Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni sexual harassment case explained

Allegations of sexual harassment, civil extortion and defamation have been flung back and forth as the feud between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni shakes Hollywood to its core. Here’s how it’s unfolded so far.

The Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal drama has shaken Hollywood to its core. With allegations and lawsuits flying back and forth between the two stars over just what happened on the set of their global box office hit, It Ends with Us, Hollywood and fans alike have been quick to take sides.

Rumours that all was not well between Lively — who’s married to Hollywood powerhouse Ryan Reynolds — and Baldoni began percolating as early as last August before the film, which centres around the theme of domestic violence, premiered.

The rumours gathered full steam during the movie’s very messy press tour where Baldoni, who also directed and executive produced the film, was largely ostracised with Lively (alongside Reynolds) taking centre stage.

But the 37-year-old actress’ reputation and brands took a hit when she was accused of being “tone deaf” for promoting the serious themes of the film like it was “a rom-com” and for promoting her hair care line and her husband’s gin at the same time.

Blake Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni claiming sexual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign in December. Picture: Getty Images

Justin Baldoni hit back and filed a lawsuit accusing Lively, her publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Reynolds of civil extortion, defamation and false light invasion of privacy. Picture: Getty Images

THE LAWSUITS

Things came to a very public head last December when Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni claiming sexual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

Weeks later, she filed a formal lawsuit, which mirrored much of what was alleged in the complaint, that Baldoni “sexually harassed” her on the set of It Ends with Us and that after they held a meeting to address his alleged behaviour, he was alleged to have hired a crisis management team to “destroy her reputation”.

In response Baldoni filed a $US400 million ($A630m) lawsuit accusing Lively, her publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Reynolds of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, claiming that they tried to destroy him by accusing him of sexual harassment against the actress and then retaliation against her through a smear campaign.

Baldoni also sued The New York Times for libel over a story about Lively’s sexual harassment allegations, including accusations that he had hired a crisis-PR company to “bury” her after she complained about his behaviour on set to the studio, threatening his “feminist” reputation.

Baldoni claimed that the newspaper defamed him by relying on Lively’s “unverified and self-serving narrative”, that the outlet “cherry-picked” evidence and “manufactured an impression of impropriety where none exists”.

He alleged that the Times designed the report to “villainise” him. Baldoni and the other plaintiffs, which include Wayfarer Studios and his PR executives, are suing for $US250m ($A395m) in damages.

US actor Justin Baldoni's lead counsel, Bryan Freedman, outside US District Court after a pre-trial hearing in the defamation suit by Baldoni against Hollywood power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Picture: AFP

BLAKE LIVELY’S CLAIMS

Lively claimed that Baldoni — who directed, produced and starred in the film — exhibited “disturbing” and “unprofessional” behaviour on set, which led to a “hostile work environment”.

Lively alleged in her lawsuit that during the filming of the romantic drama, there had to be an “all-hands” meeting about Baldoni’s alleged on-set behaviour.

During the meeting, he was allegedly told to stop showing his co-star “nude videos or images of women,” mentioning his past “porn addiction” and sexual conquests and bringing up the “cast and crew’s genitalia,” according to the suit.

The complaint was also filed against producer and Baldoni’s business partner, Jamey Heath, as well as the pair’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, along with its co-founder Steve Sarowitz.

In an updated filing lodged this week, Lively alleged that Baldoni made other women “uncomfortable” on the set of the film. In the amended complaint, she said that two other unnamed actresses on set were prepared to testify against either Baldoni or Heath.

She also claimed her four children had been “traumatised” by her and Baldoni’s ongoing drama. She said her and Reynolds’ children had been “emotionally uprooted in ways that have substantially impacted their well-being”.

The legal filing asserted that Lively’s husband, Reynolds, had “been affected mentally, physically and professionally by his wife’s and children’s pain.”

According to the complaint, Lively said she “struggled to get out of bed” some days.

“She frequently chooses not to venture outside in public,” the court document claimed. “While she has fought to maintain her personal life and business interests, behind closed doors she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety.”

JUSTIN BALDONI’S CLAIMS

According to documents obtained by TMZ, Lively was “determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story” after being labelled as “tone-deaf” during the film’s media tour.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, said in a statement that his client’s “lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”

The Hollywood Reporter claimed sources close to Baldoni have said he has “lost three jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars” amid the legal fracas and his next job as director of a big screen adaptation of video game, Pac-Man, was up in the air.

Justin Baldoni’s legal team released raw video footage from It Ends With Us to refute his co-star Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims.

LEAKED EVIDENCE

On February 1, Baldoni released a website titled “thelawsuitinfo.com” that contains links to a 224-page document which purports to be Lively’s amended complaint, as well as a 138-page PDF of a “timeline of related events”.

One of the biggest bombshells in Lively’s suit was that Baldoni allegedly sexually harassed her while filming a dance scene by dragging his lips down her neck and saying “it smells so good”.

In her December complaint, the actress claimed nobody overheard the comment because the microphones on set were switched off. But a leaked video obtained by the Daily Mail seemed to show that that was not the full story and that the two appeared to be engaged in a friendly discussion around lighting and chatting about their spouses. Lively seemingly apologised to Baldoni for getting spray tan on him to which he replied, “it smells so good”.

Ryan Reynolds was roped into Lively’s legal feud with Baldoni, as he named the star in the lawsuit he filed against his former co-star

HOW IS RYAN REYNOLDS INVOLVED

Reynolds has been roped into Lively’s legal feud with Baldoni, as he named the star in the lawsuit he filed against his former co-star, days after Baldoni’s lawyers separately accused him of mocking Baldoni in Deadpool & Wolverine last year.

Baldoni claimed Reynolds approached an executive at WME, Baldoni’s former talent agency, accusing Baldoni of being a “sexual predator” and demanded they drop him. WME did drop Baldoni from its roster of clients.

Baldoni accused Reynolds of berating him for allegedly “fat-shaming” Lively in an “aggressive” confrontation, though Baldoni said he had actually reached out to Lively’s trainer to ask about Lively’s weight to train his back for a lift scene, citing a history of back injuries.

Baldoni also alleged Reynolds launched an “aggressive tirade” in a meeting with Lively and producers before filming resumed after the Hollywood writers strikes, demanding Baldoni apologise to Lively for actions Baldoni did not specify but said “never happened or were grossly mischaracterised”.

Reynolds was also slammed by Baldoni’s lawyer after the star appeared at a Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special, mocking the drama.

“I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation,” said Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman.

Originally published as Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni sexual harassment case explained