Blake Lively’s sister Robyn has responded to the sexual harassment lawsuit that the Gossip Girl actor filed against Justin Baldoni.
Blake’s older sister, 52, turned to her Instagram story on Saturday (December 21) to share screenshots from a New York Times investigation that explained some of the details of the lawsuit. The New York Times also published alleged text messages from Baldoni, suggesting that he had orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively while their movie It Ends with Us was being promoted.
“FINALLY justice for my sister @BlakeLively,” the older Lively wrote highlighting specific sentences and phrases from the article. She then encouraged her followers to read the article in a follow-up post as she linked the article and wrote “Blake Lively” with a heart drawn around the name.
Lively’s sister isn’t the only person speaking out in defense of Lively.
The author of the It Ends With Us book, Colleen Hoover, also showed her support for Lively in her Instagram Story.
“@blakelively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive, and patient since the day we met,” the author wrote. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
The lawsuit largely revolves around incidents that occurred during the filming process of It Ends with Us which Baldoni both starred in and directed.
In the movie based on Hoover’s novel Lily (Lively) falls in love with Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) before reconnecting with her first love (Brandon Sklenar) – amid a backdrop of domestic violence.
In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Lively claims Baldoni exhibited behavior that caused her “severe emotional distress” and that after the film distributor approved her requests for changes to the workplace, Baldoni responded to the requests by creating a smear campaign intended to “destroy” her image.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freeman, told TMZ that Lively’s lawsuit had been filed in order to “fix her negative reputation.”
Freeman said that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants actor’s claims were “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.” He added that Lively had caused issues on the film set by “threatening to not [show] up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.”
Baldoni and Lively’s feud first became publicly known during the It Ends with Us press tour.
