Blake Lively has filed a formal lawsuit against her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
The actress, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, Tuesday in New York federal court for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages, Page Six can confirm.
The allegations in the suit, which we obtained, mirror those in the complaint she filed last week with the California Civil Rights Department.
Lively claimed in her lawsuit that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of their August movie and that after they held a meeting to address his alleged behavior, he allegedly hired a crisis management team to destroy her reputation.
In addition to Baldoni, Lively is suing his crisis managers, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, along with Wayfarer Studios, which produced “It Ends with Us.”
“Earlier today, Ms. Lively filed a federal complaint against Wayfarer Studios and others in the Southern District of New York,” her attorneys told us in a statement.
“Ms. Lively previously sent her California Civil Rights Department Complaint in response to the retaliatory campaign Wayfarer launched against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns.”
The statement continued, “Unfortunately, Ms. Lively’s decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks. As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court.”
The attorneys concluded, “Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law.”
Reps for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
Lively claimed in her lawsuit that during the filming of the romantic drama, there had to be an “all-hands” meeting about Baldoni’s alleged on-set behavior.
During the purported meeting, he was allegedly told to stop showing his co-star “nude videos or images of women,” mentioning his past “porn addiction” and sexual conquests and bringing up the “cast and crew’s genitalia,” according to the suit.
Baldoni was also allegedly asked not to add more sexually charged scenes “outside the scope” of the pre-approved script.
Furthermore, he was allegedly told to stop inquiring about Lively’s “weight” and “dead father.”
According to the lawsuit, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was present for the discussion.
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ attorney, Bryan Freedman, told Page Six in response to the complaint, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations.
“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Freedman claimed his client hired a crisis manager due to the “multiple demands and threats” Lively had allegedly made during production, including “threatening to not showing up to set [and] threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”
Lively also alleged in her complaint that Baldoni was behind much of the avalanche of negative stories circulating about her shortly after he retained said fixer, accusing them of engaging in “social manipulation” to “destroy” her reputation.
This story is developing…