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The drama surrounding the film It Ends With Us just went from a slow burn to a five-alarm fire. Blake Lively, the film’s leading lady, has thrown down the gauntlet, slapping director and co-star Justin Baldoni with a lawsuit.
Her accusation? Sexual harassment, a meticulously orchestrated smear campaign, and an all-out assault on her reputation. According to reports, after facing alleged harassment on set, Lively claims that Baldoni didn’t just stand by — he actively participated in what her lawyers have labeled a “social manipulation” campaign to tarnish her public image. This alleged campaign supposedly included Baldoni hiring crisis PR specialist Melissa Nathan and her firm, The Agency Group, to strategically dismantle Lively’s reputation.
The lawsuit includes a batch of text exchanges — 22 pages, to be exact — between Baldoni’s publicist and Nathan. One particularly chilling snippet shows the publicist claiming Baldoni’s desire to see Lively “buried” under negative press, a sentiment coldly acknowledged by Nathan who noted, “we can’t write we will destroy her.” In a statement to The New York Times, Lively expressed hope that her lawsuit would “pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics” and protect others from similar treatment. It’s a heavy topic, especially considering the film’s focus on domestic violence.
Meanwhile, Baldoni’s camp has come out swinging against these allegations. His lawyer Bryan Freedman has condemned the lawsuit as a desperate attempt by Lively to “fix her negative reputation,” dismissing her claims as both “shameful” and “categorically false.”
This legal soap opera is just the latest chapter in the It Ends With Us saga, which has been brewing for months. Lively and Baldoni, who play love interests in the film based on Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, have been giving off major “exes at a mutual friend’s wedding” vibes since the press tour. Fans first sniffed out trouble in paradise during the film’s press tour, when Lively and Baldoni were notably absent from each other’s Instagram feeds and skipped a joint photo op at the August premiere.
Since the film’s release, both stars have weathered their fair share of negative press. Baldoni faced accusations of “chauvinistic” and “borderline abusive” behavior on set, which might explain why the cast seemed to give him the cold shoulder. Meanwhile, Lively faced her own barrage of criticism for seemingly trivializing the film’s grave subject matter through her promotional activities.
It’s a messy situation all around, with no clear winner in sight. At the same time, I can’t help but feel a little bad for both of them. Lively’s got to relive all this trauma while fighting for her reputation, and Baldoni’s career could take a serious hit if these allegations stick. But here’s the bottom line: No one should have to put up with harassment or abuse on the job, no matter how famous or powerful they are. If Lively’s telling the truth, then Baldoni needs to face the consequences of his actions. And if she’s not? Well, that’s for the courts to decide.