Featured Image Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Topics: Amber Heard, Blake Lively, Film and TV, Hollywood, Justin Baldoni, Celebrity
Liv Bridge
Topics: Amber Heard, Blake Lively, Film and TV, Hollywood, Justin Baldoni, Celebrity
Amber Heard has weighed in on Blake Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.
The American actress has spoken out about the lawsuit which has seen Lively accuse her It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni of sexual harassment.
The lawsuit blames Baldoni for creating a toxic work environment over the set, which caused Lively to suffer 'severe emotional distress'.
Lively's attorneys said the star had made certain requests during film, which included 'no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project'.
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Other requests also allegedly stated no discussions of a sexual nature were allowed to happen in front of Lively, no mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no more discussion about Lively's weight, no mention of Baldoni's alleged previous 'pornography addiction', no nude videos or images of women being shown to Lively and no further mention of Lively's dead father.
These requests were reportedly agreed to, but the lawsuit claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios tried to 'destroy' her reputation through 'social manipulation' with the help of a crisis communications team.
An attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that Lively's own statement is 'categorically false', 'intentionally salacious' and slammed the lawsuit as 'shameful'.
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Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni and the company, also criticized the move as 'another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation'.
Lawyers defending Baldoni also accused Lively of making 'multiple demands and threats' during the production of the film, such as 'threatening not to show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film'.
In response, Lively told The New York Times: "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."
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Speaking to NBC News today (Monday, December 23), Amber Heard said she 'saw this firsthand'.
Her comments come as Baldoni retained prominent PR crisis manger, Melissa Nathan, who Johnny Depp had hired during his defamation trial against his ex-wife, Heard.
In an exclusive interview with NBC news, Heard said: “Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.’
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"I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”
In her infamous defamation case with Depp, a jury unanimously came to the decision that Heard had defamed her former husband, and he was awarded $5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages.
Depp praised the outcome of the infamous trial, though Heard said the decision 'sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated'.
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According to Lively's complaint, Nathan created a plan for Baldoni of 'social media mitigation', including 'proactive fan posting' and 'social manipulations' to 'help change narrative' when the film was being promoted.
Fans grew suspicious of a potential spat between the co-stars when they were seemingly avoiding each other in press interviews - and some spotted Lively and her co-star Jenny State did not follow Baldoni on Instagram.
Heard's comments also come as the author of It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover, also appeared to lend her support to Blake.
In a story on Instagram, Hoover said: "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met.
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"Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."