It Really Does 'End' With Reputational Ruin...
When recalling the most curious celebrity drama of 2024, the It Ends With Us press cycle first comes to mind. Between allegations that none of the cast wanted anything to do with their co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, on set, to the bizarre behavior at the premiere, it had all the makings of Don't Worry Darling Part II. No one knew what went down, but clearly, something had. Now, thanks to a lawsuit filed by its producer and star, some blanks are being filled in.
On Friday, Blake Lively filed an 80-page complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, alleging he had sexually harassed her throughout production, and then launched a coordinated PR smear campaign against her in an attempt to, as private text messages reveal, to "bury" her. According to the suit, Lively accused Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the chief executive officer of Wayfarer Studios (the Baldoni-founded studio that produced the film), of creating a hostile workplace on the film's set.
The multiple allegations against Baldoni and Heath include showing “nude videos or images of women” to Lively, and discussing their “pornography addiction” and their “personal experiences of sex" on set and to other female employees. Baldoni, Lively alleged, also body-shamed her, claimed he could communicate with her deceased father, and improvised physical intimacy that hadn't been previously discussed or rehearsed, citing one instance in which he didn't act in character while they filmed a slow dance scene that didn't include sound.
“At one point, he leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good.’ None of this was remotely in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no sound,” the filing states, adding: “Mr. Baldoni was caressing Ms. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles. When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’”
Another instance cited in the filing alleges that Baldoni pressured Lively “to simulate full nudity” during the film's birthing scene. Nudity during the scene, Lively said, was never discussed, nor mentioned in the script. Baldoni allegedly told Lively (a mother of four) that women “give birth naked” and that his own wife “ripped her clothes off during labor.” He's also accused of saying “it was ‘not normal’ for women to remain in their hospital gowns while giving birth.” When the scene was filmed, Lively claimed that she agreed to remain nude from the waist down save for a piece of fabric covering her genitalia. Still, Baldoni and Heath allegedly didn't close the set, “allowing non-essential crew to pass through while Ms. Lively was mostly nude." In that scene, according to Lively, Baldoni's “best friend” played the role of Lively’s OBGYN. An intimacy coordinator was reportedly hired by the studio, but only after Lively requested safeguards on set.
Lively further claimed that when she attempted to raise concerns about Baldoni's behavior with producers, she was first subjected to an informal and inappropriate meeting with Heath. He's alleged to have shown up unannounced at her hair and makeup trailer while she was “topless and having body makeup removed by makeup artists.” When Lively asked if they could meet when she was clothed, Heath “insisted that if she didn’t allow him into her trailer to speak to him at that moment, then there would be no meeting with the other producers.”
“A few minutes into the conversation, Ms. Lively noticed that Mr. Heath was staring directly at her while she was topless,” the filing claims. “When she called him out, Mr. Heath brushed it off as a habit of wanting to look at a person while speaking to them. Ms. Lively and her hair and makeup artists were all deeply disturbed by this interaction on just the second day of filming.”
On Saturday, the New York Times also published an investigation into the smear campaign against Lively that followed filming. The story included a number of damning text messages between Baldoni and a publicist whose clients have included Johnny Depp, Drake, and Travis Scott. Melissa Nathan, the Times reported, "went hard at the press, pushing to prevent stories about Mr. Baldoni’s behavior and reinforce negative ones about Ms. Lively."
“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” a publicist working with Wayfarer and Baldoni wrote in an Aug. 2 message to Nathan.
“You know we can bury anyone,” she replied. Given her previous clientele, well, I fear that tracks. (Full disclosure, a Jezebel article from August that questioned Baldoni hiring Depp's PR manager was cited in the complaint.)
In a statement, Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's attorney, called the claims "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media." He also went so far as to claim that Lively's suit was "another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”
Meanwhile, in her own statement, Lively said she hoped “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.”
Over the weekend, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Schumer, and A Simple Favor director Paul Feig posted messages of support on social media. On Sunday night, Lively's Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants co-stars America Ferrera, Amber Rose Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel also wrote a letter in support: “We stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation.”
As I wrote in August, the only end to this godforsaken movie is clearly reputational ruin. At this point, it's looking pretty bad for Baldoni. But if we're being realistic here, I predict he'll just pivot to performing male allyship and start a podcast or something. Oh, wait...
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