Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni and Studio NPR of sexual harassment and retaliation

Blake Lively attends a screening of the film in London on August 8th this is us. In a legal complaint, the actor accuses his co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his team of attacking her reputation after she spoke on set about his and a producer’s alleged “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior.”

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The press tour for the release of took place last summer It ends with usa film dealing with domestic violence caused public opinion to turn against one of its stars, Blake Lively.

But behind the scenes, Lively claims in a legal complaint published by The New York TimesShe was subjected to sexual harassment, repeated violations of her physical boundaries and a “multi-stage plan” designed to “destroy” her reputation.

In the undated legal document that the Just said was filed Friday with the At the California Department of Civil Rights, she accused co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his team of tarnishing her public image after a meeting was held that discussed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a lead producer on the film went.

If the California Department of Civil Rights accepts the case, it could open an investigation that could potentially lead to legal action.

A lawyer for the studio, Bryan Freedman, said in an emailed statement to NPR that Lively’s claims were “categorically false” and “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”

At the Jan. 4 meeting, which included Lively, Baldoni, studio CEO and producer Jamey Heath and others, the complaint alleged that they discussed “inappropriate behavior” by Lively and other cast and crew members. All parties agreed to a list of conduct that would allow production of the film to resume, Lively’s lawyers said in the filing.

The list of agreed upon demands included the following: Lively and/or her employees should no longer be shown nude videos of women, including the producer’s wife; no more mention of Baldoni or Heath’s past “pornography addiction” to Lively or other crew members; no more descriptions for Lively of her own genitals; and “no addition of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxes by (Lively) outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing the project.”

Baldoni and Heath’s studio, Wayfarer, also agreed to provide an on-set intimacy coordinator at all times, as well as other on-set safety precautions, the filing said. The studio also agreed not to retaliate against Lively, it said.

It ends with us Director and star Justin Baldoni attends the film’s world premiere on August 6 in New York.

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The complaint includes excerpts of text messages and emails between Baldoni and his representatives, which Lively’s lawyers said they obtained through a subpoena.

The film, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, is based on the relationship of the author’s parents. In it, Lively plays Lily Bloom, a florist who falls in love with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni). During their relationship, Kincaid becomes physically and emotionally abusive.

The complaint states that Lively, a producer on the film, was contracted to follow a marketing plan that directed the cast to “focus more on Lily’s strength and resilience rather than portraying the film as a domestic violence story.” ” and to avoid depictions of the film as being “sad or difficult… it is a story of hope,” the complaint states.

While promoting the film, Lively faced backlash from fans for attempting to speak about a story of domestic violence in a lighthearted tone. Meanwhile, many social media comments praised Baldoni’s promotional message of always giving viewers hope.

At that time, the complaint says, Baldoni and his team hatched a well-funded plan “in retaliation for Ms. Lively’s exercise of her legally protected right to speak about her misconduct on set, with the additional “The aim is to intimidate them and prevent anyone else from publicly revealing what actually happened.”

The filing says Baldoni hired a crisis communications specialist who allegedly devised a plan to change the social media narrative in the director’s favor in a way that could not be attributed to the studio’s team. Text exchanges between Baldoni and Wayfarer’s PR team allegedly discuss creating and amplifying misleading stories intended to discredit Lively, according to the actress’s legal team.

“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel wrote in an Aug. 2 message to crisis management specialist Melissa Nathan, excerpted from the complaint.

Freedman, the studio’s attorney, said in the statement to NPR that Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager ahead of the film’s marketing campaign “due to Ms. Lively’s numerous demands and threats during production, which included her Threats included not showing up on set and threatening not to promote the film, which ultimately caused it to fail during release if their demands were not met.

“What is clearly missing from the carefully selected correspondence is evidence that no proactive action was taken with the media or otherwise; only internal scenario planning and private correspondence for strategy development, which is standard procedure for PR professionals,” Freedman added.

Chloe Veltman contributed reporting.