What you need to know

From the moment Justin Baldoni announced in 2019 that he was adapting the best-selling book It Ends With Us into a film, there was widespread frenzy.

There are few books in recent years that have become as big a cultural phenomenon as Colleen Hoover’s novel: it sold 20 million copies and became an internet sensation on TikTok with more than a billion tags on the app.

When Blake Lively, who rose to fame in the 2000s playing Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl, was cast as the title character, fans were even more excited, describing her as the perfect choice to play Lily Bloom, a young woman who grew up. witnesses domestic abuse and ends up in the same situation years later.

Lily, a Boston florist, navigates a complicated love triangle between her charming but abusive boyfriend Ryle Kincaid, played by Jane the Virgin’s Justin Baldoni, and her compassionate first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar).

Released in early August, the film became a box office hit, grossing more than $350 million (£280 million) worldwide.

But despite the financial success, behind the scenes everything was not going so well. Rumors of a feud between Baldoni and Lively began circulating even before the film was released.

Last week, Lively filed a legal complaint against her co-star, accusing him of sexual harassment and starting a smear campaign against hersomething that Baldoni flatly denies. Here’s the story so far:

For a movie about domestic abuse, the It Ends With Us press tour probably wasn’t what you expected. There were pink carpets, flowers galore, and promotion of Lively’s new hair care brand and her husband’s gin company.

Instead of championing the red carpet, Lively highlighted fashion and florals.

At the London premiere, press were asked to keep questions “fun and light-hearted” and an event organizer told me to “avoid questions about domestic abuse.”

One of her comments at the New York premiere – “you are much more than just a survivor or just a victim” – sparked reactions on social media.

Ashley Paige, domestic abuse survivor criticized Ms. Lively’s language and told the BBC that his own trauma “shaped my identity.”

Lively was also criticized for her comments in another clumsy promotional video for the tour where she said: “Grab your friends, put on your flowers and go out and see it.”

Paige accused Lively of promoting the film as if it were “the sequel to Barbie.”

In addition to the press tour being described as “tone deaf,” people began asking questions about why Lively and Baldoni weren’t photographed together on the red carpet at the film’s premiere in New York on August 6.

The couple also did not do interviews together during the press tour, and at the London premiere, which Baldoni did not attend, Lively’s team warned me not to “ask any questions about Justin.”

Internet sleuths also discovered that cast members, including Lively and author Hoover, were not following Baldoni on social media.

Neither Lively nor Baldoni addressed rumors of a feud during the press tour, and the only reference between them was Baldoni telling Today that his co-star was a “dynamic creative.”

“She had her hands in every part of this production, and everything she touched made it better,” he said of the 37-year-old actor.

While the film was a box office success, it received mixed reviews from critics with some saying it romanticized domestic abuse.

There was a two-star review from The Telegraph’s Tim Robeywho called it a “woozy drama” that “depicts domestic violence as a witty romance.”

He suggested that the film “combines glittering big-city courtship and abuse with deeply dubious effects.”

The film also sparked a debate on TikTok, with some saying that it is not clear from the trailer that this story is about an abusive relationship and rather appears to tell a love story.

Based on this misconception, some people said they found the film traumatic because they did not know it contained scenes of domestic abuse.

During the film’s press tour, Baldoni hired a crisis manager, Melissa Nathan, whose previous clients include Johnny Depp and Drake.

Shortly after the press tour, Lively faced a barrage of criticism on social media related to her comments about that tour, as well as old interviews.

One of the interviews that resurfaced was one shared by a Norwegian journalist, Kjersti Flaa, who posted a video on YouTube of her interview with Lively in 2016. It was titled “The Blake Lively Interview That Made Me Want to Quit My Job.”

Actor Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas in the film, defended Lively, saying in an Instagram post that People had been “vilifying” the women involved in the film online..

He said it was “heartbreaking to see the amount of negativity being projected” and that someone close to him who had experienced a relationship similar to Lily’s had credited the film with “saving his life.”

Four months after the film’s release, Lively filed a legal complaint against Mr. Baldoni in which he accused him of sexual harassment.

The complaint also named as a defendant Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni’s production company that produced It Ends With Us.

The legal filing accuses Baldoni and Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath of “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior.” Some other women in the cast and crew had also spoken out about his conduct, the filing alleges.

It also alleges that Ms. Lively, Mr. Baldoni and others involved in the film’s development attended a meeting in January to address “the hostile work environment” on the set. Her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, attended the meeting with her, according to the complaint.

At the meeting, attendees agreed to a list of demands, including that Baldoni and Heath make “no more descriptions of their own genitals,” requiring an intimacy coordinator on set at all times when Lively was in scenes with Baldoni and not “friends.” ” from the producers and directors who were on set during the scenes in which Ms. Lively was naked.

The list of demands also implied that Baldoni had asked Lively’s trainer how much she weighed and alleged that Baldoni and Heath had discussed her “pornography addiction” with Lively.

In the filing, Lively also alleges that Baldoni and his team attacked her public image after the meeting.

She accuses him of orchestrating a plan to “destroy” her reputation in the press and online, including hiring a crisis manager who led a “sophisticated, coordinated and well-funded retaliation plan” against her and used a “digital army ” to post Social Media Content that looked authentic.

“To guard against the risk that Ms. Lively would ever reveal the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the Baldon-Wayfarer team created, planted, amplified and boosted content designed to eviscerate Mr. Baldoni’s credibility,” the team wrote. Mrs. Lively in the document.

In the filing, Ms Lively says this had caused “substantial damage” affecting “every aspect” of her life.

Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC that the allegations are “categorically false” and said they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.

In response to the legal complaint, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said Saturday: “It is disgraceful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and their representatives.”

Freedman accused Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including “threatening not to show up to set, threatening not to promote the film,” which would end up “ultimately leading to her demise during the premiere, if her demands were not met.” . .

Hollywood stars such as America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel have publicly supported Lively after she came forward with her complaint.

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel, who starred alongside Lively in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, issued a joint statement on Instagram on Sunday saying they “stand with her in solidarity.”

“Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her muster the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and her colleagues on set, and we are dismayed to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that followed to discredit their voice,” they wrote.

Colleen Hoover, author of It Ends With Us, also showed her support, describing Lively as “honest, kind, caring and patient.”

Additional reporting by Grace Dean.