Blake Lively shocked the world when she filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and the film’s director, Justin Baldoni, at the end of December.
The film, which was released in August 2024 and is based on the bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover, follows a young woman as she leaves an abusive relationship and finds new love.
The It Ends With Us press tour was dogged by controversies, after Blake seemingly steered away from the message of the film and painted it as a girl’s night out movie, instead of one that explores domestic abuse.
The mother of four also launched her new haircare brand, Blake Brown, during the press tour, which drew criticism for taking away from the importance of domestic violence awareness.
Blake's claims against Justin Baldoni
Blake hit Justin with a slew of allegations in her recent lawsuit, which was filed in the New York federal court.
Firstly, she alleged that Justin engaged in inappropriate on-set behavior, including unwanted physical contact, suggestive comments, and showing her explicit videos without her consent.
Another cast member had previously filed a complaint against the director in 2023 for his "gross" and "unwanted comments."
Secondly, Blake claimed that after she reported his bad behavior to her higher-ups, Justin hired a PR crisis team to launch a smear campaign against her, in case she ever went public with her claims.
According to Blake, the PR team proceeded to leak misleading information about her professional conduct as they tried to discredit her; the actress is also suing Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel from the PR team.
Next, Blake alleged that Justin’s smear campaign against her caused severe emotional and professional harm, leading to anxiety and therapy to deal with the fallout. She claimed that by ruining her professional reputation, she found it hard to find work and so is asking for compensation for lost wages.
© Getty ImagesFollowing this, the Gossip Girl star is suing the film’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, for being complicit in Justin’s bad behavior, despite Blake raising her concerns with them. She claimed they failed to implement safeguards to protect the cast and crew and helped participate in her public takedown during the press tour.
Blake alleged that they perpetuated a toxic and unsafe work environment, thus violating industry standards. In the lawsuit, she details a crisis meeting she called with Justin and the production company to address "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior."
She asked for workplace protections in the meeting, including not adding unapproved intimate scenes and not engaging in inappropriate conversations on set. Her husband, Ryan Reynolds, reportedly attended the meeting to support her.
© Getty ImagesHow has Justin responded?
The film’s director has come out swinging with a lawsuit against The New York Times, which first broke the story of Blake’s initial legal complaint.
He claimed that the publication was colluding with the actress to ruin his reputation, saying that the journalists "cherry-picked" quotes and "stripped [them] of necessary context and deliberately spliced [them] to mislead."
He also claimed that the newspaper engaged in libel and fraud against him; the NYT has remained steadfast in the wake of the suit, saying that their story was "meticulously and responsibly reported."
© USWThe NYT said in a statement that their writing was "based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article."
Since the bombshell news broke about Blake’s allegations, Justin was dropped by his management.
How have other celebrities responded?
A multitude of celebrities have come out in support of Blake Lively in the wake of the lawsuit, including her Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants co-stars.
America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel, who all worked with Blake on the teen film and remained close friends with her throughout the years, released a joint statement in a show of support.
"As Blake’s friends and sisters for over 20 years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation," they wrote.
© Penske Media via Getty Images"Throughout the filming of It Ends With Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice."
They continued: "We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment. We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others."
Gwyneth Paltrow shared her support more subtly with an Instagram story promoting Blake’s haircare brand. "Just added to my Christmas wish list," she wrote, with a queen emoji.
© Eric CharbonneauA Simple Favor director Paul Feig took to X to share his support for the actress, writing: "I’ve now made two movies with Blake and all I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people I’ve ever worked with. She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this."
Amber Heard, who was locked in a bitter defamation case with her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, in 2022, also commented on the lawsuit, telling NBC News: "Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying 'a lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.' I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive." Justin hired the same PR crisis manager as Johnny Depp.
Finally, author Colleen Hoover, who wrote It Ends With Us, stood by Blake’s side with a statement saying: "@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."
