It Ends With Us, the 2024 romantic drama starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, could also be one of many extra litigious movies in latest historical past. Based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the identical title, It Ends With Us was an instantaneous field workplace hit, incomes $50 million within the US and Canada in its opening weekend. Ultimately, It Ends With Us would gross greater than $350 million worldwide on an estimated funds of $25 million.
But beneath its business success brewed a battle that may quickly flip ugly. In December, Lively filed a criticism in opposition to Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation, and inside days sued him, alleging that she suffered emotional misery from her costar and director, who she says sought to malign her character through an internet marketing campaign allegedly coordinated along with his publicity crew. Baldoni quickly clapped again with lawsuits of his personal, suing The New York Times for libel in addition to Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, whom Baldoni has accused of making an attempt to “destroy” him.
With all of the litigation swirling, it may be exhausting to maintain monitor of who’s suing whom, and for what. So right here’s a timeline of the important authorized allegations, lawsuits, and complaints filed amid the continued drama between Baldoni and Lively. Scroll down for the newest updates.
August 2024: The dramatic It Ends With Us press tour begins. Even earlier than the movie hits theaters on August 9, eagle-eyed followers discover pressure on the movie’s premiere, the place Lively is just not photographed with Baldoni. Jenny Slate, who seems within the movie, deftly but conspicuously avoids answering a query about Baldoni on the crimson carpet, additional inflicting followers to invest that there’s a rift between the forged and their director. (Slate has since voiced her assist for Lively.)
Around this time, social media accounts start criticizing Lively for her dealing with of the movie’s delicate subject material. A clip revealed on the official It Ends With Us TikTok account, that includes Lively instructing followers to “grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it,” sparks backlash, with some accusing the Gossip Girl star of downplaying the heavier themes within the movie. Baldoni, in the meantime, spends a lot of his press tour specializing in the darker elements of It Ends With Us, which is in the end about home violence. “The book helped thousands and thousands and thousands of women leave these relationships,” he says on ABC News. “I know far too many women who have been sexually assaulted or abused. That number is way too high, and there’s a reason that they care, and I just want them to know I care too.”
The backlash in opposition to Lively continues when a clip from a earlier interview begins circulating on-line, seemingly out of the blue. On August 10, junket journalist Kjersti Flaa uploads to YouTube a 2016 interview clip by which Lively seems to snap at Flaa after the journalist congratulates a pregnant Lively on her “little bump.”
“Congrats on your little bump!” says Lively to Flaa within the clip, although Flaa is just not pregnant on the time. Flaa names the video “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.”
December 20, 2024: In a criticism filed with California’s civil courtroom, Lively accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, alleging that the director created a hostile surroundings on set, then employed a PR agency to launch a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the actor (the criticism was preceded the identical day by a submitting with the California Civil Rights Department). A New York Times article concerning the criticism is revealed the next day, having been written by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire, and Julie Tate; it consists of alleged textual content messages concerning the purported Lively takedown, despatched between members of Baldoni’s PR crew, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel.
The 80-page criticism claims that after manufacturing on It Ends With Us was paused as a result of Hollywood strikes, Lively’s attorneys despatched an inventory of provisions to the movie’s manufacturing firm, Wayfarer Studios (which was cofounded by Baldoni), demanding an finish to what, within the criticism, is described as a “hostile work environment.” In the criticism, Lively alleges, amongst different issues, that Baldoni improvised kisses whereas filming, ceaselessly referenced his previous pornography dependancy and sexual encounters, and would enter her trailer whereas she was undressed and breastfeeding her toddler little one.