‘Hypocrisy’: Former co-stars support Blake Lively amid sexual harassment lawsuit

Blake Lively’s former co-stars have thrown their support behind the actress after she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against a colleague.

Blake Lively’s former female co-stars have spoken out in support of the actress after she lodged a sexual harassment lawsuit agasint her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

Rumours of an on-set feud between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, plagued the release of the box office hit in August, which deals with heavy themes of domestic violence. They did not appear together to promote the film.

In the weeks after the film’s release, Lively suffered a brutal public backlash – one she now alleges was orchestrated, in part, by Baldoni.

As reported by The New York Times, the lawsuit states that Lively had complained about inappropriate on-set behaviour during the making of the film. By the time It Ends With Us was released in August, it’s alleged that Baldoni and the film’s producer Jamey Heath were worried the allegations would come to light, so decided to strike first and smear Lively’s reputation.

Blake Lively at the London premiere of It Ends With Us on August 8. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Lively’s Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants co-stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel released a statement on Monday to show they “stand with her in solidarity”.

The women are still friends after first working together 20 years ago. It was Lively’s breakthrough role when she was a teenager.

“Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice,” the actresses wrote.

“Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.

“We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment. We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel urged people to read the article in The New York Times.

America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively in the 2005 film, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.

To support her claim, Lively’s lawsuit includes “thousands of pages” of text messages and emails she obtained through a subpoena.

They include this brief text, written on August 2 from a publicist working with Baldoni and the film studio: “He wants to feel like she can be buried.”

The crisis management expert that publicist was texting had an equally succinct response: “You know we can bury anyone.”

Other texts between crisis public relations experts published by The New York Times saw them congratulating each other on their “amazing work” creating “so much mixed messaging” online.

“I see this as a total success, as does Justin,” one wrote.

A lawyer for Wayfarer, the independent film studio Baldoni co-founded, vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to The New York Times.

Lawyer Bryan Freedman said the studio “did nothing proactive nor retaliated” against Lively, and called her claims “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation”.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” Freedman wrote.

Lively alleged in the lawsuit, obtained by Page Six, that there had to be an “all-hands-on-deck meeting” about Baldoni’s bad behaviour, in which he was warned to no longer show Lively “nude videos or images of women” and to stop mentioning his past “porn addiction” and sexual conquests. Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, was reportedly present for the discussion.

Baldoni was also told to no longer make any mentions of “cast and crew’s genitalia,” inquire about Lively’s “weight” or her “dead father,” as well as a request to not add more sex scenes, oral sex or climaxing on camera “outside the scope” of the pre-approved script, per the complaint.

Justin Baldoni at the New York premiere of It Ends With Us on August 6. Picture: Charly Triballeau / AFP

It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, whose own mother’s experience inspired the novel, shared her support for Lively on Instagram after news of the lawsuit broke on Sunday, describing her as an “honest, kind, supportive and patient” person. She shared a link to The New York Times article.

On Monday, Hoover showed further support for Lively in her Facebook group for fans of her novels. She shared Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel’s statement.

“Blake’s ability to refuse to sit down and ‘be buried’ has been nothing short of inspiring,” Hoover wrote.

“Seeing these three women stand up for their friend when they know good and well they’re going to be ripped apart by the people who choose to not accept or read the receipts is inspiring.”

The author shared her own struggles with social media hate and “vile” comments directed toward her and her family.

“We have become a cruel society of judges who expect perfection and have very little grace, and will comment with everything wrong we can find. It’s sad but it’s true and we have all been victims of it,” she wrote.

Originally published as ‘Hypocrisy’: Former co-stars support Blake Lively amid sexual harassment lawsuit