Blake Lively sues co-star for sexual harassment and alleged campaign to 'destroy her reputation'

Blake Lively has filed a lawsuit against It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni accusing him of sexual harassment and 'trying to destroy her reputation'.

The actors starred alongside one another in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel It Ends With Us - Baldoni also acting as the movie's director.

After the film's release in August, it didn't take long for rumors to arise of alleged 'friction' between Lively and Baldoni, with Lively also finding herself being slammed over her response in interviews for the film.

The accusations

In the lawsuit - first seen by TMZ and shared online by the New York Times - Lively accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment.

The lawsuit claims during filming, a meeting had to be called as a result of the alleged work environment being fostered on set and Lively listed certain requests.

The requests related to the film itself, allegedly including 'no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project'.

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' and no nude videos or images of women being shown to Lively.

The requests were reportedly agreed to however the lawsuit also claims Baldoni and his company - Wayfarer Studios - allegedly tried to 'destroy' her reputation through 'social manipulation' and has overall caused her and her family 'severe emotional distress'.

And an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios has since responded to the lawsuit.

Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Baldoni's response

Attorney for Baldoni as well as Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, Bryan Freedman, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions."

The statement slams the claims as 'completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media'.

The statement further alleges Lively made 'multiple demands and threats during production' - such as 'threatening to not show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film' unless her 'demands were met' - which led to Wayfarer Studios making the call 'to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones'.

It also states Lively's alleged demands 'ultimately lead to [the film's] demise during release'.

Baldoni also directed on the movie (Sony Pictures Releasing)

The statement continued: "It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.

"The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity.

"What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals."

Lively told The New York Times in a statement: "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."

UNILAD has contacted representatives for Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively and Sony Pictures for comment.