IN December 2024, it was revealed that actress Blake Lively had launched a sexual harassment lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
Just months after the film was released, the Gossip Girl star accused Baldoni of a smear campaign to ”destroy” her reputation – here’s everything we know.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni starred in ‘It Ends with Us’[/caption]
What happened between the It Ends With Us co-stars?
January 2023
In 2023, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were cast to star in the adaptation of the best-selling novel ”It Ends With Us”.
Justin also directed the film, while Blake was a producer.
The film was later released in August 2024, which saw Lively star as flower shop owner Lily Bloom and Baldoni play neurosurgeon and Lily’s love interest Ryle Kincaid.
Despite finding Ryle to be charming at the beginning, their romance later becomes troubled, with the flower shop owner brutally attacked by Ryle in harrowing domestic violence scenes.
August 2024
During the ‘It Ends With Us’ press tour, rumours of a feud between the co-stars began to circulate.
This came after Baldoni was noticeably absent from several press events and fans of the film spotted that Lively and other members of the movie had unfollowed the actor on Instagram.
At the time, a source told The Hollywood Reporter that “there was a fracture among the filmmakers in the post-production process, wherein two different cuts of the movie emerged.”
December 2024
In December 2024, just months after the film’s release, Gossip Girl star Blake Lively launched a lawsuit against her co-star, Justin Baldoni.
According to documents seen by TMZ, Baldoni has been accused of showing Lively naked videos and images of other women, discussing his alleged previous porn addiction and asking about her weight.
Lively accuses Baldoni of a smear campaign to ‘destroy’ her reputation, which the actor denies.
She also claims to have asked for “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing outside the scope of the script approved when signing onto the project.”
Following the claims, the actress said Baldoni’s actions caused her and her family “severe emotional distress”.
Lively is married to fellow actor Ryan Reynolds.
The couple, who married in 2012, share four children.
After filing the lawsuit, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman branded it “shameful” and claimed it was “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious, with an intent to publicly hurt”.
The lawyer also claimed that Lively launched legal action to “fix her negative reputation” after reports that she was “diva-like” on set.
Coleen Hoover, the author behind the best-selling book ”It Ends With Us” has also spoken out following the claims.
In a post shared online, Hoover said Lively had been “nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met”.
The author added: ”Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”