Shows Her Support After the Actress Sues Justin Baldoni: ‘Finally Justice’
Lively has sued Baldoni for sexual harassment, alleging that he launched a retaliatory smear campaign against her after she accused him of misconduct
Robyn Lively is standing by her sister, Blake Lively.
Not long after news broke that Blake, 37, sued her It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment and accused him of running a smear campaign against her, Robyn, 52, showed her support for her younger sibling.
In a post on her Instagram Stories on Saturday, Dec. 21, Robyn shared a collage of screenshots from a The New York Times article summarizing the ordeal between Blake and Baldoni, 40.
“FINALLY justice for my sister @BlakeLively,” Robyn wrote with the post.
In a follow-up post, Robyn shared a link to the same Times article, as she tagged her sister’s Instagram handle and added an animated heart around it.
Blake’s complaint was filed months after rumors of behind-the-scenes discord on the set of the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel began.
According to the complaint filed by Blake, which is a precursor to filing a discrimination lawsuit in California, the actress said “she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety” because of Baldoni’s alleged behavior.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” the complaint also alleges, referring to Blake’s spouse, Ryan Reynolds, and their kids: daughters James, 10, Inez, 8, and Betty, 5, plus son Olin, 1.
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, told PEOPLE in a statement on Dec. 21 that Blake’s complaint was to “fix her negative reputation.” He added that her allegations are “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.”
Freedman also alleged that Blake caused issues during the filming of the movie, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.”
Blake, meanwhile, issued a statement to the Times, saying, “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.”
In her complaint, Blake alleges that Baldoni engaged in misconduct on the set of It Ends with Us that resulted in a meeting attended by producers to address her concerns about his behavior, as well as that of the movie’s lead producer, Jamey Heath.
Following the meeting, the complaint alleges that Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, agreed to a number of stipulations, including “no more improvising of kissing” and “no more personal, physical touching of, or sexual comments by Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath to be tolerated by [Blake Lively] and/or any of her employees, as well as any female cast or crew without their express consent.”
Other requests included “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by [Lively] outside the scope of the script [Lively] approved when signing onto the project” — all of which Baldoni and the producers allegedly agreed to.
However, Blake alleges in the complaint that Baldoni subsequently began a retaliatory smear campaign against her soon after.
Blake’s complaint also includes as evidence private texts and emails that appear to demonstrate crisis PR representatives for Baldoni planning to “[plant] stories about [Lively’s] weaponization of feminism,” as well as execute “full social account take downs” by starting “threads of theories” and generally working to “change [the] narrative” around the actress’ accusations.
