It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have taken over the internet, months after the release of their controversial film. Directed by Baldoni, the film was based on a book of the same name by Coleen Hoover which focuses on a victim of domestic abuse and breaking the generational cycle of domestic violence. During the film's release, there were reports about a fallout between the leading star Blake Lively and her co-star/director Bladoni. At the time, the narrative social and media narrative was completely in favour of the latter. Recently the actor was also honoured with an award for contributions to "elevate women, combat gender-based violence and promote gender equality worldwide", reported NYT.
However, soon after the award, over the weekend, Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency William Morris Endeavor. The news came after an unexpected sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Blake claiming Justin and Heath behaved inappropriately towards her and other members of the cast and crew. The actress filed a complaint against Baldoni, Heath (then president of Wayfarer Studio and producer of It Ends With Us), Steve Sarowitz, a co-founder of the studio, along with Mr Wallace, Melissa Nathan, Jennifer Abel, another public relations executive who were involved in the alleged smear campaign.
Blake has not only talked about the suspected campaign against her but also shared detailed texts between, Baldoni's publicist and the crisis management executive who took on the campaign to "bury" Lively. The complaint, filed with the California Civil Rights Department, is a precursor to a lawsuit, reported NYT. According to the report, Baldoni and his crisis PR experts had been working on this as long back in August.
SEE ALSO: Blake Lively, Ryan Reynold's Receive Backlash For It Ends With Us; Here's What Happened
January 2023 -- Blake and Baldoni in early 2023 had talked about looking forward to working with each other. Colleen has announced the cast on Instagram and talked about how she was looking forward to seeing Lily and Ryle on the big screen.
June 2023 -- The film's production was halted due to the WGA strike in Hollywood till September 2023. It is being reported that after the strike when the team was asked to return to the set, Blake's team got in touch with the producers, Wayfarer Studio to talk about improving some safeguards on set. Her legal team was quoted by NYT saying, "Our client is willing to forego a more formal HR process in favor of everyone returning to work and finishing the Film as long as the set is safe moving forward."
January 2024 -- A meeting was held with Baldoni, Heath and other studio executives. According to the complaint filed in December 2024, the actress during the meeting, claimed director Baldoni had improvised unwanted kissing scenes and discussed his sex life with her. She also added that Heath showed her a video of his wife naked, and also said that he watched Lively in her trailer when she was topless despite her asking him to look away.
Blake also stated in her legal proceedings that "both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding." However, Blake returned to set after Wayfarer acknowledged her requests and said, "Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount."
Post-production 2024 -- According to reports, after the truffle over safety on set, Blake was also in a creative battle with the studio. The actress set out to make her own version of the film with the help of Sony, the film's distributor's support. She brought in her own editors and a composer for the film adding one of Ms. Swift's songs, she made her own cut which was eventually selected for release and Lively ended with a producer's credit.
August 2024 -- As the promotions began reports started sprouting about a rift between Blake and Baldoni, citing the actress as hard to work with. However, NYT states that at this time the actor/director had hired crisis PR Melissa Nathan to change the media narrative about Blake Lively. Baldoni's PR Abel's texts with Nathan stated, "I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel like she can be buried."
After some back and forth, Nathan responded, "We can't write we will destroy her. Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone."
Some discussion between Nathan and Abel also showed how there were more quotes about Baldoni's behaviour in the news but the PR team had been keeping it out of the news. One such text read, "standing down on HR complaint."
Meanwhile, a source told Dailymail.com about Justin's work on the film's set. The source was quoted saying, "Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic. Directing a film so serious and so important about domestic abuse without allowing the women to be included in this process is disturbing."
The source claimed things got worse after he began to feel 'ganged up on' by the women on set. "Now, he's speaking praises, likely out of fear that they'll call him out. He knows it's coming and might try to blame his actions on being a method actor," the report added.
SEE ALSO: What If...? Season 3 Review: Avengers Return As The Multiverse Gets Weirder
On the media front, Blake was called tone-deaf and rude to fans during the promotional activities for the film. Reports about her being rude to co-stars, hard to work with on sets and more began circulating. Even old videos from her interview were being dug up where she seemed rude without context. According to Dailymail.com, at this point, the actress was worried about her career and being cancelled for good.
Fans were also confused about Ryan Reynolds being part of the PR for a film about domestic violence, and using comic skits for promotional clips. The same was like fuel to fire about the narrative where Blake was being called unreasonable for getting her famous husband involved.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Blake Lively (@blakelively)
December 2024 -- According to legal papers, reported by TMZ, Blake accused Justin of creating a "hostile work environment that nearly derailed the production of the film." She also claimed he walked into her trailer uninvited while she was undressed and breastfeeding on occasion.
She said he improvised kissing scenes and added sex scenes including oral sex and her climaxing on camera to the script, which was not approved by her when she signed in for the film. In the complaint, she has also stated that he let some of his 'friends' watch her film sex scenes.
Blake believes there was "a coordinated effort" by Justin's team "to destroy her reputation" with a smear campaign. Justin has denied the allegations and called them "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media." His lawyers also shared a statement calling it a "desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film".
For the unversed, the film went on to make a box office collection of $350 million worldwide and was widely praised for its subject matter.
Cover Image: Instagram