After the premiere of “It Ends With Us,” multiple controversies arose between the two leads, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.
The media’s attitude towards the film was divided due to the oddities that surrounded the movie’s promotion. Colleen Hoover, the author of the book, and Lively focused on the lighter moments of the story.
Their promotion of the film was about coming together to enjoy the film, with Lively famously saying to “grab your friends and wear your florals” in a promotional video.
In stark contrast, director and actor Baldoni spoke out about domestic violence awareness through the movie.
Fans were left confused as the rest of the cast, except Baldoni, seemed to back Lively’s promotion, causing speculation that Baldoni was leading a smear campaign on her after he hired the same PR crisis team as Johnny Depp during his lawsuit against Amber Heard.
The general public was against Lively until she filed a complaint against Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer, outlining different forms of harassment, breaches of contract, and privacy invasions. In the complaint, the set was described as a hostile work environment and a place where female cast and crew members faced sexual harassment from Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the CEO of Wayfarer.
The complaint alleged a list of 30 separate behaviors that Lively had presented in a meeting, which included issues of non-consensual visual images being shown to the women, pressures of discussing religious beliefs, an intimacy coordinator being present, improvisation of intimate scenes, physical touching without consent, and entering private spaces without permission.
After her complaint was made public, The New York Times published an article on Dec. 21, 2024, titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” where it released text messages further backing the claims made within her filed complaint.
That same day, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, sent a statement to The Times defending their reasons for hiring a crisis PR team, stating that it was neither done out of retaliation nor to smear her. He described her accusations against Wayfarer and Baldoni as “yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation, which was garnered by her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film.”
Freedman also stated that the messages they chose were cherry-picked from larger conversations that are typical with a crisis team.
The New York Times article eventually caused Baldoni to sue The Times for defamation, seeking $250 million in damages. He also sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million. The suit claims that the 30 points Lively outlined in her complaint were never given to them at any meeting and that she created false accusations to blame Baldoni for her promotion missteps.
The suit accuses Lively of demanding Baldoni not participate in promotions alongside everyone else, including the New York premiere. Baldoni released photos of him and his family in a basement during the carpet walk and then escorted to a separate theater for the viewing.
The lawsuit also revealed Lively never actually read the source material, which left many fans upset. She allegedly took over the production, and Baldoni and his editors were not able to see their original cut of the film.
The lawsuit opens by stating they never wanted to reveal every issue that arose regarding Lively but felt that they were left with no other choice after the accusations emerged. Baldoni’s suit consists of pages of screenshot messages and emails that contradict aspects of Lively’s complaint.
