Trigger warning: This article contains mention of sexual abuse.
Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her It End’s With Us co-star Justin Baldoni over claims of sexual harassment and launching an online smear campaign against him.
The lawsuit reportedly claims the actor/director used a negative social media post about Hailey Bieber as an example for his PR team to use against Lively, his legal team claims. According to a new complaint.
A series of private messages were used as exhibits in the Green Lantern actress’ sexual harassment trial. It featured Baldoni’s text and email exchanges with PR executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan as they planned Lively’s alleged smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
However, the Jane the Virgin actor’s attorney Brian Friedman denied the allegations. In a statement to People magazine, he called the claims “false, defamatory and deliberately salacious with the intention of hurting the public.”
In one exchange, Baldoni allegedly texted a screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter) about Bieber, titled “Hailey Bieber’s history of bullying multiple women.”
“This is what we will need,” he wrote in the text to Abel. He responded, “Yes, I talked to Melissa during the break about what we discussed last night for social and digital. Focus on Reddit, TikTok (Instagram).”
According to the complaint, Abel sent Nathan a message in which he expressed his desire to “plant pieces” of how terrible it was to work with Lively. “Same,” Nathan replied, adding that according to the complaint, a journalist friend of his was “ready” to launch the alleged defamation campaign.
In one of Lively’s alleged lawsuits, filed in California, she claimed to be suffering “grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety” due to Baldoni’s behavior behind closed doors. “The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been immense, impacting not only herself, but also her family, including her husband and four children,” the lawsuit claims.
According to the complaint, production, crew, and Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds held several meetings to discuss the actor’s alleged bad behavior toward her. The actress reportedly sought protection from Baldoni against “improvised” kissing scenes and “personal, physical touching or sexual comments”.
Disclaimer: If you need support or know someone who is struggling with assault or abuse, please contact your nearest mental health professional, NGO or talk to someone about it. There are many helplines available for this.
