Blake Lively accuses It Ends With Us co-star of sexual harassment in legal complaint
Share:
Actor Blake Lively has accused her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film in a legal complaint. Lively, 37, also claims 40-year-old Baldoni and the studio behind the movie embarked on a subsequent "multi-tiered plan" to damage her reputation.
The complaint, which was filed on Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, according to the New York Times, precedes a lawsuit and names Baldoni, the studio and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants. In the papers, Lively claims the attempt to damage her reputation was launched after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, addressed "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
According to the complaint, the plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. It also claims Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away from" the film's marketing plan and "used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image".
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer who represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives, said in a statement: "These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.".
