When it was announced that Coleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us would be hitting screens, fans were excited at the prospect of seeing Lily Bloom’s heart-wrenching story come to life. However, no one could have predicted the fallout that would occur between Blake Lively and her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
In the months since the film hit screens last year, Baldoni (who starred as Ryle Kincaid) and Lively (who played leading lady Lily) have been wrapped up in a legal battle that is fast commanding attention.
In the latest update, Baldoni’s team released a series of videos to push back on Lively’s claims of sexual harassment. Now, her team have hit back - saying in a statement, 'Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning.'
Back in December, the Gossip Girl alum filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, with the story then broken in the New York Times. Baldoni filed to sue the newspaper for $250 million, accusing them of publishing a one-sided article that contained doctored evidence. Lively then responded by filing her own lawsuit against Baldoni directly, accusing him of inappropriate and offensive interactions during production.
Among them, she objected to his conduct during the filming of a slow-dance scene, in which their characters of Lily and Ryle fall in love.
In the lawsuit, Lively alleged that Baldoni ‘leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck, as he said, “It smells so good.”' When Lively later objected to his behaviour, her team allege that Baldoni responded, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’ This claim is simply one among a barrage of other accusations, including that Baldoni showed Lively ‘nude videos or images of women,’ mentioned his past ‘porn addiction,’ and requested to add sex scenes that were outside of those already pre-approved.
Now, Baldoni’s team have responded by releasing what they say is behind-the-scenes footage of the scene in its entirety.
Earlier this week, Baldoni broke his silence by filing a $400 million countersuit, claiming defamation and civil extortion against both Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane. In the 179-page document, Baldoni references the slow dance scene and alleges that Lively ‘continued to break character,' before making jokes about his nose.
The three clips shared by Baldoni’s legal counsel Bryan Freedman were filmed in May 2023, totalling around 10 minutes long. In the clips, Baldoni and Lively slow dance in the bar while extras are seen cheering in the background. Both actors were caught engaging in small talk on their mics – even bringing up their own spouses, Ryan Reynolds and Emily Baldoni.
The footage appears to show the two co-stars discussing how to portray the intimacy of the scene. At one point, Lively is heard telling her co-star that it would be ‘more romantic’ for them to talk while they danced. Justin then contrasts their respective relationships, saying that Lively and Ryan, ‘talk all the time,’ whereas he and Emily will sometimes ‘just stare’ at each other. ‘I think you would find it terrifying,’ he jokes, while Lively responds, ‘I’d be like, oh no, I found a sociopath.’
When the actors embrace and put their heads together, Lively is heard joking that she felt ‘so nosey’ – to which Justin replied, ‘I know, and my nose is so big.’ Lively then said, ‘Yes, I was hoping we could address this. It’s not too late.’ She is heard laughing that Baldoni should ‘shut down [production]’ and ‘call an insurance month,’ before insisting she was ‘just joking.’ In his lawsuit, Baldoni claimed that Lively – who also alleged in her own complaint that Baldoni had body shamed her - had spoken negatively about his facial appearance.
In another take, Justin is seen joking that he was probably ‘getting beard’ on his leading lady as he nuzzled her neck, to which Lively laughs that she was ‘probably getting spray tan on you.’ Justin replied, ‘It smells good,’ with Lively explaining, ‘It’s not that, it’s my body makeup.’
‘Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism,’ read a title card on the released video. A snippet of the script detailing the directions were also shown – which read simply ‘Lily and Ryle slow dance in the bar. Patrons around them drinking and watching sports. Completely in their own world.’
However, Lively sees the evidence in a different light. Rather than supporting Baldoni’s view, the star’s team released a statement arguing that the footage entirely corroborates Lively’s account.
‘Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognise Ms. Lively’s discomfort,’ they shared. ‘They will recognise her attempts at levity to try and deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.’
In their statement, Lively’s team said the video was ‘damning,’ and an ‘unethical attempt to manipulate the public.’ Her team also claimed that Baldoni improvised the scene without discussion or consent beforehand, shot without an intimacy coordinator present – although this brings with it its own set of complications.
In screenshots included in his suit, Baldoni appears to show texts of him inviting Lively to meet with an intimacy coordinator ahead of working. Texts reportedly from Baldoni to Lively read, ‘Just hired intimacy coordinator who I LOVE. Will set you up to meet/FT with her next week for intro.’ Lively responds, ‘I feel good. I can meet her when we start. Thank you though.’ Justin then passes the message onto a female producer, writing, ‘seems she [Blake] doesn’t want to meet intimacy coordinator until we start which may mess up the workflow, but I can still meet with her of course.’ The female producer responds, ‘You’ll just have to walk her through what you and [the intimacy coordinator] are thinking.’
Baldoni’s legal representation said on Tuesday that they have plans to set up a website that contains more correspondence and video footage that will discredit Lively’s claims.
Of course, Lively’s response rings home for many women across the globe. It’s a difficult job to decipher whether Baldoni or Lively’s recollection of events rings true – and indeed, a job that perhaps is best left to those in the courts – but it doesn’t shy away from the fact that workplace harassment is something plenty of women experience. That is, 3 in 5 women in the UK, according to a 2023 study. No workplace is immune - and even in those where numbers of reported cases lie low, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.