Blake Lively has accused It End’s With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexually assaulting her on the set of the film and subsequently attempting to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint.
The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which was reported by The New York Times, was filed with the California Department of Civil Rights on Friday, ahead of a trial. The defendants include Baldoni, the studio behind It Ends With Us, and Baldoni’s publicists.
In the complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-level scheme” to damage her reputation after a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds were “repeatedly sexually assaulted” by Baldoni and a producer. Harassment and other harassing behavior”. on the movie.
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The complaint said the scheme included proposing to establish theories on online message boards, engineering a social media campaign and placing news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also states that Baldoni “abruptly departed” from the film’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor material’ to protect his public image.”
“These claims are completely false, defamatory and deliberately defamatory with the intent to hurt the public and repeat a narrative in the media,” attorney Brian Friedman said in a statement. Friedman represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its agents.
Friedman rejected Lively’s allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying that the studio had proactively hired a crisis manager “due to the numerous demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production”.
He said that Lively threatened that he would not come to the set and promote the film if his demands were not met. Those demands were not mentioned in the statement.
Lively said in a statement to the Times, “I hope my legal action will help expose these horrific retaliatory tactics that harm people who speak out about misconduct, and those who may be targeted. This will help in saving them.”
A representative for Lively referred the Times report to the AP, in which Lively denied soliciting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.
It Ends with Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $US50 million ($A80 million) debut. But the film’s release was surrounded by speculations of rift between the lead pair.
Baldoni took a back seat in promoting the film, while Lively took center stage alongside Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool and The Wolverine at the same time.
Baldoni — who starred in the telenovela send-up “Jane the Virgin,” directed “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book that railed against traditional notions of masculinity — responded to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, telling the AP at the time that critics were “fully entitled to that opinion.”
He said, “If someone has had a real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience in a romance novel.” “I would just like to offer them that we were very intentional in making this film.”
