Blake Lively is picking up broad support in her battle against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, days after the US actor filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint against him on Friday in what was rapidly becoming the most dynamic #MeToo event of the dying year.
“Never change. Never wilt,” Colleen Hoover, author of the book that inspired and shares a title with the film, posted on Instagram. Hoover later added, “Blake’s ability to refuse to sit down and ‘be buried’ has been nothing short of inspiring.”
Lively’s co-stars in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel said, “We stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation.”
And Amber Heard, the actor who defended a defamation claim by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, said on US morning TV that Baldoni had retained the same PR crisis manager as Depp during their court battle – and had witnessed “firsthand” how social media misinformation is “as horrifying as it is destructive”.
According to Deadline, Amy Schumer posted the message “I believe Blake” on Instagram, while Gwyneth Paltrow posted a queen emoji alongside a mention of Lively’s hair products.
The film-maker Paul Feig, who directed Lively in A Simple Favor, wrote on X: “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”
The voices of support come after a rumored feud between Lively, 35, and Baldoni, 40, broke into the open over the weekend. Lively accused Baldoni, the film’s director, of sexual harassment, hostile work environment and trying to tarnish her reputation with a targeted social media campaign.
The complaint stated that Baldoni retained the prominent PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, to smear her through “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
According to Lively’s complaint, an all-hands-on-deck meeting was held during filming to address her claims of a hostile work environment – a gathering attended by her husband and fellow actor Ryan Reynolds.
Lively reportedly demanded that Baldoni stop the following alleged actions: showing nude videos or images of women to the actor, purportedly mentioning his previous “pornography addiction”, discussing his sexual experiences in front of Lively and others, mentioning the cast and crew’s genitalia, and asking about Lively’s weight.
The lawsuit includes 22 pages of texts from Baldoni’s publicist to Nathan about how he “wants to feel like [Ms Lively] can be buried”, to which Nathan replied: “we can’t write we will destroy her.”
Jennifer Abel, a publicist who worked with Nathan, rejected Lively’s claim. “There was no ‘smear’ implemented,” Abel wrote in a Facebook group for PR and marketing professionals: “No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it’s our job to be ready for any scenario, but we didn’t have to implement anything because the Internet was doing the work for us.”
Baldoni, who has since been dropped by the talent agent WME, has disputed Lively’s claim, calling them “shameful” and a “desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film”.
But the dispute threatens to go further amid claims that Baldoni had created a public image identifying as a feminist and a staunch ally of women as a pre-emptive professional cover.
“We are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice,” Lively’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars said in their response. “Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.”
Heard said Baldoni’s alleged use of a PR crisis team to smear Lively by creating negative stories about her online was something, “I saw … firsthand and up close.
“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying, ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.’” Heard added: “It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”
Rumors of a dispute between Lively and Baldoni surfaced in August when the pair failed to attend promotional events together. Fans soon noticed that the film’s stars, including Lively and Jenny Slate, did not follow Baldoni on social media.
In her complaint, Lively alleges that Baldoni planned to use her decade-long friendship with Taylor Swift against her.
According to the lawsuit, a “Scenario Planning Document” was sent from Nathan’s PR firm that laid out three likely scenarios that Lively and her team might use – and how Baldoni’s team would respond if she chose to “make her grievances public”.
One course of action would be to “explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people in BL [Lively]’s circle, like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want”.
According to the document, other ideas to counteract any negative narrative included citing Baldoni’s “stellar reputation among colleagues and industry peers – numerous quotes and interviews sharing positive experiences” and his support of the #MeToo movement.
