Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni avoided each other on the red carpet and watched the It Ends With Us world premiere in separate cinemas – in the same building – during their pernicious promo-tour, MailOnline can reveal today.
The co-stars failed to pose together outside New York City ‘s AMC Lincoln Square, at the UK premiere in London’s Leicester Square and at the European gala in Copenhagen.
And full cast pictures were also abandoned amid rumours that the acting team had sided with Blake and were no longer speaking to him amid allegations about his behaviour on set.
Blake Lively has been accused of trying to destroy Mr Baldoni, 40, the man who directed and starred in the movie, which made more than $350milllion worldwide in four months. She is suing him for sexual harassment and allegedly launching a smear campaign against her.
But there were signs that all was not well between them before the world premiere in New York on August 6 this year, with Lively, 37, and Baldoni not seen together during their entire promotional tour of the US and Europe either.
There was also an extraordinary moment where he was pushed back when asked about whether there would be a sequel, which fans immediately said revealed a major rift.
Justin admitted there were ‘tensions’ on set and suggested that a sequel would only happen if Blake Lively directed it instead of him, even though he had already secured the rights to Colleen Hoover’s It Starts With Us – the 2022 follow up to her 2016 novel It Ends With Us.
He also compared Blake to a Ferrari, describing her ‘so responsive and so reactive’ on set.
But it sparked speculation that it was also a double-edged compliment because the Italian supercar can also be considered expensive and temperamental.
Justin also admitted there was ‘friction’ when making the movie – but refused to say they this was a problem – and claimed it made the final film better.
‘There are all these things that happen every day on set, there’s always friction that happens when you make a movie like this. Then at the end of the day, it’s that friction, I believe, that creates the beautiful art. Everything in life needs friction to grow’, he said.
Justin also said that Blake gave him feedback about his acting during the filming in ‘realtime’, but insisted that it ‘really helped me’ rather than a distraction.
There were also claims that her husband Ryan Reynolds had helped re-write some her lines.
Blake’s interviews about the movie appeared tetchy at times, although she was supported by Brandon Sklenar, who appeared in the film, although Baldoni was nowhere to be seen.
Jenny Slate, another co-star, was asked about working with Baldoni but chose to speak about Blake Lively instead.
She said: ‘I fell deeply in love with her.
‘Obviously, I have admired Blake for so long. … [She’s a] deeply trustworthy person who is also willing to share. We had long talks. I was never expecting to have the off-set experience that I had.
‘I was really eager to work with Blake, but to really make a friend and someone who is so capable in so many ways — like, just like a genuine winner … I’m just so grateful for this sweet person’.
But during the same promo tour, Blake was slammed online and accused of turning an interviewer’s serious question about domestic violence into a ‘joke’.
The actress, 37, came under fire after she sat down for a virtual chat with Emmy award-winning reporter Jake Hamilton and was accused of having brushed off one of his queries regarding serious themes in the film.
Jake asked if people who related to what her character went through could talk to her about it if they saw her in person.
Rather than encouraging domestic violence victims to seek help from professionals or sharing resources available to them, Blake was accused of laughing.
She replied, ‘Ask for my address or my phone number? Or I could just share my location with you and then we could…,’ she trailed off before laughing.
Fans quickly realised there was a rift, months before Blake’s decision to sue him emerged.
Last night Blake Lively’s sister has broken her silence after the actress filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni.
Robyn Lively, 52, posted a message on her Instagram story last night as she weighed in on the explosive court battle which has stunned Hollywood.
Gossip Girl star Lively claims Baldoni hired a crisis PR team to engage in a ‘multi-tiered’ plan to ‘destroy’ her reputation after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, complained of ‘repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour’ on set.
The film was mired in controversy even before the lawsuit after fans noticed tensions between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, when they were promoting the movie before its release.
Lively has accused Baldoni, who also directed the film, of making sexual comments about the cast and crew, showing her explicit videos and images of women and discussing his previous alleged porn addiction.
Standing in solidarity with her younger sister, Robyn shared screenshots from a New York Times article that laid bare the astonishing details of the lawsuit.
‘FINALLY justice for my sister @BlakeLively,’ she wrote, highlighting specific sentences from the article such as ‘Ms Lively had expressed concerns about Mr Baldoni from the beginning’.
She also encouraged her followers to click on and read the article and wrote ‘Blake Lively’ with a heart drawn around the name.
Colleen Hoover, the author of the It Ends With Us book, has also rushed to show her support for Lively.
‘@blakelively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive, and patient since the day we met,’ the author wrote on Saturday. ‘Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.’
The film, based on Hoover’s novel, is about a woman’s pursuit of a loving and healthy relationship, with Lively playing the lead character Lily Bloom and Baldoni as her love interest Ryle Kincaid.
In the film, Lily falls in love with Ryle before reconnecting with her first love (Brandon Sklenar) – amid a backdrop of domestic violence.
After suing Baldoni, Lively said: ‘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.’
Lively has garnered the further support as it emerged last night that she had made 30 demands of Baldoni and others on set.
In a complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department on Friday, Lively made several claims regarding her Baldon who she is suing for sexual harassment and allegedly launching a smear campaign against her.
The production of It Ends With Us was delayed in 2023 due to a writers strike. A day before filming resumed, a meeting was held to address the set’s ‘hostile work environment.’
At the January 4 meeting, Lively stated the issues she had with Baldoni and Jamey Heath, the Chief Executive Officer of Wayfarer and producer of the movie, according to the filing.
Reynolds, who did not appear in the film, joined her at the showdown meeting, according to the legal filing.
Everyone in attendance reportedly agreed to the 30 conditions the actress demanded in order to prevent further discomfort on set. Most of the points Lively brought up were sex-related.
The first request was ‘no more showing of nude videos or images of women, including the producer’s wife’ to Lively or her employees, according to the filing released by the New York Times.
Another jaw-dropping requirement was that people on set stop discussing Baldoni and Heath’s previous ‘pornography addiction’ and Lively’s ‘lack of pornography consumption.
Lively also asserted that no one should be talking about their sex lives, their genitalia or ‘personal times that physical consent was not given in sexual acts, as either the abuser or the abused.’
The complaint revealed that Lively said no one was to bring up any previous HR complaints made against WayFarer Studios, which Baldoni is co-founder of. She also forbid anyone from asking her or her trainer about her weight.
Further complaints refer to Lively’s deceased father and religion. Lively reportedly declared that there should be no more mention of Baldoni ‘speaking to’ her late father.
She also asked that Baldoni stop inquiring her about her religious beliefs and imposing his on her – she also wanted him to stop ‘pressing’ to sage her employees.
Health matters were also discussed, with Lively outlining that if her or her infant are exposed to COVID ‘again,’ she must be notified immediately.
Lively also set clear boundaries when it came to filming the movie’s sex and intimacy scenes.
She demanded an intimacy coordinator be preset at all times in every scene involving Lively and Baldoni, adding that there should be no more ‘improvising’ kissing.
‘No biting or sucking of lip without [Lively’s] consent,’ the document reads.
A later demand said that all sex scenes need coordinator present, as well as a ‘monitor’ pre-approved by Lively to oversee them.
Regarding scenes depicting rape or violence, Lively said that her character, Lily Bloom, must be played by a stunt double. She would only do close-up or pre-discussed scenes of this nature.
No additional sexual scenes outside of what Lively originally signed up for would be permitted, according to the filing.
‘No more asking or pressuring [Lively] to cross physical picket lines,’ another point summarized.
Lively also stated that no more touching or sexual comments from Baldoni or Heath would ‘be tolerated’ by her or any other women on set. All sex scenes would also have to be monitored by a representative of the actress.
Everyone working on these intimate scenes had to be hired professionals that Lively pre-approved, not ‘friends’ of the producer or director.
She also said that she would not film any more nude scenes without a SAG-compliant nudity rider – a document outlining the scene’s specifics – in place. Any scenes shot without one, Lively said, should not be used without her legal team’s consent.
Lively insinuated that Baldoni and Heath were barging into her trailer while she was nude and asked for ‘no more entering, attempting to entire, interrupting, pressuring or asking’ Lively to come inside for any reason while she is not dressed.
She also said she would no longer tolerate ‘multi hour’ unmonitored meetings with Baldoni crying in her trailer.
Producer Alex Saks was mandated ‘to be given standard rights, inclusion, and authority per her job description’ and Sony was to have a more ‘active role’ in the film’s production.
For cast safety, an ‘experienced’ producer was asked to oversee the set.
It was agreed that Lively would not receive any ‘abusive’ or ‘retaliatory’ reactions to wanting to put these safeguard in place.
The final request was for an in-person meeting before production was resumed to go over these stipulations and ensure they would ‘be adhered to for the physical and emotional safety’ of Lively, her staff and the rest of the people on set.
Rumors of a rift between the movie’s leads began to swirl amid its press run, after eagle-eyed fans noted a frostiness between the pair on the red carpet.
Relations soured even further during filming, and culminated in a HR meeting where various conditions were agreed to by Baldoni and his Wayfarer studio before Lively would consider resuming filming after the writers’ strike, the filings state.
Then sometime before August 2, Baldoni hired crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, whose previous clients have included Jonny Depp, as part of his PR team which also included publicist Jennifer Abel.
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, said: ‘These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.’
He added that the studio ‘made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film’.
He continued: ‘There were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario-planning and private correspondence to strategise, which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.’
Baldoni is also known for his role as Rafael Solano
