Blake Lively is currently at the center of a major legal drama with her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni. She’s suing him for harassment and running a smear campaign against her. The lawsuit, which has garnered significant media attention, especially following the detailed coverage by the New York Times, reveals a deep-seated conflict that started while they were filming ‘It Ends with Us’ (2024).
Blake Lively’s complaint against Justin Baldoni is pretty serious, with claims of s*xual harassment and a toxic work environment. Baldoni is alleged to have made rude comments about her weight, lingered too long during kissing scenes, and even showed her explicit videos. The situation got so severe that they had to conduct an HR meeting to sort things out, leading to some changes, notably bringing in an intimacy coordinator. But even with these measures, the tension didn’t go away, and Lively’s concerns about Baldoni’s behavior continued to escalate.
Blake Lively Sues ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Justin Baldoni: Lawsuit Reveals Bombshell Screenshots of Text Messages and Smear Campaign
Blake Lively has got the receipts. This latest lawsuit includes shocking text messages her legal team obtained through a subpoena. These texts, now public, show Justin Baldoni and his crisis management team working hard to ruin Lively’s reputation. Screenshots of these messages, exchanged between crisis management expert Melissa Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel, reveal a “multi-tiered plan” of “social manipulation.”
One particularly damning message shows Nathan claiming she could “bury anyone,” with Abel admitting Baldoni wanted to feel like Lively “can be buried.” Other messages even joke about killing Lively, providing evidence of the toxic and hostile environment she allegedly faced.
The texts also reveal the team’s plans to use social media to paint Lively in a negative light. At one point, Baldoni shared a screenshot of a Twitter thread about allegations against Hailey Bieber, hinting they could do something similar to Lively.
Abel and Nathan often congratulated themselves on minimizing bad press for Baldoni and turning the story against Lively. One document from the crisis management team detailed a media strategy to protect Baldoni’s image, suggesting that Lively had caused an “imbalance of power” on set by involving her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Internal Documents in the Lawsuit Paint a Starkly Different Picture Despite Denials From Baldoni’s Camp
The fallout from this lawsuit goes way beyond the accusations themselves. Blake Lively says her worries about the working conditions and Justin Baldoni’s behavior sparked a full-on campaign to trash her reputation. She claims this involved planting bad press about her and twisting public opinion. Baldoni’s team, led by his lawyer Brian Freedman, has strongly denied it all, framing Lively as just trying to fix her own bad image. Freedman argues that her lawsuit is full of false and over-the-top claims meant to hurt Baldoni’s career and reputation.
Even though they’re denying it, the lawsuit’s text messages and documents tell a totally different story. They point to a pretty organized effort to take down Lively, using both regular media and social media to push negative stories about her. Fans are paying a lot of attention to this case—not just because of the big names involved, but also because it raises some serious questions about how misconduct claims are dealt with in the entertainment world.
On top of everything else, Lively’s lawsuit brings up more accusations against Baldoni. She claims he showed her n*de pictures and videos of women, talked about a supposed past p*rn addiction, and made s*xual comments about the cast and crew. These allegations make the situation even more serious, displaying just how awful the alleged behavior was and how it affected Lively and others on set.
Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni her and I seriously hope ppl follow this story and understand that the smear campaign part happens A LOT in Malaysia. Netizens call it “cytros”. They plant a hate seed on social media and watch you guys grow it “organically” pic.twitter.com/34bSbPRTAF
— Nadia Nazir (@Nadia_Nazir) December 22, 2024
The legal documents also spill that Lively brought in her own editor during post-production to recut the film, and that version ended up being the one released. Apparently, this stirred up more drama between Lively and Baldoni, with Baldoni’s crisis team claiming that Lively’s editing move was all about taking control and shaking up the power dynamic.
