Hollywood stars support Blake Lively over legal complaint

Hollywood stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel have publicly backed US actress Blake Lively after she filed a legal complaint against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.

Ms Lively filed the legal complaint over the weekend against Mr Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

Mr Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC on Saturday that the allegations are “categorically false”.

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel, who starred with Lively in 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, issued a joint statement on Instagram on Sunday saying they “stand with her in solidarity”.

Colleen Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us, also showed her support, describing Ms Lively as “honest, kind, supportive and patient”.

Lawyers for Ms Lively say the legal complaint follows a meeting earlier this year to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni, her co-star and a producer on the movie.

In their statement, Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel said: “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.

“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 added: “Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.

“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,” the statement added.

“We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”

Lawyers for Mr Baldoni said they hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In the drama It Ends With Us, Ms Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Mr Baldoni.

In a post to her Instagram stories, Colleen Hoover, the author of the novel on which the film was based, also voiced her support: “@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.”

She then linked to a New York Times article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside A Hollywood Smear Machine.

Hoover also re-posted the statement from Ferrara, Bledel and Tamblyn, adding: “This statement from these women and Blake’s ability to refuse to sit down and ‘be buried’ has been nothing short of inspiring.”

The meeting between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni, together with others involved in the movie’s production plus Ms Lively’s actor husband Ryan Reynolds, took place on 4 January 2024, and it aimed to address “the hostile work environment” on set, according to Ms Lively’s legal filing.

Mr Baldoni attended the meeting in his capacity as co-chairman and co-founder of the company that produced the film, Wayfarer Studios. He was also the film’s director.

In the legal complaint, Ms Lively’s lawyers allege that both Mr Baldoni and the Wayfarer chief executive officer, Jamey Heath, engaged in “inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour towards Ms Lively and others on the set of It Ends With Us”.

In the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, a list of 30 demands relating to the pair’s alleged misconduct was made at the meeting to ensure they could continue to produce the film.

Among them, Ms Lively requested that there be no more mention of Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath’s previous “pornography addiction” to Ms Lively or other crew members, no more descriptions of their own genitalia to Ms Lively, and “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project”, says the complaint.

Ms Lively also demanded that Mr Baldoni stop saying he could speak to her dead father.

Ms Lively’s legal team further accused Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a “multi-tiered plan” to wreck her reputation.

She alleges this was “the intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath created”.

Responding to the legal complaint, Mr Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: “It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.”

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film”, which would end up “ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met”.

He alleged that Ms Lively’s claims were “intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.

In a statement via her attorneys to the BBC, Ms Lively said: “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

She also denied that she or any of her representatives had planted or spread negative information about Mr Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a box-office hit, although some critics said it romanticised domestic violence.