Justin Baldoni has issued a stinging response to Blake Lively after she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him.
The director is being sued by Lively over allegations about his behavior on the set of their film ‘It Ends With Us’.
The film’s release was mired in controversy after fans noticed tension between the two leads, which Lively appears to have partially explained in the lawsuit.
She accused Baldoni of making sexual comments about cast and crew, showing her explicit videos and images of women and discussing his previous alleged porn addiction.
However, Baldoni has now hit back, claiming that Lively only filed the lawsuit to try to restore her reputation in the wake of the negative press she received following the film’s release.
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman described the legal action as “false, scandalous and deliberately lascivious with the intent to publicly injure.”
He insisted that Lively is trying to “repair her negative reputation” after rumors of diva-like behavior spread during filming.
This included “threatening not to show up on set, threatening not to promote the film, which ultimately led to its demise during its release,” according to Freedman.
Justin Baldoni has issued a cutting response to Blake Lively after she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him
Baldoni is being sued by Lively over allegations about his behavior on the set of their film ‘It Ends With Us’
Meanwhile, Lively has accused Baldoni of fostering a toxic work environment that reportedly became so tense that she demanded crisis meetings attended by her husband Ryan Reynolds, among others. TMZ first reported.
The lawsuit states that Baldoni asked inappropriate questions about Lively’s weight, comments about her late father and sexual comments about the cast and crew, which she said should stop.
Lively also requested, “No more sex scenes, oral sex or climaxes on camera by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script approved by BL at the signing of the project,” the documents say.
The demands were reportedly accepted by the studio, but the film’s release was still hampered by a dispute between the stars over how to market the film, the lawsuit said.
Eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted Baldoni and Lively’s frosty relationship on the red carpet, and reports of the rift began to emerge.
Lively claims Baldoni’s team then waged a “social manipulation” campaign to damage her reputation.
The lawsuit includes text messages from the director’s publicist to the studio, in which Baldoni allegedly said “want to feel like [Lively] can be buried, and ‘we cannot write that we will destroy her’.
It Ends With Us became one of the most talked about films of the year after its release in August, but for all the wrong reasons.
But he claims Lively only filed the lawsuit to patch up her reputation, which took a hit amid a wave of negative press following the film’s release.
Lively accused her director of fostering a toxic workplace and engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior
Emily Baldoni and Justin Baldoni at the New York premiere of “It Ends With Us.” Fans became suspicious of a feud after the cast failed to post with Baldoni during photo opportunities
Insiders revealed the worrying truth about the tensions, telling DailyMail.com that Blake and Justin argued about his ‘dismissive’ attitude towards her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes involving abuse.
The insider claimed that Justin only focused on “what he believed was the offensive male position” and had a very “chauvinistic” approach to the subject.
But as rumors of the feud continued, social media reactions began to turn against Blake, who was criticized for her responses in interviews promoting the film.
She was branded “tone deaf” and “shallow” after setting up an interview with her It Ends With Us costars and failing to discuss the serious message behind the film.
A disagreement over how to market the film only added to the problems between the lead actors, with Lively preferring an optimistic approach while Baldoni was reportedly more concerned with communicating the themes of domestic violence in the movie.
Also around the time the film hit the press, some of Lively’s old interviews resurfaced, prompting backlash for her “rude” attitude toward interviewers.
Among them was an awkward encounter with Kjersti Flaa, where a visibly pregnant Lively seemed to take offense to Flaa referring to her baby bump.
Another saw Lively accused of “mean girl” behavior during an interview with Café Society co-star Parker Posey during promotion for the film.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Lively and Baldoni for comment.