Actor Blake Lively has accused her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film in a legal complaint.
Lively, 37, also claims 40-year-old Baldoni and the studio behind the movie embarked on a subsequent “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation.
The complaint, which was filed on Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, according to the New York Times, precedes a lawsuit and names Baldoni, the studio and Baldoni’s publicists among the defendants.
In the papers, Lively claims the attempt to damage her reputation was launched after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
According to the complaint, the plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.
It also claims Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the film’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image”.
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer who represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives, said in a statement: “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
He said the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms Lively during production”.
Mr Freedman also said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film “if her demands were not met,” although those demands were not specified.
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Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni and the studio to the New York Times.
“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,” she told the paper.
The August release of It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair.
Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centre stage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.