Celebs Line Up to Support Blake Lively’s Sexual Harassment Claims Against Justin Baldoni, Who Has Jewish Roots
Justin Baldoni attends the ‘It Ends With Us’ premiere in New York City, US, Aug. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
A growing number of celebrities are publicly speaking out against actor and director Justin Baldoni after his “It Ends With Us” costar Blake Lively filed a legal complaint accusing him of sexual harassment and attempts to ruin her reputation.
Baldoni, a former cast member of “Jane the Virgin” who has Jewish heritage but follows the Baha’i faith, has also been dropped by his talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) in light of Lively’s allegations. The former “Gossip Girl” star, 37, remains a client of the agency.
Baldoni’s mother, Sharon, is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family with roots in Eastern Europe, and his father is Italian. “My mom was Jewish and became a Baha’i before she met my dad, and when they fell in love he became a Baha’i,” the actor told InterfaithFamily.com. “But we celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas, as an ode to our grandparents.”
In the same interview he talked about how his family was impacted by the Holocaust. “My grandfather was in World War II and a lot of my family was killed in the Holocaust,” Baldoni said. “One of my aunts was a survivor.”
First reported by The New York Times, Lively filed a legal, 10-page complaint on Friday with the California Civil Rights Department alleging that her “It Ends With Us” costar and director, 40, engaged in “sexually inappropriate behavior” on the set of the film and initiated “a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation” after she complained about him to the co-producers of the film, which was released in August.
She claimed Baldoni’s public relations team and his production company Wayfarer Studios had a “well-financed retaliation plan” against her. The complaint, a precursor to a lawsuit, stated that they “created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate” her credibility but also “suppress any negative content” about Baldoni. Lively’s filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained with a subpoena, according to The New York Times.
Among the notable figures who have come to Lively’s defense since she filed her legal complaint on Friday is author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the best-selling novel “It Ends With Us” on which the film is based. The writer posted on her Instagram Story on Saturday a photo of herself and Lively hugging in a crowed theater and wrote in the caption: “@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.”
In the film “It Ends With Us,” Lively plays a florist named Lily Bloom who faces domestic violence when she becomes romantically involved with Baldoni’s character, a Boston neurosurgeon named Ryle.
Lively’s costars from “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” — America Ferrera, Amber Rose Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel — released a two-page joint letter in support of her. “As Blake’s friends and sisters for over 20 years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,” they said. “We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment. We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”
Actress and comedian Amy Schumer, who is Jewish, wrote a short message on her Instagram Story that read, “I believe Blake.”
Paul Feig, who directed Lively in “A Simple Favor” and its sequel, also voiced his support for the actress. “All I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented, and kind people I’ve ever worked with,” he said in a post on X. “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”
In her legal complaint, Lively also made claims about “the hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production” of “It Ends With Us.” She accused Baldoni of sexual harassment that including improvised, unwanted kissing; said he discussed “his experiences with pornography” in some conversations; and talked about his sex life with his wife Emily, to whom he has been married since 2013. She claimed Baldoni and “It Ends With Us” producer Jamey Heath used sexually inappropriate language on set and both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding her baby, the youngest of her four children with her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds. She further accused Baldoni of “intrusively asking” her a question about her sex life with Reynolds while discussing a scene in “It Ends With Us.”
In a statement to The New York Times, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman called Lively’s accusations “completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.” He claimed that the actress promoted “negative and completely fabricated and false stories with [the] media” about Baldoni.
“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,” Freedman added.
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