The battle between It Ends With Us co-stars, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, just went nuclear.
For months now, there has been buzz about some serious behind-the-scenes drama from this summer’s hit film, It Ends With Us. This adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel grossed an incredible $350 million worldwide against a $25 million budget. Still, the film’s reception has been overshadowed by a feud between star Blake Lively, and the movie’s co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, the root of which was only speculated on — until now.
Initially, the bad blood was thought to be over a difference of opinion between cuts of the film, with Lively and spouse Ryan Reynolds apparently having a major influence over the version that got released, jeopardizing a potential sequel. According to a bombshell report by TMZ, the conflict is much more serious than that, with Lively suing Baldoni for sexual harassment.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, there was at one point a meeting attended by Lively’s husband, Reynolds, that resulted in a list of demands being presented to Baldoni, which included “– no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous “pornography addiction,” no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
Ouch. While that all seems pretty damning for Baldoni, the director/co-star’s lawyer released a statement saying, “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.”
While Lively did indeed generate some negative publicity during the film’s press campaign, none of that actually hurt the box office, with it emerging as one of the year’s biggest hits. I’m sure there will be much more to come on this explosive story in the weeks to come.
