Justin Baldoni assaulted?
Blake Lively is suing colleagues for harassment
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
During the filming of the film “Just One More Time,” co-star and director Justin Baldoni is said to have been sexually assaulted. That's why Blake Lively is now filing a complaint against the 40-year-old. His behavior caused her “severe emotional distress.” His lawyer sees it differently.
There were already numerous rumors in the summer about disputes behind the scenes of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel “Just One More Time” (original title: “It Ends with Us”). Particularly during the press tour for the film's release, an alleged argument between leading actress Blake Lively and director and co-star Justin Baldoni became apparent. Months later, Lively has now reported her colleague for sexual harassment.
In documents obtained by US gossip portal TMZ, the actress states that Baldoni's alleged behavior caused her “severe emotional distress.” Accordingly, there was a meeting to discuss their claims and their demands for working together on the film. Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds also attended this meeting.
Conversations on set about porn addiction and genitals
The demands for further cooperation are said to have included, among other things, “no more showing Blake nude videos or images of women, no mention of Baldoni's alleged former 'porn addiction', no further discussions of sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of genitals the cast and crew, no further inquiries about Blake's weight and no further mention of Blake's dead father,” TMZ quoted.
In addition, Blake Lively requested “no addition of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxes (…) outside the scope of the script that Blake Lively agreed to when signing the project.” According to TMZ, the documents state that Sony Pictures, which is distributing the film, approved their applications. However, the actors' lawsuit now alleges that Baldoni then took part in a campaign of “social manipulation” to “destroy” Lively's reputation.
His lawyer hits back
Justin Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told the portal that Lively was using the charges to “improve her negative reputation.” He added that her allegations are “false, outrageous and deliberately lewd with the intent to hurt the public.” The lawyer also alleges that Lively caused problems on the film's set “by threatening not to show up on set and not to promote the film, which ultimately led to its failure during release.”
Rumors of a rift between 40-year-old Baldoni and the rest of the cast had already arisen during the promotional tour after the director and leading actor could not be seen in photos with the rest of the cast. In addition, Lively and author Colleen Hoover, among others, do not follow the actor and director of the film on Instagram. According to The Hollywood Reporter Differences in post-production would have led to two different versions of the drama.
“Fatshaming” by Baldoni?
Blake Lively also accused her colleague of asking his trainer about her weight. According to his explanation, she saw this as fat-shaming, but because of back problems he wanted to train properly so that he could lift her in the film.
At the same time, 37-year-old Lively was criticized for her promotion of the film, in which domestic violence is the main theme. Film fans online complained that Lively's colorful floral outfits in public appearances were giving off a misleading image and that she was marketing the film as a funny romantic comedy rather than a story about domestic violence.