On December 20, Blake Lively filed a complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, claiming he invaded her privacy by “entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed,” among other things. She then formally filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against Baldoni, his publicist, and Wayfarer Studios for “retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment”. The legal drama continued when Baldoni filed a lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for “falsely” accusing him of sexual harassment. Baldoni’s team then released a 10-minute video from the film, claiming it was all part of a movie scene and was shot with mutual respect and professionalism.
Now, Blake’s team has responded to the video with a statement.
The statement read: “Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her complaint. The video shows Mr Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.”
It further read, “Every moment of this was improvised by Mr Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present. They will recognise her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent. This matter is in active litigation in federal court. Releasing this video to the media, rather than presenting it as evidence in court, is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public. It is also a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign.”
The video in question shows Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni dancing in a bar, where they are seen exchanging some conversation between shots.
It Ends With Us, based on the 2016 novel by writer Colleen Hoover, stars Blake and Baldoni in the lead roles. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
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