Topics: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Social Media, Celebrity, Film and TV, Books, Instagram
The author of It Ends With Us has weighed in on the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuit.
Lively and Baldoni starred alongside one another in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling book It Ends With Us, with Baldoni also acting as movie director.
However, rumours swirled after the movie's release in August that there was 'friction' between the stars and, over the weekend, a lawsuit by Lively, which accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment, became public knowledge.
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The lawsuit alleges various misconduct of a sexual nature and a toxic work environment shadowed over the set, which caused Lively to suffer 'severe emotional distress'.
Lively's attorneys said the star had made certain requests during film, which included 'no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project'.
Other requests also allegedly stated no discussions of a sexual nature were allowed to happen in front of Lively, no mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no more discussion about Lively's weight, no mention of Baldoni's alleged previous 'pornography addiction', no nude videos or images of women being shown to Lively and no further mention of Lively's dead father.
These requests were reportedly agreed to, but the lawsuit claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios tried to 'destroy' her reputation through 'social manipulation'.
In response, an attorney for Baldoni and the company told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that Lively's own statement is 'categorically false', 'intentionally salacious' and slammed the lawsuit as 'shameful'.
The lawyer, Bryan Freedman, also criticized her move as 'another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation' and made further accusations that Lively herself 'made multiple demands and threats during production' such as 'threatening not to show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film'.
Meanwhile, Lively told The New York Times: "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."
Now, it appears the Texas-born author behind the plot of the movie has weighed in on the legal battle and has made the side she's backing well known.
As the internet exploded with the reaction to the news, Colleen Hoover took to social media to praise Lively.
Posting on her Instagram story, Hoover wrote: "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met.
"Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."
Underneath her words of support, Hoover shared a snap of the pair hugging in a movie theatre while fans could be seen clapping around them.
Hoover also added a link to the New York Times article on Lively's lawsuit, if there was any doubt about the meaning behind her post.
