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Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment. The 37-year-old actress starred alongside Justin, 40, in the romantic drama film "It Ends with Us" earlier this year, and she's now launched a lawsuit against her former co-star, who also directed the movie. In the lawsuit, which has been obtained by PEOPLE, the actress alleges that her co-star's behavior caused her "severe emotional distress.
" The lawsuit claims that Blake—who played Justin's on-screen love interest—attended a meeting to address her allegations and her demands for working on the movie. The meeting was actually attended by various people connected to the project, as well as Ryan Reynolds, Blake's husband. One of the demands mentioned in the lawsuit called for "no more adding of sex scenes.
.. outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.
" What's more, Blake demanded "no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni's alleged previous 'pornography addiction,' no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake's weight, and no further mention of Blake's dead father." According to the lawsuit, Sony Pictures—the company responsible for distributing the film—approved Blake's requests. But the actress has alleged that Justin subsequently engaged in a "social manipulation" campaign in a bid to "destroy" her reputation.
In a statement given to the New York Times newspaper, Blake 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." Baldoni denied the accusations through a statement sent by his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, to the New York Times. "These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media," Freedman said.
He called Blake's accusations as a "desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film." As for the allegation of social manipulation campaign, Freedman said that Wayfarer Studios, Justin's company, hired a crisis manager due to "multiple demands and threats" made by Blake during production, such as threatening to not show up on set and not promote the film. —Reuters.
