Blake Lively Says Justin Baldoni’s Raw ‘It Ends with Us’ Footage Proves He Harassed Her

Blake Lively is firing back after Justin Baldoni released raw footage from the set of “It Ends with Us.”

His team released the 10 minutes of unedited video of the actor and Lively shooting a romantic slow dance scene for the movie to refute her claims of sexual harassment. 

Blake’s legal responded, calling it a “stunt” that nonetheless proves her claims.

The statement says, “Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

The team added, “The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character. Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.  Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss.

“The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.”

The statement continues, “This matter is in active litigation in federal court. Releasing this video to the media, rather than presenting it as evidence in court, is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public. It is also a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign. While they are focused on misleading media narratives, we are focused on the legal process. We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his associates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts.”

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In a statement at the beginning of the video, Baldoni’s legal team said, “Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr. Baldoni was behaving inappropriately. The following videos captured on May 23, 2023, clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism. These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”

Last month, Lively’s suit referenced the slow dance scene, claiming, “Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming a slow dance scene for a montage in which no sound was recorded. Mr. Baldoni chose to let the camera roll and have them perform the scene, but did not act in character as Ryle; instead, he spoke to Ms. Lively out of character as himself. At one point, he leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good.’ None of this was remotely in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no sound—Mr. Baldoni was caressing Mrs. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles.”

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Baldoni fired back with a $400-million lawsuit against Lively.

In his lawsuit, Baldoni also referenced the dance scene, claiming that Lively “continued to break character” and began to “speak as herself rather than as Lily, which was extremely confusing for Baldoni.”

The lawsuit claimed, “Lively apologized for the smell of her spray tan and body makeup. Baldoni responded, ‘It smells good,’ and continued acting, slow dancing as he believed his character would with his partner, which requires some amount of physical touching.”

Baldoni alleged Lively told him to get a nose job. The lawsuit stated, “While on the one hand Lively accuses Baldoni of making comments about her appearance, on the other she made derogatory comments about Baldoni’s appearance, telling him he should undergo rhinoplasty (a nose job) — something Baldoni has publicly expressed insecurities about and has discussed on an episode of his podcast, ‘Man Enough,’ exploring the topic of body dysmorphia. Lively’s comment about Baldoni’s nose is also captured on camera. Baldoni, rather than write down a list of grievances against Lively, brushed it off and moved on with the scene.” 

Lively’s legal team responded to his lawsuit. In a statement obtained by “Extra,” they said, “This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.

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“Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.”

The statement continues, “They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.

“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”