Why Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni: A information to the It Ends with Us feud as she accuses him of harassment

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been shrouded in controversy ever since they starred opposite one another in It Ends With Us.

Fans noticed tensions between the two leading stars while promoting the romance drama, and now it seems like the idea of a sequel with both of them will really end there.

Four months after their movie release’s during the summer blockbuster season, Lively, 37, sued him for sexual harassment on the set of the movie.

The Gossip Girl star claims Baldoni, 40, fostered a toxic workplace environment, which included the director showing her nude videos and images of other women and discussing his previous alleged porn addiction, per TMZ.

Baldoni’s team refuted the allegations and claimed the legal action is an attempt to patch up Lively’s reputation, which suffered in the wake of the beleaguered movie’s release. 

Leading up to the summer release of their movie — which was successful in the sense that it became a box office hit following its August release date — the leading stars have been enveloped in ongoing drama.

This comes amid her husband Ryan Reynolds facing backlash after he claimed Lively grew up ‘very working class.’ 

Baldoni reached out to Colleen Hoover after he read It Ends With Us for the very first time. 

He recalled how nearly a decade earlier, she released the book and he picked it up before realizing the lasting impact it would have on him.

It Ends With Us follows the story of a young woman named Lily Bloom, who moves to Boston to chase her dream of opening a flower shop. 

She meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid and they fall in love, but their whirlwind romance quickly changes when he begins hurting her. 

Stuck in a relationship and facing intimate partner violence, she finds herself at a crossroads about her future. 

When he read the novel, the story left a lasting impact on him, and he shared that with Hoover, sending her a message to tell her that he couldn’t get the story ‘off my mind’ and wanted to see if he could make it into a movie.

‘By the end of the book, I couldn’t even read the text on the page because I was crying so much,’ he told CBS Mornings while promoting the movie. 

‘I just thought if this could affect me in this way, then I can only imagine what it could do for women and people who are in this situation all over the world,’ he said on the morning show. ‘Cause all of us have a situation or a pattern that we need to end the pattern of.’ 

He explained that they ended up becoming ‘pen pals.’ He recalled how he only had the sole intention to direct the movie, but Hoover encouraged him to star in it too.

A couple years after his initial email, he said he finally decided to to take on the double role of director-leading actor and begin the search for his co-star. 

They found her in Lively, who also served as an executive producer on the movie. 

How did the feud rumors begin? 

During the frosty press tour, fans noticed there was tension between the two leading stars. Rumors of a feud began when Lively happily posed for photos with all of her costars but Baldoni. 

The star-studded cast, which included Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar and Hasan Minhaj, would occasionally join Lively — but also not at all the events.

This included Isabela Ferrer, who portrayed a younger version of Lively’s Lily Bloom opposite Alex Neustaedter’s teenage Atlas.

During this time, Lively attended premieres in London and Copenhagen while Bandoni continued to do press interviews in New York City.

Eagle-eyed fans also pointed out that Lively and Hoover unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram. 

Sleuths noted that Lively followed Slate, Sklenar, Ferrer, Minhaj and Neustaedter but not Baldoni on Instagram while Baldoni follows the whole cast. 

As for Hoover, she followed Lively but no longer Baldoni — even though they used to post pictures together and were promoting the film together back in May. 

Regarding the rest of the cast, most of the aforementioned names only followed Lively, except for Minhaj who followed both her and Baldoni. 

Additionally, Baldoni would be doing interviews solo while Lively would be joined by any of their other co-stars but him. 

What happened on set?

Amid speculation of a feud, insiders revealed the concerning truth about the tension that occurred on set.

Sources told DailyMail.com that the co-stars clashed over his ‘dismissive’ attitude to her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes that involved abuse.

The insiders also claimed that Baldoni focused only on ‘what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint’ and had a very ‘chauvinistic’ approach to the topic.

‘During scenes depicting abuse, Justin failed to consider Blake’s character’s perspective, instead focusing solely on what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint,’ the source said.

‘His approach was very chauvinistic, creating a tense atmosphere on set. Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic. 

‘Directing a film so serious and so important about domestic abuse without allowing the women to be included in this process is disturbing.’

The insiders said things only got worse once he began to feel ‘ganged up on’ by the women on set.

‘Now, he’s speaking praises, likely out of fear that they’ll call him out’, one source said. ‘He knows it’s coming and might try to blame his actions on being a method actor.’

Another clash came over Baldoni asking how much Lively weighed prior to a scene in which he was supposed to lift her.

The A-list actress reportedly said this made her feel ‘fat-shamed’, while those close to Baldoni insisted that he was just trying to protect his back following an injury.

It was also reported that Lively also used her powers as a producer to commission a completely new cut of the movie from film editor Shane Reid, who cut her husband Ryan Reynolds’ hit Deadpool & Wolverine.

There is no indication whether anything from Reid’s cut was used in the movie, which was credited to editors Oona Flaherty and Robb Sullivan.

However, not all of the cast and crew have not all sided with Lively, a source has claimed, alleging that many people feel Baldoni was ‘screwed’ creatively. 

Production sources quashed rumors saying that many in the crew view Baldoni favorably. 

Speaking to TMZ, sources claimed that Baldoni was ‘generally a nice guy to work with and cared a lot about the production.’

What did they say on the frosty press tour? 

Lively and Baldoni have avoided directly commenting on the feud rumors during the frosty press tour, but they did provide some insight on what happened on the set of the film. 

Baldoni spoke about having a difficult time with ‘navigating complex personalities’ and ‘trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision’ in an interview with Today.

He added: ‘Mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them.’ 

He also spoke about the challenges he faced while directing and simultaneously starring in the movie. 

‘I’m a “best idea wins” person, and I always have been to a fault. Sometimes to a point where, at times, I think I’ve had people wonder if I know what I’m doing or if I have a point of view, because I’m so willing to have my vision changed. I don’t believe that inspiration or creativity comes through one person.’ 

Before saying ‘there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much,’ he said: ‘You don’t have to listen to everybody and that didn’t happen all the time.’ 

He said that many of those ideas came from Lively — who he said was ‘extremely involved’ and ‘really made the film better.’ 

‘There were many instances where I honestly just tried to get out of the way and let her take the lead,’ he told Access Hollywood. 

Lively also touched on creative differences during the making of their movie and spoke about a disagreement over keeping Lana Del Rey’s song Cherry in the film. 

‘They begged me to take that song out of the movie,’ she said on Hits Radio UK. ‘I’m not supposed to be talking about this, but because they felt like it was too charged and heavy and things were still good with Ryle at that point so you don’t want to feel that charge.’ 

As for their co-stars, namely Sklenar, they avoided talking about any tension and praised both Lively and Baldoni.

Sklenar spoke about how Baldoni was ‘great’ and ‘did a really good job’ balancing being a director, a leading star as well as a producer.

‘And honestly, the entire crew that he assembled was just so incredible,’ he told People. ‘I mean, everybody in this film was just on the top of their game. It was a really pleasant environment to work in.’

About Lively, he gushed about her ability to ‘seamlessly wear all these hats.’

‘I can’t say enough about her honestly. She just to this day continues to blow me away with how much of a powerhouse woman she is.’

When fans criticized Lively for her ‘tone-deaf’ and ‘diva’-like responses during the press tour, he spoke up in defense of his colleagues.

‘Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves,’ he wrote on Instagram on August 20. 

‘Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in is message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about. It is, in fact, the opposite of the point.’

Amid the drama, Baldoni turned to the well-regarded PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan for help, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

She is best known for representing Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. 

How did the cast approach topic of intimate partner violence in the movie?

Both Baldoni and Lively have talked about domestic violence in interviews and shared resources on social media.

However, Lively was criticized for discussing the subject in sometimes a more lighthearted manner compared to Baldoni and using the press tour to promote her brands on the back of the movie.

Fans blasted her as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘shallow’ after she hosted an interview with her It Ends With Us co-stars and failed to discuss the serious message behind the movie.

Several hours later Blake took to Instagram to share information about domestic violence, as well as resources for her followers. ‘Everyone deserves relationships free of domestic violence,’ she wrote.

Lively was also slammed online for turning an interviewer’s serious question about domestic violence into a ‘joke.’

When reporter Jake Hamilton asked her if people who related to what her character went through could talk to her about it if they saw her in person, her sarcastic response caused outrage. 

Rather than encouraging domestic violence victims to seek help from professionals or sharing resources available to them, Lively laughed at the concept of making herself available to them. 

‘Ask for my address or my phone number,’ she sarcastically replied. ‘Or I could just share my location with you and then we could…,’ she trailed off before laughing.

On the criticism that the movie romanticizes domestic violence, Baldoni shared his thoughts. 

‘I think that they are absolutely entitled to that opinion, and it makes perfect sense as to why they would feel that way,’ he told AP. 

‘I mean, look, we live in a culture where, unfortunately, too many things are glorified. We are fighting for attention. We’re in an attention economy. We’re in a clickbait world where everybody is trying ot figure out how to gather attention. Look at the news cycle. It’s everywhere around us. So it makes perfect sense that people would feel that way.’

He added: ‘Also, if anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel. TO them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.’

Amid the social media backlash, Sony Pictures Entertainment defended Lively. 

‘Blake, Colleen and so many women put so much effort into this remarkable movie, working selflessly from the start to ensure that such an important subject matter was handled with care,’ the studio’s Chair-CEO Tony Vinciquerra told The Hollywood Reporter on August 14. 

‘Audiences love the movie. Blake’s passion and commitment to advancing the conversation around domestic violence is commendable. We love working with Blake, and we want to do 12 more movies with her.’ 

What happened after the movie release and awkward press run?

Unlike many projects where controversy affects the box office, It Ends With Us still emerged a box office hit.

The film grossed $351 million worldwide — a massive success as the movie opened with over $50 million and was the 12th highest-grossing film of the year at the global box office.

It was a surprise box office hit considering the drama as the budget was reportedly $25 million. 

It was Lively’s biggest hit — out-grossing 2011’s Green Lantern, which starred her husband Reynolds. It was also Baldoni’s top-grossing movie as a star and a director. 

However, It Ends With Us received mixed reviews from critics and scored just 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Several months later, just in time for the holidays, Lively presented her former co-star and director with a lawsuit. 

She claimed he fostered a toxic workplace environment on the set of their movie, which included Baldoni showing her nude videos and images of other women and discussing his previous alleged porn addiction. 

She claimed Baldoni made inappropriate inquiries about her weight, comments about her dead father as well as sexual remarks about the cast and crew. 

The situation became so unworkable that she and her husband demanded crisis talks during filming to put a stop to the behavior, according to the lawsuit. 

She also requested ‘no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project,’ per the filing. 

The demands were allegedly accepted by the studio, but the movie’s release was still hampered by a dispute between Lively and Baldoni about how it should be marketed, according to the lawsuit. 

Lively claimed that Baldoni’s team then engaged in a ‘social manipulation’ campaign to tarnish her reputation. 

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman hit back at the lawsuit as, ‘false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt’. 

He insisted the legal action is an attempt by Lively to ‘fix her negative reputation’ after rumors emerged of diva-like behavior on set. 

This included: ‘threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release,’ according to Freedman. 

It Ends With Us became one of the most talked about movies of the year following its release in August, but for all the wrong reasons.