US actress Blake Lively has been supported by It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover after accusing Justin Baldoni, her co-star in a film of the novel, of sexual harassment in a legal complaint. Baldoni, 40, who also directed the film, and the studio behind the romantic drama are accused of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage Lively’s reputation following a meeting to address accusations against Baldoni and a producer of the film of “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour”, according to the legal document shared by The New York Times.
In the complaint for damages, which precedes a lawsuit, Baldoni, his publicists and Wayfarer Studios, are listed among the defendants. It Ends With Us, based on Hoover’s novel of the same name, is about a woman’s pursuit of a loving and healthy relationship, withLively playing the lead character Lily Bloom and Baldoni as her love interest Ryle Kincaid.
In a post to her Instagram stories, Hoover wrote: “@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.”. She then linked to a New York Times article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside A Hollywood Smear Machine.
The article details the complaint including accusations that Baldoni retained a crisis communications specialist who, with the director and “approval” of the studio, launched a “sophisticated, co-ordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan” creating “manufactured content” that would “influence public opinion”.
