Daily Times

Blake Lively is taking legal action against her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni.

Following months of speculation about a feudbetween the Gossip Girl star and the Jane the Virgin alum, Lively filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint against him with the California Civil Rights Department, The New York Times reported Dec. 21. In the filing, obtained by E! News, Lively accused Baldoni creating a hostile work environment on the set of It Ends With Us and later taking part in a smear campaign against her.

In the documents, she also alleged that the environment on the set of the movie turned so sour that there was a meeting-attended by her husband Ryan Reynolds, among others-to address Baldoni’s behavior.

According to the complaint, a precursor to a lawsuit, the details addressed during the meeting included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake,” as well as no discussion of Baldoni’s alleged past “pornography addiction” or “sexual conquests.”

Other topics included no further mention of genitalia, inquiries about Blake’s weight or “mention by Mr. Baldoni of him ‘speaking to’ dead father.” He dad Ernie Lively passed away in 2021.

According to the complaint, the meeting also addressed that no additional sex scenes would be added “outside the scope of the script” Lively had agreed to when signing on to the film.

Following differences in how the film-based on the Colleen Hoover novel about a woman surviving domestic violence-should be marketed, the suit states, Baldoni took part in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, negatively impacting her business and causing her family “severe emotional distress.”

However, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman, has fired back at Lively’s complaint, claiming it’s an attempt to “fix her negative reputation” and noting it’s “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.”

In a statement to The New York Times, Freedman also alleged that, behind the scenes, Lively was “threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.” In her own statement to the newspaper, 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 planted or spread negative information about Baldoni, The New York Times said.

E! News has reached out to Lively and Baldoni’s teams for comment and has not heard back.

Rumblings of a feud first started earlier this year when the cast began to promote the film without Baldoni. Amid the speculation, Baldoni spoke out about the complexities of working on a film.

“Every movie is a miracle,” he told Today.com in an interview published Aug. 9. “And then, of course, you’re navigating complex personalities and trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision. And mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them.”