Justin Baldoni accuses Blake Lively of ‘distorting’ a ‘deeply personal’ moment into sexual misconduct, paints New York Times as symbol of ‘journalistic failures’

Blake Lively’s claims with what he’s calling a key piece of evidence.

The director of the film It Ends With Us is accusing Blake Lively of “distorting” a “deeply personal” video into an act of sexual misconduct. Along with producer Jamey Heath,  the duo even went so far as to include a screenshot of the video in question as part of their lawsuit against The New York Times, which they believe published an article that unfairly portrayed them in a negative light.

The controversy began when Lively filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni and Heath of sexual harassment on set. In her complaint, Lively alleged that Heath approached her and her assistant during filming and played a video depicting a fully nude woman. Initially believing it to be pornography, Lively claimed she stopped Heath, who then explained that the video was of his wife giving birth.

According to Lively’s lawyer, the actress was alarmed by the incident and questioned whether Heath’s wife was aware that he was sharing the video. Heath allegedly replied, “She isn’t weird about this stuff.” This moment alone was enough to send Lively and her assistant walking away, perplexed and unsettled.

However, in their lawsuit against The New York Times, Baldoni and Heath present a different version of events. Their lawyers accuse the newspaper of “journalistic failures” and “uncritically advancing Lively’s unsubstantiated claims.” They assert that the video in question was a non-pornographic recording of Heath’s wife and baby during a home birth, shown to Lively as part of a creative discussion for a birthing scene in the film. Baldoni and Heath’s filing describes Lively’s claim as “patently absurd” and accuses her of distorting a “benign event” into an act of sexual misconduct to defame them.

Let’s not forget the backdrop against which this drama has unfolded. Lively’s grievances extend to Baldoni, who she claims made uninvited visits to her trailer while she was breastfeeding. These intrusions, coupled with what she describes as sexually charged conversations, contributed to an environment that felt increasingly hostile. Further exacerbating the situation was Baldoni’s alleged fixation on her physical appearance; Lively asserts that he criticized her weight and even went as far as secretly ing her personal trainer to suggest she needed to lose weight.

Lively allegedly set forth a list of demands necessary for her to continue working on the film — demands that were apparently met, yet did not quell the growing tension. According to her, Baldoni swiftly retaliated against her for speaking out very same PR firm that represented Johnny Depp during his highly publicized defamation trial against Amber Heard.

Interestingly, while many in the entertainment industry have remained tight-lipped about the situation, some have spoken out in of Lively. Kate Beckinsale, for example, others have also rallied behind Lively amid the ongoing lawsuit.