Performer Blake Lively initiated legal action against "It Ends With Us" director Justin Baldoni and several other individuals connected to the romantic drama this past Tuesday, asserting harassment and a synchronized endeavor to assail her standing for publicly discussing her experiences on the set.
The federal legal action was initiated in New York mere hours after Baldoni and numerous other defendants in Lively's legal action initiated their own legal action against The New York Times for defamation pertaining to its coverage of her assertions, contending that the publication and the performer were the entities engaged in a synchronized endeavor to tarnish reputations.
These legal actions represent significant developments in a narrative emerging from the unexpectedly successful cinematic production that has already generated considerable discussion within Hollywood and has prompted deliberations regarding the treatment of female performers both during filming and within the media landscape.
Lively's legal action contends that Baldoni, the cinematic production entity Wayfarer Studios, and other parties participated in “a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out.”
She accuses Baldoni and the studio of commencing a “multi-tiered plan” intended to harm her reputation subsequent to a meeting in which she and her spouse, performer Ryan Reynolds, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” perpetrated by Baldoni and a producer named Jamey Heath, who is likewise named in both legal actions.
The proposal, the legal action stated, encompassed a suggestion to install notions upon digital bulletin boards, orchestrate a digital media endeavor and position journalistic narratives unfavorable to Lively.
The alleged mistreatment during filming encompassed remarks from Baldoni concerning the physiques of Lively and other females present on the set. Furthermore, the legal action states that Baldoni and Heath “discussed their personal sexual experiences and previous porn addiction, and tried to pressure Ms. Lively to reveal details about her intimate life.”
Baldoni's legal representative Bryan Freedman did not immediately offer a response to a request for commentary regarding Lively's legal action. However, he had previously characterized the identical assertions as “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.”
Lively's legal action materializes on the same day as the defamation legal action initiated in Los Angeles Superior Court by Baldoni and others against the Times, seeking a minimum of $250 million. The Times maintained its reporting and stated its intention to “vigorously defend” against the legal action.
Additional individuals who are defendants in Lively's legal action and plaintiffs in the defamation legal action include Wayfarer and crisis communications expert Melissa Nathan, whose textual communication was cited in the heading of the December 21st Times journalistic piece: “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
Authored by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, the journalistic piece was disseminated shortly after Lively submitted a formal complaint to the California Civil Rights Department, a precursor to her new legal action.
The defamation legal action asserts that the newspaper “relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives. But the Times did not care.”
A spokesperson for the Times, Danielle Rhoades, conveyed in a statement that “our story was meticulously and responsibly reported."
“It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error," the statement conveyed.
However, Baldoni's legal action asserts that “If the Times truly reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained, its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”
Lively is not a defendant in the defamation legal action. Her legal representatives conveyed in a statement that “Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today."
The romantic drama “It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s commercially successful 2016 literary work, was released in August, surpassing box office anticipations with a $50 million introductory showing. However, the cinematic release was enveloped by conjecture regarding discord between Lively and Baldoni. Baldoni assumed a secondary position in promoting the cinematic production, while Lively occupied the central role alongside Reynolds, who was engaged in the promotional activities for “Deadpool & Wolverine” concurrently.
Lively attained prominence through the 2005 cinematic production “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” and augmented her celebrity through the televised series “Gossip Girl” spanning from 2007 to 2012. Subsequently, she has performed in cinematic productions including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
Baldoni performed in the televised comedic program “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 cinematic production “Five Feet Apart” and authored “Man Enough,” a literary work challenging conventional notions of masculinity. He addressed apprehensions that “It Ends With Us” idealized domestic aggression, stating to the AP at that juncture that critics were “absolutely entitled to that opinion.”
His agency, WME, terminated its representation of him immediately following Lively's submission of her complaint and the Times' dissemination of its journalistic piece. The agency represents both Lively and Reynolds.
Baldoni's legal representative, Freedman, conveyed in a statement regarding the defamation legal action that “the New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites.”
“In doing so, they pre-determined the outcome of their story, and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public," he appended. "The irony is rich.”