A Giant Alleged Red Flag Against Justin Baldoni Before Blake Lively Filed Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Over It Ends With Us

Any filmmaking process includes countless interactions between actors, producers, writers, directors, and other crew members of the movie. Usually, the productions are well conducted, but sometimes tensions between the team build-up, which affects interpersonal relationships. It Ends With Us cast seems to suffer a bit more than that.

The romantic drama adapted from Colleen Hoover’s famous novel starred Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and did quite well at the box office. But some recent reports and revelations about how the production was conducted paint a different behind-the-scenes picture.

Blake Lively’s allegations against Justin Baldoni

It Ends With Us is a romantic drama that focuses on characters in a complex and abusive relationship. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were the lead cast, and the latter also directed the movie. While the movie received mixed reviews, it did well at the box office, grossing over $350.9 million worldwide (as per Box Office Mojo).

However, the success has now been overshadowed by serious allegations that have followed the whole process. TMZ recently reported that Lively has filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and of allegedly trying to damage her reputation.

The report stated that the situation was so bad that it forced the management to call an all-staff meeting to contain the hostile environment. Some of the allegations listed in the case mention incidents like inappropriate s*xual discussions and comments and making unwanted remarks about Lively’s weight.

TMZ further reports that the lawsuit mentions demands like no more showing explicit images and videos to Lively, no more talks about her late father, no more talks about Baldoni’s alleged p*rnography addiction, and a ban on additional intimate scenes outside the script.

The lawsuit also accuses Baldoni and his team of investing in a campaign of “social manipulation” against Lively to “destroy” her reputation. Lively reportedly told TMZ,

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.

However, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said the allegations were “false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious” and that the lawsuit was designed to help Lively “fix her negative reputation.” Freedman also accused Lively of being rude on set and said that she threatened not to shoot the movie or do promotions for it.

Alleged cast tensions with Justin Baldoni and social media drama

Before the filing of the lawsuit, fans who were keenly watching the developments in the making of the film had seen hints of a rift between the director and the actors. Many had noticed that Lively made all her promotional appearances together with other cast members, except Baldoni.

There have also been signs of tension between the director and his cast as seen through their social media interaction. According to USA Today, both Colleen Hoover and Blake Lively unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram while the director-actor still followed them. Netizens also took notice of this months ago before the whole lawsuit drama.

Fans also noticed other cast members like Jenny Slate, Isabela Ferrer, and Brandon Sklenar also unfollowed Baldoni, which raised eyebrows about his relationship with his cast members and questioned his conduct during the movie’s production.

Along with this, Daily Mail earlier reported that some insiders claimed that Baldoni was “dismissive” towards Lively’s contributions where domestic violence scenes were concerned. Although Baldoni and even Lively remained professional during and after the release of the movie, it takes on a different meaning after the recent allegations.

It Ends With Us is available to stream on Netflix.