Blake Lively files sexual harassment suit against Justin Baldoni: All you need to know

Hollywood actor Blake Lively has levelled sexual harassment accusations against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni and alleged that there were coordinated PR efforts to "destroy" her reputation. However, the Jane the Virgin star has refuted the claims, calling them out as the actress' attempt to rehab her reputation, as per a TMZ report.

As per the publication, during the shooting of the movie, there was a meeting conducted to address the allegedly "hostile work environment", which was also attended by Blake's husband and actor Ryan Reynolds.

In the meeting, Blake and her team laid down a series of demands including: "no more showing nude videos to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni's alleged previous 'pornography addiction,' no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake's weight, and no further mention of Blake's dead father" the report read.

"No more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project," they further demanded.

Further, Lively's lawsuit read after the meeting, both the parties agreed to implement and follow the 'Protections for Return to Production' in order to complete the film. However, when Lively and her fellow cast members started to promote the film as per the pre-agreed marketing plan created and delivered by Sony—that directed the team to focus more on Lily's strength and resilience instead of describing the film as a story about domestic violence—Baldoni "pivoted away" from it.

"He and his team used domestic violence 'survior content' to protect his public image," the lawsuit read and Blake accused her co-star of organising a "multi-tiered plan" to mutilate her reputation.

As per a report in the New York Times, Lively's filing includes excerpts from text messages and emails, one of them being an exchange between Baldoni's publicist and the crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan.

“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” the publicist reportedly wrote, to which Nathan replied: “You know we can bury anyone."

It is noteworthy that even though the film was a hit at the box office, even before its release, and till several days after that, the actress faced severe online criticism concerning how she promoted the film, with bytes from her earlier interviews resurfacing, after which the actress was slammed on social media for being rude.

"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," the Gossip Girls star told TMZ.

Meanwhile, Baldoni's lawyer has lashed out at the lawsuit as he called Blake's claims to be "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt."

However, Baldoni has been dropped out of the WME agency following Blake Lively's allegations.