Blake Lively’s lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni not only alleges on-set sexual harassment but a concerted effort to smear her online doing the film’s promotional push.
In light of Lively’s initial complaints against Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath — and following Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, blocking Baldoni on Instagram — Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios’ public relations team, and a crisis management expert outlined a pre-release strategy to shift the online conversation toward criticizing Lively, according to a planning document that was later among the exhibits in the Lively lawsuit and obtained by Rolling Stone.
“Though there are several potential scenarios at play here which we should be prepared for, should BL and her team make her grievances public – via a blatant story or subtle leak,” the crisis management team wrote.
“Given she was made to compromise with the premiere, we feel she will move forward with doing so. Our recommendation is to get ahead of this narrative, owning any misconceptions and addressing them head on. Ultimately, we need to be ready to take the air out of any story that does arise, as well as commentary and/or background narrative BL and her team put together, without being the louder antagonizer.”
The planning document continued, “Our team can also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people in BL’s circle like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want.”
Another exhibit that accompanied Lively’s lawsuit, also obtained by Rolling Stone, contained a series of texts and emails between Baldoni, PR exec Jennifer Abel, and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan. In the correspondence, Baldoni is initially concerned that “there is not much defense” in the planning document if Lively was to go on the offensive.
Abel and Nathan side-chatted about Baldoni’s concerns. “We can’t write it down to him. We can’t write we will destroy her,” Nathan wrote to Abel. “[Baldoni] has to look at it as an information document for us to be armed with. That’s all. Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.”
In a follow-up message, Nathan added, “You know we can bury anyone but I can’t write that to [Baldoni].”
Two days later, on August 4, Abel confided to Nathan, “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with… Just to get ahead of it.” “Same,” Nathan responded, adding that a friend, an editor at the Daily Mail, was “ready when we are.”
Baldoni then texted a threaded tweet about “hailey bieber’s history of bullying many women,” which had over 19 million views at the time he sent it. “This is what we would need,” Baldoni wrote, suggesting a similar strategy employed against Lively.
As speculation on social media and coverage in the press on Lively — despite the emergence of some of the on-set complaints — Baldoni’s team rejoiced, the messages revealed. “So are we in the clear now?! Did we survive?!,” Abel asked Nathan on August 9. “We survived,” Nathan responded, “All press is so overwhelming. We’ve confused people. So much mixed messaging. It’s actually really funny if you think about it.”
The next day, the PR team discussed shifting the narrative around the film to focus on “reactions from domestic violence survivors.” “The majority of socials are so pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol,” Nathan wrote to Abel. “He doesn’t realize how lucky he is right now we need to press on him just how fucking lucky.”
On August 16, Nathan — who previously claimed to have a friend at the Daily Mail “ready” — shared the tabloid’s article headlined “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED?” “Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Abel said of the article. “That’s why you hired me right?” Nathan responded. “I’m the best.”
In the lawsuit — filed against Baldoni, Heath, Abel, Nathan, and others — Lively claims that following “targeted, multichannel online attack,” her businesses outside of It Ends With Us also suffered, as sales for her hair-care company Blake Brown dropped nearly 80 percent in August amid the controversy.
Rumors of a feud between Lively and Baldoni first became public in early August during the film’s promotional push, with Baldoni conducting solo interviews while Likely was often joined by her other co-stars at junkets and premieres. In interviews, Lively — who also produced the film — gushed about the cast and crew but never mentioned Baldoni, the director who she also made out with onscreen. A Rolling Stone report soon confirmed the speculation about the behind-the-scenes drama.
Lively said in a statement to 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.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told Variety in a statement that Lively’s lawsuit was an attempt to “fix her negative reputation,” adding the claims are “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.”