has accused her director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to 鈥渄estroy鈥� her reputation in a legal complaint.
The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind the romantic drama 鈥淚t Ends With Us鈥� and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.
In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a 鈥渕ulti-tiered plan鈥� to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed 鈥渞epeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior鈥� by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.
Baldoni enlisted publicists and crisis managers in a 鈥渟ophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" meant to 鈥渂ury鈥� and 鈥渄estroy鈥� Lively if she went public with her on-set concerns, the complaint alleges.
鈥淭o safeguard against the risk of Ms. Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the BaldoniWayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Ms. Lively鈥檚 credibility,鈥� the complaint states. 鈥淭hey engaged in the same techniques to bolster Mr. Baldoni鈥檚 credibility and suppress any negative content about him.鈥�
The complaint also says Baldoni 鈥渁bruptly pivoted away from鈥� the movie's marketing plan and 鈥渦sed domestic violence 鈥榮urvivor content鈥� to protect his public image.鈥�
Bryan Freedman, an attorney representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, called the claims 鈥渃ompletely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.鈥�
He pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio 鈥減roactively鈥� hired a crisis manager 鈥渄ue to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."
Freedman also said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film 鈥渋f her demands were not met.鈥�
Those demands were not specified in the statement, but Lively's complaint lists 30 demands that she said Baldoni and others agreed to after their tense sit-down over her hostile work environment concerns.
Among them: 鈥渘o more showing of nude videos or images of women鈥� to Lively and others on set and no more discussions about pornography, sexual experiences or genitalia.
She also said Baldoni should not ask her trainer about her weight without her consent, should not press her about her religious beliefs and should make 鈥渘o further mention of her dead father.鈥�
An intimacy coordinator was also required to be on set whenever Lively shared a scene with Baldoni and he was barred from entering her trailer or the make-up trailer while she was undressed.
The demands also stipulated that there would be 鈥渘o more improvising of kissing鈥� scenes or adding of sex scenes to the film outside of the ones in the script Lively approved when she signed on.
鈥淚 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,鈥� Lively said in a statement to the Times. A representative for Lively referred the AP to the Times report, in which Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.
鈥淚t Ends With Us,鈥� an adaptation of was released in August, with a $50 million debut. But the movie's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair. Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centerstage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for at the same time.
Baldoni 鈥� who starred in the telenovela send-up directed 鈥淔ive Feet Apart鈥� and wrote 鈥淢an Enough,鈥� a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity 鈥� did respond to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, at the time that critics were 鈥渁bsolutely entitled to that opinion.鈥�
鈥淚f anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel,鈥� he said. 鈥淭o them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.鈥�
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Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.
Mallika Sen, The Associated Press
