“It Ends With Us” star Blake Lively filed a legal complaint on Dec. 20 against her costar and the film’s director, Justin Baldoni, capping off months of a public feud between the actors.
Fans first noticed inklings of a rift between the film’s two stars in early August when Lively and Baldoni began promoting “It Ends With Us” separately ahead of the film’s release.
Speculation about a potential feud reached a fever pitch by mid-August, when backlash began against Lively for the way she was marketing and talking about the film.
Lively’s complaint, filed with the California Civil Rights Department months after the film’s premiere, accused Baldoni of sexual harassment while filming and then retaliating and participating in a a PR campaign to ruin her reputation before the film was released.
“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 said in a Dec. 21 statement to TODAY.com.
Jamey Heath, the lead producer on “It Ends With Us,” and the CEO of the film’s production company, Wayfarer Studios,were also named in the complaint, which is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and all its representatives, called Lively’s complaint “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a Dec. 21 statement to TODAY.com.
Here’s a full timeline of the behind-the-scenes drama of “It Ends With Us,” the film adaptation of the bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover.
Jan. 26, 2023: Colleen Hoover announces Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been cast
Hoover, the author of bestselling books like “Verity” and “Reminders of Him,” revealed that Lively had been cast as Lily Bloom and Baldoni had been cast as Ryle Kincaid in a TikTok on Jan. 26, 2023. (Hoover’s account has since gone private.)
“Our Lily is going to be played by Blake Lively,” Hoover said. “Blake Lively, y’all. She’s my dream Lily. And then when I first met Justin Baldoni, who is directing the film for ‘It Ends With Us,’ I immediately wanted him to be Ryle. I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character, and the good news is he’s gonna be Ryle.”
Baldoni was also tapped to direct the film, and Lively was credited as a producer.
Hoover’s novel follows Lily as she opens a floral shop in Boston. She meets Ryle, a neurosurgeon, and has a chance encounter in which she reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Atlas Corrigan, while she’s falling for Ryle.
Lily has to confront the cycle of violence that began with her father and continued with her husband, facing domestic violence and other abuse. The book’s themes garnered controversy from readers before it was announced it would be adapted into a film.
May 5, 2023: ‘It Ends With Us’ filming begins
The movie began filming on May 5, 2023, and photos from the set immediately sparked debate amongst the book’s most devoted fans.
Lively dyed her hair red for the part, and readers quickly pointed our that Lily’s outfits seen in the photos didn’t match scenes from the book. Fans also noted that Lively, then 35, didn’t match Lily’s age of 23 in the book.
Hoover addressed the ages of her characters during a panel with TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager in Texas in June 2023.
“Back when I wrote ‘It Ends With Us,’ the new adult (genre) was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon,” Hoover said.
To correct her own mistake, Hoover said she met with the film’s production team to tell them she wanted to use the film to make the characters more age appropriate.
“As I started making this movie, I’m like, we need to age them out, because I messed up,” she said. “So that’s my fault.”
Hoover also spoke about the outfits seen in photos from the set during the interview.
“When I wrote the book, it wasn’t about the age of the characters. It wasn’t about what they were wearing. I don’t even think I described any clothing in the book,” Hoover said.
“Yeah, you’ve seen a few outfits that Lily has worn, but she looks so phenomenal on screen,” she added. “And some of the outfits that she’s worn indoors that no one’s gotten pictures of yet are phenomenal.”
Aug. 6, 2024: ‘It Ends With Us’ premieres in New York
At the film’s New York premiere, Lively posed on the red carpet with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and his “Deadpool & Wolverine” costar Hugh Jackman, as well as her “It Ends With Us” costars Brandon Sklenar and Jenny Slate.
Baldoni took photos alone and with his wife, Emily Baldoni.
Around that time, fans also started to speculate about possible tension between members of the cast when they noticed that Lively and Hoover did not follow Baldoni on Instagram, though they followed each other and other members of the cast.
During the film’s press cycle before the release of the film, Lively appeared with other members of the cast, but not Baldoni, while Baldoni did many of his interviews for the film solo.
Aug. 8, 2024: Justin Baldoni appears on TODAY and comments on working with Blake Lively
Two days after the New York premiere, Baldoni spoke about working with Lively on TODAY.
“I don’t know if you know how smart and creative she really is,” he told TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones. “I think she’s best known as an actress, and of course, she’s a fashion icon, but she is so much more than that. She is a dynamic creative — she had her hands in every part of this production and everything she touched she made better.”
After his show segment, Baldoni continued to speak about Lively in an interview with TODAY.com.
“You can’t summarize Blake’s contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end,” he said. “Ryan (Reynolds) was so generous … he’s a creative genius, that guy. So, you know, his gift is levity, and her gift is levity.”
He added that he would work with Lively and Reynolds again “if they’d have me.”
Aug. 9, 2024: ‘It Ends With Us’ is released in theaters
“It Ends With Us” premiered in theaters on Aug. 9, 2024, grossing $50 million domestically and $80 million globally during its opening weekend, according to Variety. By Aug. 20, it had crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, according to Variety.
Aug. 10, 2024: Blake Lively begins to receive backlash
Fans started to criticize Lively for her approach to promoting the film in mid-August, in which she often talked about her hair care line that she launched in tandem with the film’s release, Blake Brown, or her drink line, Betty Buzz, which she created in 2021.
In a promo clip for the film posted on social media, Lively says, “‘It Ends With Us’ is in theaters now, so grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it,” leading social media users to question the levity of her remarks in contract with the film’s themes.
But it was on Aug. 10, when Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa uploaded an interview with Lively from 2016 titled, “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job,” that criticism around the actor escalated.
The clip begins Flaa telling Lively, who was pregnant at the time, “Congrats on your little bump.” Lively then replies back with the same, “Congrats on your little bump.” (Flaa was not pregnant.)
When Flaa asked about the wardrobes in the film, Lively said, “Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes?” Flaa replied that she would.
The YouTube video, which has been viewed over 5 million times, led some commenters to call Lively “rude” and “passive aggressive.” Lively did not comment on Flaa’s video.
Aug. 13, 2024: Lively posts on Instagram celebrating the movie’s release
On Aug. 13, 2024, Lively shared a video of an interview she did with the BBC to her Instagram story.
“Thank you to everyone who came out to show that people WANT to see films about women, and the multitudes we hold. It Ends With Us is a story of the female experience. All the highest highs, and lowest lows. And we are so proud of it. We have been in celebration of this film and of getting a message so important out there to the masses,” she wrote.
A second story post linked out to resources for domestic violence.
“1 in 4 women aged 18 and older in the US alone have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Intimate partner violence affects all genders, including more than 12 million people every year in the United States,” she said.
Aug. 20, 2024: Brandon Sklenar speaks out on “It Ends With Us” drama
Sklenar, who plays Atlas in the film, weighed in on the drama in an Instagram post on Aug. 20, 2024.
“I wanted to take a minute and address all this stuff swirling online,” Sklenar wrote. “Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves. Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in its message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about. It is, in fact, the opposite of the point.”
He wrote that whatever “may or may not have happened behind the scenes” during shooting of the movie, “should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film.”
Read his full statement below.
Dec. 9, 2024: ‘It Ends With Us’ released on Netflix
“It Ends With Us” made its streaming debut on Netflix on Dec. 9, 2024, quickly rising to one of the top films on the platform.
Dec. 20, 2024: Blake Lively files sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni
Attorneys for Lively alleged that Baldoni repeatedly harassed her on set, and crossed boundaries during intimate scenes, according to the complaint filed on Dec. 20, 2024.
The complaint stated that Baldoni allegedly improvised physical intimacy that had not been previously rehearsed or discussed, including improvising kisses during one scene.
The complaint also alleged Baldoni and Heath pressured Lively to “simulate full nudity” during a scene in which her character is giving birth.
At one point during filming, Lively called a meeting to address issues “that had nearly derailed production of the film,” according to the complaint. Lively’s husband Reynolds was in attendance, per the complaint.
A full-time intimacy coordinator and other protections were then established to allow the film to finish shooting, the complaint stated.
Once the film’s press tour kicked off, Baldoni allegedly hired a crisis communications team to launch a “retaliatory social manipulation campaign” against Lively to destroy her reputation, according to the complaint.
Freedman, the attorney representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and all its representatives, issued a statement to TODAY.com on Dec. 21. The statement reads in full:
“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. These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media. Wayfarer Studios made the decision 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, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met. 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 said 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.”
Dec. 21, 2024: Baldoni reportedly dropped by talent agency
On Dec. 21, The New York Times published an investigative report about Baldoni’s alleged PR campaign against Lively. After the article was published, talent agency William Morris Endeavor stopped representing Baldoni, Ari Emanuel, chief executive of the agency’s parent company Endeavor, told the Times.
TODAY.com reached out to WME for comment and has not immediately heard back.
Hoover responded to the complaint on her Instagram story on Dec. 21, posting a photo of her and Lively in an embrace with a link to the Times article.
