accompanied by #JusticeForJohnnyDepp, in 2022.
Hours after the NY Times article was published Flaa took to her socials to deny any involvement in the alleged smear campaign.
“Just wanted to put it out there. I have nothing to do with Justin Baldoni and his smear campaign against Blake Lively,” Flaa said on Threads.
During the promotional tour for It Ends With Us, Lively’s comments about “donning your florals” for the screening, as well as a total lack of domestic violence discourse in interviews, drew public ire for its seemingly tone-deaf approach. Additionally, she was also criticised for promoting the film through her Betty Booze brand, considering the role alcohol can play in cases of abuse.
Latching on to the negative discourse surrounding Lively, Baldoni’s team decided to lean in to the opposite with a dedicated response that highlighted victim survivors across his own promotional schedule.
In a promotional interview, Lively shared an anecdote about working with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to re-edit one of the scenes in the film.
Rumours and headlines stating that Reynolds had violated the writers strike began to swirl immediately afterwards.
As each damning cog in the dedicated anti-Lively wheel kept turning, so too did the direction of Baldoni’s crisis PR team.
“We’ve started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team’s efforts to shift the narrative,” said one of Nathan’s team in a text.
In response, Nathan wrote to Abel: “And socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.”
By mid-August, Baldoni’s PR team were in a celebratory mood.
“The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin and there literally has been no pickup of those two articles which is actually shocking to me. But I see this as a total success, as does Justin,” Jennifer Abel wrote in a text to Nathan, congratulating her on her “amazing work.”
“That’s why you hired me right?” Nathan said in response to Abel’s comment. “I’m the best.”
Justin Baldoni Responds To Blake Lively Allegations
Bryan Freedman, attorney for Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives responded to the claims published by The Times, denying all allegations as “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
In a statement made by Lively as part of the filed claim, the actress denied either she or her representatives “planted or spread” negative information about Wayfarer or Baldoni.
0“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,” she said.
At the time of writing, It Ends With Us had just been added to Netflix’s summer programming schedule and Baldoni’s second wave of promotion for the film had just begun.
Justin Baldoni has since been dropped by agency WME in response to the allegations and retaliation complaint filed by Lively.
Lively continues to be represented by WME.
Related articles:
- Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Co-Stars Speak Out Following Lawsuit
- Blake Lively, Misogyny & The Need For Nuance
- The ‘It Ends With Us’ Lawsuit Fallout Continues For Justin Baldoni
