As reported earlier, hot on the heels of Justin Baldoni's $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times, Blake Lively has filed suit against her It Ends With Us director and co-star in New York Federal court. Details regarding Livey's lawsuit have now been made public per The Hollywood Reporter. Ironically, Baldoni's lawsuit all but challenged Lively to do this, arguing that her filing a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department last week was to avoid scrutiny of a lawsuit. Unfortunately for Baldoni, this latest filing makes much of Baldoni's defenses murkier.
According to THR, Lively had concerns about Baldoni before production on It Ends With Us began, stemming from Baldoni's allegedly improvising "physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed" with Lively. There was also no intimacy coordinator present or involved. Baldoni allegedly continued such behavior by attempting to add a graphic sex scene to the film without Lively's consent. The suit also accuses Baldoni of pressuring Lively to simulate nudity for the film's birth scene. This was also in Baldoni's complaint, which painted the situation as a harmless discussion point in a creative conversation. Lively says producer Jamey Heath abruptly showed her and her assistant the video of his wife's home birth. Many of the incidents laid out in Baldoni's lawsuit come into question in Lively's, such as her allegation that he would enter her trailer unannounced. Baldoni's suit presented a situation in which Lively invited him, but Lively's suit claims Heath entered her trailer "while she was topless and having body makeup removed by makeup artists." Lively reportedly caught Heath staring at her, and when she called him on it, he shrugged it off. Lively's suit also brings to light another sexual harassment complaint from another cast member against Baldoni in May 2023.
Previously, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, which inspired Baldoni to file a countersuit against the New York Times. Baldoni is one of 10 plaintiffs suing the Times for libel over a story about the alleged smear campaign against Lively. Baldoni's suit argues that cherry-picked information was used to bolster Lively's public standing.
