Blake Lively sues It Ends With Us co-star for sexual harassment and alleged 'social manipulation' campaign

Blake Lively has sued her It Ends With Us co-star for sexual harassment and alleging he attempted a ‘social manipulation’ campaign.

It’s fair to say the summer film release was tainted by off-screen drama with rumours circulating of a rift between the actor and her director and co-star, Justin Baldoni.

Based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover, the romantic drama landed in cinemas back in August, with fans noticing the pair were not doing much press together.

And now Lively has filed a lawsuit (obtained by the New York Times), alleging Baldoni attempted to mount a smear campaign against her, adding the claim his behaviour caused ‘severe emotional distress’ for both her family and her.

There had been rumours of an on-set rift between the stars (NILS MEILVANG/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told Variety the suit is full of ‘categorically false accusations’.

The legal complaint claims a meeting was held during production to address Lively’s claims and demands for working on It Ends With Us, reportedly with her husband Ryan Reynolds, in attendance.

Allegedly, some of these demands addressed included: “No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”

The star also allegedly demanded Baldoni didn’t add any more ‘sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing’ to the film outside of what was in the script she had approved prior to filming.

Sony Pictures reportedly approved the requests according to the legal complaint.

But as well as alleging these demands she made, it accuses Baldoni of ‘social manipulation’ with a campaign aiming to ‘destroy’ Lively’s reputation once filming was done.

Justin Baldoni's lawyer slammed the lawsuit (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Freedman’s statement to Variety said: “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.”

Calling the claims ‘completely false’, he added: “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.”

Lively told The New York Times in a statement: “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.”

LADbible has contacted Sony Pictures, Baldoni and Lively’s reps for comment.