The complaint, filed late last week with the California Civil Rights Department, accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” Lively’s reputation.

In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

Baldoni enlisted publicists and crisis managers in a “sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan” meant to “bury” and “destroy” Lively if she went public with her on-set concerns, the complaint alleges.

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Baldoni’s legal team has said the allegations are “categorically false.”

In the wake of the revelations, Lively has received an outpouring of support from Hollywood friends, co-stars and famous faces.

Colleen Hoover, the author of the book that inspired and shares a title with the film, shared a post to her Instagram Story this week, calling Lively “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.”

Hoover later added, “Blake’s ability to refuse to sit down and ‘be buried’ has been nothing short of inspiring.”

3:39 ‘It Ends with Us’ drama: What’s going on with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?

Lively’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera, issued a joint statement supporting their friend, writing: “As Blake’s friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation.”

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

“Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding,” the actors added. “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.”

On Monday, Amber Heard — speaking out in response to Baldoni hiring the same PR crisis manager as her former husband, Johnny Depp — shared how she relates to what Lively allegedly experienced while working with Baldoni.

“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.’ I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive,” Heard said in a statement to NBC News.

Filmmaker Paul Feig, who directed Lively in A Simple Favor, wrote on X: “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”

Gwyneth Paltrow also showed a subtle message of support for the actor, linking to Lively’s line of haircare on her Instagram Story, writing “Just added to my Christmas wish list” and adding a queen emoji alongside.

1:40 Domestic Violence Awareness Month

More accusations against Baldoni’s team

On Tuesday, Baldoni’s former publicist, Stephanie Jones, filed a lawsuit claiming she was ousted from representing Baldoni and his film studio over concerns Lively would go public with her accusations, according to The New York Times.

In her lawsuit, Jones claims her former employee, Jennifer Abel, was assigned to handle Baldoni’s publicity and Abel, in turn, hired crisis PR specialist Melissa Nathan to handle the emerging In Ends with Us feud.

Abel and Nathan are the two publicists Lively is accusing of launching a smear campaign against her, and Jones claims the pair’s goal was “tearing down Jones’ reputation to take her clients and enrich themselves upon Abel’s planned departure from” Jones’ PR firm.

Jones’ lawsuits included text messages between Nathan and Abel. According to the New York Times, one, in which Nathan texts Abel, reads: “I know. And once you are gone — we will be on accounts together and make really good money and be happy.”

Major award rescinded

Baldoni suffered another major blow Monday after a women’s solidarity award given to the actor earlier this month was rescinded.

Vital Voices, a global non-profit that focuses on empowering women, gave Baldoni the award but announced this week that it was taking it back over his alleged “abhorrent conduct” that was “contrary to the values” held by the organization.

Baldoni’s podcast co-host Liz Plank also announced Monday that she would no longer be working at The Man Enough Podcast following the allegations.

“I’m writing to you today to let you know that I have had my representatives inform (Baldoni’s production company) Wayfarer that I will no longer be co-hosting The Man Enough podcast.”

She thanked fans for “trusting me with your hearts and stories, for holding space for mine, and for making this show what it was.”

Baldoni has since been dropped by the talent agent WME. He’s disputed Lively’s claims, calling them “shameful” and a “desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film.”

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Details of Lively’s complaint

Lively’s complaint lists 30 demands that she said Baldoni and others agreed to after their tense sit-down over her hostile work environment concerns.

Among them: “no more showing of nude videos or images of women” to Lively and others on set and no more discussions about pornography, sexual experiences or genitalia.

She also said Baldoni should not ask her trainer about her weight without her consent, should not press her about her religious beliefs and should make “no further mention of her dead father.”

An intimacy co-ordinator was also required to be on set whenever Lively shared a scene with Baldoni and he was barred from entering her trailer or the makeup trailer while she was undressed.

The demands also stipulated that there would be “no more improvising of kissing” scenes or adding of sex scenes to the film outside of the ones in the script Lively approved when she signed on.

“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,” Lively said in a statement to the Times. A representative for Lively referred The Associated Press to the New York Times report, in which Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.

—with files from The Associated Press

Blake Lively has accused her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint.

The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind the romantic drama It Ends With Us and Baldoni’s publicists among the defendants.

In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.

Baldoni enlisted publicists and crisis managers in a “sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan” meant to “bury” and “destroy” Lively if she went public with her on-set concerns, the complaint alleges.

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“To safeguard against the risk of Ms. Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the BaldoniWayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Ms. Lively’s credibility,” the complaint states. “They engaged in the same techniques to bolster Mr. Baldoni’s credibility and suppress any negative content about him.”

The complaint also says Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the movie’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image.”

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, called the claims “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.”

He pushed back against Lively’s allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production.”

Freedman also said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film “if her demands were not met.”

Those demands were not specified in the statement, but Lively’s complaint lists 30 demands that she said Baldoni and others agreed to after their tense sit-down over her hostile work environment concerns.

Among them: “no more showing of nude videos or images of women” to Lively and others on set and no more discussions about pornography, sexual experiences or genitalia.

View image in full screen

She also said Baldoni should not ask her trainer about her weight without her consent, should not press her about her religious beliefs and should make “no further mention of her dead father.”

An intimacy coordinator was also required to be on set whenever Lively shared a scene with Baldoni and he was barred from entering her trailer or the make-up trailer while she was undressed.

The demands also stipulated that there would be “no more improvising of kissing” scenes or adding of sex scenes to the film outside of the ones in the script Lively approved when she signed on.

“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,” Lively said in a statement to the Times. A representative for Lively referred the AP to the Times report, in which Lively denied planting or spreading negative information about Baldoni or the studio.

3:39 ‘It Ends with Us’ drama: What’s going on with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?

It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair. Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centre stage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.

Baldoni — who starred in the telenovela send-up Jane the Virgin, directed Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity — did respond to concerns that the film romanticized domestic violence, telling the AP at the time that critics were “absolutely entitled to that opinion.”

“If anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel,” he said. “To them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.”

—

Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.

Former That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson, through his lawyers, has appealed his 2023 rape convictions.

In September of 2023, Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women, both former members of the Church of Scientology (Masterson is still a member of the church). The actor, 47, was found guilty of two of three counts of forcible rape during his retrial in May 2023.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. The retrial was called after 2022’s original trial on the same three counts ended in a mistrial when a jury deadlocked, failing to reach unanimous verdicts.

Now, in a 242-page appellant’s opening brief filed on Dec. 18, Masterson’s lawyers allege that key witness testimonies morphed over time and “erroneous judicial rulings” skewed the jury’s view of the evidence against him.

4:30 ‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years in prison

In a statement posted to the Cliff Gardner law offices website, the lawyers said there were “two fundamental flaws” in Masterson’s convictions, one being the aforementioned skewed view and the second a “stunning amount” of alleged exculpatory evidence “never presented to the jury.”

His legal team goes on to say that these are only “one part” of their planned challenge to his convictions, and they are working towards Masterson’s “complete exoneration.”

Masterson originally filed a notice of appeal in November 2023. In January, the judge in his criminal case, Charlaine Olmedo, denied him bail pending his appeal, calling him a flight risk.

In June of 2023, Olmedo ruled Masterson’s ex-defence lawyers, Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, leaked sensitive trial information to the Church of Scientology about the women who accused Masterson of rape, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The confidential discovery material from Masterson’s rape trial was sent to another Church of Scientology lawyer, Vicki Podberesky, and it contained police reports from the victims and their personal information, including home addresses and banking details.

The leak to Podberesky was exposed during Masterson’s retrial, when Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said he received an email from Podberesky — who was not affiliated with the trial — that included an attachment of 570 pages of discovery material. It is unclear if the attachment was sent by accident.

0:58 Danny Masterson controversy: Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis issue public apology after letters to judge emerged

Podberesky tried to claim prosecutors were soliciting false testimony from victims in order to wrongfully convict Masterson of rape. Olmedo said the allegation was “demonstrably false.”

The Church of Scientology has denied all accusations of wrongdoing and was not a party in Masterson’s trial. Podberesky told the Los Angeles Times she legally obtained the confidential trial documents but did not say how.

Mesereau and Applebaum represented Masterson in court until May 2022, when they were replaced by other Scientology-affiliated lawyers.

Masterson’s lawyers had also been accused by Mueller of unwanted contact with the jurors in his case. In September of 2023, Olmedo sent a letter to both legal teams stating that several jurors complained of “unwanted contact at their homes or work by members of the defense team,” according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Mueller and his team tried to paint Masterson as a serial rapist who has been protected by high-ranking officials in the Church of Scientology. They claimed Masterson, on separate occasions, put drugs into the drinks of a longtime girlfriend and two other women he knew through the church before he raped them.

After the retrial’s guilty verdict was announced, a shocked Masterson was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and he remains in state custody.

Bijou Phillips, his wife of 12 years, filed for divorce from the actor in September of last year.

Jordan Peterson, the polarizing Canadian psychologist, has bid Canada adieu and will now call the United States home, citing personal and professional reasons for the move.

The news was revealed on a podcast this week, where Peterson and his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson Fuller, discussed his decision to move. He did not specify where he had settled, but news reports indicate he is living near his daughter, who is in Arizona.

“Welcome to moving to America, formally,” she offhandedly said to her dad during The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast episode.

“I guess that’s what happened, isn’t it? Is this the big announcement?” said Peterson.

“There are decided advantages to being here,” he said.

Peterson made reference to his ongoing feud with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, as well as a bill targeting hate speech, among his key reasons to leave his home country.

“The issue with the College of Psychologists is very annoying, to say the least, and the new legislation that the Liberals are attempting to push through, Bill C-63, we’d all be living in a totalitarian hellhole if it passes,” he told his daughter.

“The tax situation is out of hand. The government in Canada at the federal level is incompetent beyond belief, and it’s become uncomfortable for me in my neighbourhood in Toronto,” he added.

9:31 Toronto professor refuses to use genderless pronouns

Peterson, an author and former University of Toronto professor, has not had an active clinical practice since 2017 but remains a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario.

In 2022, the professional body reviewed Peterson’s social media conduct after hearing concerns about whether his posts met its standards.

It determined that online comments appeared degrading, demeaning and unprofessional — and that this posed a risk to the public.

It ordered that he enter a remedial coaching program to reflect on his approach to public statements and warned he could be accused of professional misconduct if he did not comply. Peterson took issue with the direction and launched a legal campaign to try to get out of it.

In August of this year, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed Peterson’s application for judicial review, and the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal attempt.

0:46 Ontario court upholds order that Jordan Peterson undergo social media training

Peterson has long been a magnet for controversy in Canada — a public figure with a huge social media following that people appear to either fully embrace or abhor.

He first courted controversy for refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns while teaching at the University of Toronto. He has gone on to international fame with sold-out lectures, best-selling books and a popular podcast.

While he has frequently made headlines for his controversial views on feminism, gender and climate change, Peterson has insisted in the past that all the complaints at issue are political and don’t have anything to do with his past or present clients as a psychologist.

— With files from The Canadian Press