The press cycle of It Ends with Us has certainly mad headlines for the film — just not for the right reasons. This entire marketing campaign has been filled with alleged drama between star Blake Lively and co-star/director Justin Baldoni. Besides all the rumors that Lively and Baldoni had been feuding on set, it was also noteworthy that the two actors only did separate interviews for the project.
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Blame was quickly put on Lively's shoulders as she was presumed to be overbearing as an actress and was allegedly throwing her weight around on set to get whatever she wanted. People criticized her interviews, and dredged up old ones that could be used to rip her apart further. Public opinion shifted against her pretty much immediately, at the snap of a finger.
A complaint filed by Lively against Baldoni included exhaustive allegations of inappropriate and demeaning behavior on the film's set. It also accused the actor/director and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, of hiring a PR crisis firm to launch a smear campaign against her and ruin her reputation, which was reported by The New York Times.
"To safeguard against the risk of Ms. Lively ever revealing the truth about Mr. Baldoni, the Baldoni/Wayfarer team created, planted, amplified, and boosted content designed to eviscerate Ms. Lively's credibility," the complaint reads. "They engaged in the same techniques to bolster Mr. Baldoni's credibility and suppress any negative content about him."
In just a few days, numerous allegations against Baldoni seemed to persuade public opinion to side with Lively, particularly after a damning report by The New York Times. And, during that process, the story of another actress resurfaced — Amber Heard — whose career was left in shambles after a headline-grabbing controversy from recent years.
It is noteworthy that Amber Heard's name coming up in conjunction with the drama surrounding It Ends with Us is not a new development. On Aug. 13, The Hollywood Reporter published a story highlighting that Baldoni had hired a public-relations crisis manager named Melissa Nathan.
Prior to starting her own PR group just two months prior, Nathan had worked with Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against Heard, as outlined by NBC News. After that trial ended, several news outlets — including CBS News — reported on an alleged targeted campaign against Heard in order to sway public opinion toward Depp.
"I think it's just very, very difficult to establish attribution in cases of online manipulation," journalist Alexi Mostrous, who dove into the matter for his podcast, Who Trolled Amber, told British GQ back in February. "We also know that it's almost impossible to detect everything that they're doing."
The aforementioned New York Times story, titled "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine," reported on the findings published by a brand marketing consultant. Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire, and Julie Tate wrote for the NYT:
"A brand marketing consultant, Terakeet, produced a report in August for Ms. Lively that concluded she had likely been the object of a 'targeted, multichannel online attack' similar to one against Ms. Heard, and that it was damaging her reputation."
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in 'It Ends With Us.'
Sony Pictures
Furthermore, Terakeet reportedly found that recent search results for Lively's name included a disproportionate number of references to Baldoni — reported as something "unusual" given that she was an actress who had been working in Hollywood for more than 20 years.
"The report did not identify who was behind the attack. But by analyzing 'the entirety of Google's search index' for Ms. Lively's name, [Terakeet] found that 35 percent of the results also included a reference to Mr. Baldoni," the New York Times story explained. "This was highly unusual given the length of her career, the company said, and suggested that the media environment was being manipulated."
Even though the Terakeet findings (reported by the NYT) didn't correlate the Lively v. Baldoni controversy to the Heard v. Depp court case, similarities were eventually drawn that both situations involved men who reportedly hired Melissa Nathan to allegedly defend them against female accusers.
"You know we can bury anyone," Nathan wrote in a text message to Baldoni's publicist (included in the NYT report).
Amber Heard in the Depp v. Heard civil defamation trial on June 1, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Despite generally shying away from doing press interviews or sharing social media posts over the last few years, Heard did release a statement reacting to these recent events involving Blake Lively.
Heard told NBC News in an exclusive interview:
"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."
Besides Heard, other celebrities have been coming forward to show their support for Lively. Most notably, the Gossip Girl alum received a public statement of solidarity from the cast members of her first film, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel shared a joint statement via Instagram that reads:
"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. 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."
Director Paul Feig, who has worked with Lively on both A Simple Favor and its upcoming sequel, also called her "one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people."
Lively also received the support of author Colleen Hoover, who penned the novel upon which It Ends with Us is based. Hoover linked the aforementioned New York Times article alleging a smear campaign against the actress, writing that she has "been nothing but honest, kind, support and patient since we met."
Brandon Sklenar, another actor who starred in It Ends With Us with Lively, dragged people on social media for "vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film," calling it "counterproductive and detract[ing] from what this film is about," as reported by People.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni filming 'It Ends With Us' on the movie set.
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
On Saturday, Dec. 21, Deadline reported that Justin Baldoni was dropped by his agency, WME. It has yet to be determined whether Lively's complaint will be settled outside of court or will escalate to a lawsuit. Intriguingly, the people who are normally pulling the strings for famous clients are also now facing scrutiny, both in the public eye and among their peers.
"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 told The New York Times.
This story is still developing…
