Blake Lively is not the only one Justin Baldoni allegedly made feel “uncomfortable” on the set of It Ends With Us.
On Tuesday night, the Gossip Girl lead filed her amended complaint against her co-star/director, which includes 50 news pages of allegations amid her sexual harassment and smear campaign complaints against him. Among the new allegations is the claim that there are TWO other actresses from the domestic violence film that reported complaints about Justin during the production — and who are ready and willing to testify against him.
Related: Taylor Swift Is Really ‘Hurt’ And ‘Taking A Break’ From Blake Friendship!
Per the legal docs, two actresses are prepared to testify with claims Justin or his Wayfarer Studios partner Jamey Heath made them feel uncomfortable on set. The suit doesn’t name the actresses or include direct quotes from texts or screenshots from their evidence yet out of a fear that they will be the next victims of cyberbullying and threats, just like Blake and Ryan Reynolds say they have endured since striking up this legal battle.
Addressing this, a spokesperson for the A Simple Favor star told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday:
“Importantly, however, these victim-witnesses have given Ms. Lively permission to share their communications in the Amended Complaint as they are laid out, and they will testify and produce documents in the discovery process.”
Blake’s lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb also said in a statement:
“Ms. Lively has filed an amended complaint today that provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims. That evidence includes previously undisclosed communications involving Ms. Lively, representatives of Sony and Wayfarer, and numerous other witnesses. The complaint includes significant contemporaneous evidence that Ms. Lively was not alone in raising allegations of on-set misconduct more than a year before the film was edited; as well as evidence detailing the threats, harassment, and intimidation of not just Ms. Lively, but numerous innocent bystanders that have followed defendants’ retaliatory campaign.”
According the the suit, Blake and others were documented making complains against Justin beginning in May 2023. The legal papers stated:
“Ms. Lively brought this lawsuit because she was one of the ‘women or two’ that Mr. Baldoni ‘one million percent’ … ‘made uncomfortable” on the set of the film. Ms. Lively was not the only one who was uncomfortable on set, and Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer knew it. After Mr. Baldoni learned that he had caused Ms. Lively and others to feel ‘uncomfortable,’ he turned his TED Talk and ‘feminist’ advocacy on its head.”
Jeez. As for the new evidence…
On May 24, 2023, The Age of Adaline alum confided in a woman who was a mutual friend of both Justin and Jamey in a text message, writing:
“I was gonna invite you to set tomorrow. These people. Whoa … It’s like HR nuts today. The both of them. I wasn’t expecting that turn. I mean it’s been present but today I came home and cried.”
In the same exchange, she called the men “creeps,” adding:
“Like keep your hormones to yourselves. This is not mine. I don’t want it. I don’t want you [sic] gaze or words or tongue or videos of your naked wife. Yeah. It’s shocking. Clowns.”
Just days later, on May 26, 2023, Blake reported her concerns to Sony employee Ange Giannetti.
Over the next three days, another female cast member allegedly also reported her own concerns about the Five Feet Apart director’s “unwelcome behavior” to Ange and another one of the film’s producers.
After the Sony rep shared these concerns with Justin, he “responded to that female cast member in writing, acknowledging that he was aware of her concerns, and that adjustments would be made.” Just one week later, though, the same female cast member “told Ms. Lively about her growing concerns with the conditions on set and that she found it difficult to talk to Mr. Baldoni.”
And then, Blake’s lawyers claim, instead of ever changing his behavior or making necessary changes on-set, Justin retaliated against his leading lady by hiring a crisis management team and orchestrating a smear campaign to ruin the mother of four’s reputation. Oof.
So, who were these other alleged victims?? While the lawsuit does not name then and nothing has been confirmed yet, sources for The Hollywood Reporter allege they are Jenny Slate — who played Justin’s on-screen sister — and Isabela Ferrer — who played the young version of Blake’s character. Whoa. Those are the other two major female roles in the movie.
For her part, Jenny has been VERY outspoken in support of Blake since this legal trouble started.
Isabela, on the other hand, was named in the Jane the Virgin star’s lawsuit for praising him for creating such a “comfortable, safe space” on set. In text message screenshots and an interview she did for promotion, she gushed about working with him and having a great time on the project. The compliments were given in June and July of 2023 — well before the press tour for the film began in 2024 before its summer release. And we all know by that point that Isabela was one of the many cast members who shunned Justin at that time.
We’re hoping there will be a LOT more to come from this if the women testify and their evidence is given in full. But if all this turns out to be true, it’s certainly a big blow to Justin. It is no longer just a fight between two at-odds co-stars. This makes it sound like he and his producer pal were possibly much more problematic than they claim they were.
Thoughts on these new claims, Perezcious readers?? Sound OFF in the comments!
[Image via MEGA/WENN/Phil Lewis & Soul Boom/YouTube]
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