Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were co-stars in It Ends With Us. This wildly anticipated film is based on the bestselling novel, It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover. Hoover is well known for her romance stories and has a very large fan base. Both the movie and the book tell the story of the main character, Lily Bloom. Lily has had a very traumatic childhood and had to grow up with an abusive father, and a mother that never stopped loving him. Lily eventually grows up and gets as far away as possible from her hometown and childhood. However, after her father’s death, she moves back home to be with her mother and pursue her dreams of opening a flower shop. After her father’s disaster of a funeral, Lily runs into a mysterious brain surgeon and falls in love. It Ends With Us, is the story of their relationship, and Lily’s journey to learn how to stand up for herself and stop the cycle of abuse. 

Both the film and novel deal with very heavy topics of domestic violence and unsafe romantic relationships. During the press tour for the new movie, Lively and Baldoni took very different marketing approaches. Lively looked at the more positive aspects of the movie and marketed it as more of a chick flick. She didn’t speak much about the heavier topics in the movie. On the other hand, Baldoni almost exclusively spoke on the themes of domestic violence, saying that he wanted to bring awareness to the issue. 

This led to some people thinking Lively didn’t take the issues of the film seriously, or that she wanted to brush it under the rug. Lively dealt with a lot of backlash on the internet because of this. This was made worse by the fact that, during the premiere of It Ends With Us, Lively and the rest of the cast took pictures and were seen socializing together, while Baldoni only took a picture with his wife, and seemed very separate from the rest of the cast. This drama came to a head on December 31, when Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni. The lawsuit accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film. 

In the lawsuit, Lively claims that Baldoni both sexually harassed her and tried to ruin her reputation. Lively says that Baldoni showed her a nude video of his wife giving birth, which made her extremely uncomfortable and felt inappropriate. Lively also said that Baldoni barged into her dressing room while she was breastfeeding, and he improvised while filming intimate scenes without discussing it with Lively first. Lastly, she recounts both Baldoni and another producer discussing their past pornography addictions which Lively found both unnecessary and unprofessional. 

Baldoni combatted these statements by claiming that he had permission from his wife to show the video, and it was to help Lively while filming the birthing scene in the movie. He also refutes the rest of the claims and it is rumored that he is planning to sue Lively. He has already sued the New York Times for their coverage of the situation as well. Both sides have provided screenshots of text messages to back up their claims, but the public is still torn on who to side with. However, more recent evidence has come up, including a voice memo from Baldnoi to his editors on the night of the premiere. 

Baldoni claims that he was “sent into the basement” during the premiere and was not allowed to be seen with the rest of the cast, especially Lively. He also says that he and his family and friends were instructed to stay out of sight for the rest of the night. This raised a roar with the public, as many people were starting to take his side. However, there are still many people who believe Lively’s side of the story. There is also the issue of gender and the topic of sexual harassment. This is not an issue or accusation to be taken lightly, and after years and years of men being favored in cases such as this, the tides have shifted. More and more often during situations that deal with domestic violence and sexual abuse, the side of the victim, which in most cases means the female, is taken. So, the public is still split on who’s side to take, and who to believe.