Over the summer, Blake Lively lost all her cool points with everyone over how she promoted her latest film, It Ends With Us. A few months later, she hit co-star and director Justin Baldoni with a lawsuit for alleged sexual harassment and a smear campaign to retaliate after her complaints on set, which also featured the names of many A-listers, including Taylor Swift and Leighton Meester.
Lively received backlash for her “tone-deaf” promotion of It Ends With Us, where she constantly ignored the film’s domestic violence issue and focused on the floral message of her florist character. In her lawsuit, the actress accused Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and Sony Pictures of being the ones behind this marketing plan, which she followed for the entire press tour.
Aside from other sexual harassment claims that allegedly led Justin Baldoni’s team to plot a smear campaign against the actress (all of which Baldoni and his team denied) and the different marketing plan, Lively also mentioned a series of celebrities, including her husband, close friends, or former co-stars.
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds is Lively’s husband and father of her four children, and he is frequently brought up in the lawsuit. He is mentioned as his team addressed the actor, who allegedly blocked Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, on social media. Baldoni allegedly wrote to his publicist, Jennifer Abel:
“We should have a plan for IF she does the same when (the) movie comes out. Just want you guys to have a plan. Plans make me feel more at ease.”
They also brought up Reynolds regarding an “all hands” in-person meeting to address the hostile environment. “An in-person meeting before production resumes with Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, Ms. Saks, the Sony representative, the new producer, BL, and BL‘s spouse Ryan Reynolds to confirm and approve a plan for implementation of the above that will be adhered to for the physical and emotional safety of BL, her employees and all the cast and crew moving forward.”
Hailey Bieber
In the lawsuit, Lively brings up a text message Baldoni allegedly sent as an idea for their “astroturfing” plan to ruin the actress’ reputation. In the text message, he shared a screenshot of an X thread that read, “Hailey Bieber’s history of bullying women.” He also wrote under it, “This is what we would need.”
His publicist replies, “Yes, I literally just spoke to [crisis PR manager] Melissa [Nathan] about this on the break about what we discussed last night for social and digital. Focus on Reddit, TikTok, IG [Instagram].”
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift and Blake Lively have been close friends for over a decade and the two of them are inseparable. In an Aug. 6 email, a crisis management expert wrote, “We have seen the most innocuous issues turn giant due to socials or the hugest crises have no effect on social whatsoever. You just cannot tell at this stage. But, BL does have some of the same TS fanbase so we will be taking it extremely seriously.”
At the same time, an apparent “scenario” also brings up Swift noting that, “our team can also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want.”
Leighton Meester
During the same “scenario planning,” Leighton Meester’s name is brought up. The actress and Lively co-starred in Gossip Girl, but they were not best friends and were friendly to each other on set. The scenario reportedly suggests encouraging journalists to focus on Lively’s former relationship with Meester if she spoke about her experience with Baldoni on set. Some of the text messages between Baldoni’s publicist Abel and crisis manager Melissa Nathan discuss details of their plan to reveal how “horrible” it is to work with the Gossip Girl star.
Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck
Similar to Leighton Meester, Kendrick was Lively’s former co-star from 2018’s A Simple Favor. The lawsuit also suggests looking into their relationship. Affleck, who worked with Lively in 2010’s The Town, also came under scrutiny for the same reason.
“Our recommended approach would be to provide reporters who reach out for comment, should it be obvious she’s referring to you, with the appropriate background information (listed in Scenario 1) to ensure their stories are balanced and the speculation can be turned to another one of the many people she’s had issues working with (Leighton Meester, Anna Kendrick, Ben Affleck, etc.).”
None of her previous co-stars spoke badly of Lively. Gossip Girl executive producer Joshua Safran previously told Vanity Fair that they “were not friends” like their characters, but could play that on set. Kendrick told People the two live in different places but reunited for the film’s sequel, which started shooting this year. Affleck also praised working with Lively when discussing their intimate scenes with Interview Magazine, called her “very poised and comfortable about it — more mature than some of the crew members.”
Since the lawsuit, Lively received support from It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, her previous Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars, and A Simple Favor director Paul Feig.