Is Blake Lively Suing Justin Baldoni Over It Ends With Us Backlash?

After a messy press tour for the It Ends With Us adaptation and damage to her reputation and brands, Blake Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, his crisis-PR team The Agency Group, Melissa Nathan, and others for sexual harassment, retaliation, and more. On December 21, the New York Times detailed the claims in the document that alleged Baldoni hired the crisis-PR company to “bury” Lively after she complained about Baldoni’s behavior on set to the studio, threatening his “feminist” reputation. The complaint alleges Baldoni’s team successfully damaged her reputation during the film’s press tour because of their work. Who is cutting ties with Baldoni? What’s up with the text messages in the complaint? Here’s everything you need to know about the complaint, as everyone from Colleen Hoover to Amber Heard is throwing support behind Lively.

What does the complaint claim?

In the 80-page lawsuit obtained by Vulture, the complaint, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, details Lively’s issues with Baldoni throughout production that influenced Baldoni to retaliate against Lively during the film’s press tour. During production, Lively claims that Baldoni “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed with” her and attempted to add nudity and graphic scenes that weren’t in the original script without an intimacy coordinator present. After she raised concerns about Baldoni’s alleged behavior at the studio, the studio promised to add safeguards in place for protection and, in another contract, promised to not retaliate against the actress for her complaints. 

Lively also claims that once the press tour began for the film, Baldoni stepped away from the plan the team originally agreed upon, focusing on “female trauma” instead of “female triumph.” The other cast members and author, Colleen Hoover, started doing promotional events without Baldoni. Baldoni’s team reportedly wanted to get ahead of fans who were questioning why Baldoni was not promoting with the rest of them. This is when Baldoni reportedly hired Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group PR to work on a retaliation campaign against Lively, making a plan for possible scenarios if Lively spoke out against Baldoni. Jed Wallace was then hired; Wallace worked on a social-media strategy to garner support for Baldoni and his work on the film. “The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin and there literally has been no pickup of those two articles which is actually shocking to me. But I see this as a total success, as does Justin,” publicist Jennifer Abel reportedly wrote in a text message to Nathan. 

In a statement to the Times, Lively shared, “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.”

The complaint details how the smear campaign affected Lively’s new hair-care line and how the “record-breaking” sales plummeted 56 percent to 78 percent after the backlash. 

What happened on the press tour again?

Hoover, Lively, and co-stars Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, and Isabela Ferrer all participated in the It Ends With Us promotion away from Baldoni— none of the film’s stars followed Baldoni on social media, which fans were quick to notice. Throughout interviews, they were vague with their comments on Baldoni’s performances and directing — Slate called pulling double duty as director and star an “intense job” — all parties seemingly siding with Lively on whatever behind-the-scenes drama was going on set. “Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves,” Sklenar said in a statement on Instagram during the height of the gossip.

Fans of the novel criticized the differences in promotion of the film between Baldoni and Lively — they claimed Lively was too casual and treated the press tour more like a campaign for Barbie rather than a film about domestic violence. People also attacked Lively’s cross-promotion with her hair-care line and her husband’s Deadpool film, which was released around the same time.

Baldoni’s focus on domestic abuse throughout the advertising campaign was praised by fans, and people questioned why Lively and the rest of the team were not working with him during all of this, drawing even more attention to the behind-the-scenes drama of the film. 

Have Baldoni or Nathan responded?

In a statement shared with Vulture, Baldoni’s attorney claims there was no smear campaign put on against Lively and that the internet generated its own “views and opinions” of Lively based on “unedited interviews.” The statement also described the evidence presented of Baldoni’s PR plan as “internal scenario planning,” a “standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.” 

A full statement attributed to the attorney for Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and all its representatives, Bryan Freedman is below: 

“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions. These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met. It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address. The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity. What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.” 

What’s going on with the texts and the defamation suit against Baldoni?

According to Variety, Lively’s legal team said in a legal filing that the communications in the complaint were obtained “through legal process, including a civil subpoena.” The team later specified that they got the messages by subpoenaing Joneswork LLC, the PR firm that previously represented Baldoni. The firm also previously employed Abel, who left and started her own firm amid It Ends With Us drama. Bryan Freedman — the attorney for Baldoni, Abel, Nathan, and Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios — said he plans to sue Joneswork founder Stephanie Jones. Freedman claims that in full context, the text messages “unequivocally show that there was no smear campaign initiated at all,” and suggests that texts that show the truth were “purposefully excluded.”

On December 24, Jones filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, Abel, and Nathan over claims that include breach of contract and defamation. The complaint alleges that Abel and Nathan conspired behind her back with Baldoni to coordinate a “smear campaign” against Lively, and are now trying to blame her for their alleged misconduct. “For months, this group has gaslit and disparaged Stephanie Jones and her company for financial gain, to settle personal scores and most recently to distract from their disgraceful smearing of Blake Lively,” Jones’s attorney, Kristin Tahler, said in a statement to Vulture. “This lawsuit is a necessary step to stop defendants’ continuing misconduct and for Steph to recover the reputation she has worked decades to establish and which the defendants disparaged for their own nefarious purposes.” 

Who has cut ties with Justin Baldoni?

Talent agency William Morris Endeavor has stopped representing him, Ari Emanuel (a chief executive at WME’s parent company Endeavor) told the New York Times on December 21.

Vital Voices, a nonprofit supporting women, said in a December 23 statement that it is taking back the Voices of Solidarity Award that it previously honored Baldoni with earlier in the month. “The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit – and the PR effort they indicate – are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award,” the organization explained. “We have notified Mr. Baldoni that we have rescinded this award.”

Liz Plank will no longer co-host the Man Enough podcast with Baldoni, she announced in an Instagram statement shared on December 23. “We all deserve better, and I know that together, we can create it,” she wrote in part. “I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened. In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable.”

Who is supporting Blake Lively?

A number of stars have backed Lively since news of her filing. Hoover told Lively to “never change” and “never wilt” in an Instagram Story after she filed. Michele Morrone said he felt Lively’s “pain” when he met her on the set of A Simple Favor 2, asking people leaving “cruel and bad” comments to read the Times report. Lively’s costar Brandon Sklenar similarly asked his followers to read the formal complaint through Instagram Stories. And Jenny Slate stood by her It Ends With Us castmate, whom she called a “loyal friend” and “trusted source of emotional support,” in a statement to Today. “What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening,” she added in part.

Lively’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel offered their support in a joint statement, “Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set,” they wrote, “and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice.” Her A Simple Favor director Paul Feig also supported her on X. Lively’s union SAG AFTRA expressed their support for the actress in a new statement on Monday, December 23, writing, “We applaud Blake Lively’s courage in speaking out on issues of retaliation and harassment and for her request to have an intimacy coordinator for all scenes with nudity or sexual content. This is an important step that helps ensure a safe set.” Actress Amber Heard also backed Lively; Baldoni’s crisis publicist was also hired by her ex-husband Johnny Depp amid his defamation lawsuit against her.

This post has been updated.