has accused her director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to 鈥渄estroy鈥� her reputation in a legal complaint.
The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind 鈥淚t Ends With Us鈥� and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.
In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a 鈥渕ulti-tiered plan鈥� to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed 鈥渞epeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior鈥� by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also says Baldoni 鈥渁bruptly pivoted away from鈥� the movie's marketing plan and 鈥渦sed domestic violence 鈥榮urvivor content鈥� to protect his public image.鈥�
鈥淭hese claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,鈥� attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement. Freedman represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.
Freedman pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio 鈥減roactively鈥� hired a crisis manager 鈥渄ue to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production." He said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film 鈥渋f her demands were not met.鈥� Those demands were not specified in the statement.
鈥淚 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,鈥� Lively said in a statement to the Times. A representative for Lively referred the AP to the Times report, in which Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.
鈥淚t Ends With Us,鈥� an adaptation of was released in August, with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair. Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centerstage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for at the same time.
Baldoni 鈥� who starred in the telenovela send-up directed 鈥淔ive Feet Apart鈥� and wrote 鈥淢an Enough,鈥� a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity 鈥� did respond to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, at the time that critics were 鈥渁bsolutely entitled to that opinion.鈥�
鈥淚f anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel,鈥� he said. 鈥淭o them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.鈥�
Mallika Sen, The Associated Press
