A 2022 clip of Blake Lively discussing the way she tries to take the creative reins on projects has resurfaced as a mediator has been assigned to the legal battle between Lively and her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
Entertainment Tonight reported Tuesday that a mediator has been assigned to the case, which has a trial date set for March 9, 2006.
The actress, 37, in late December filed a complaint accusing Baldoni, 41, for alleged sexual harassment on the “It Ends With Us” set and a retaliatory smear campaign. The allegations were cemented in a New York Times article — for which Baldoni has filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the outlet — as well as Lively’s Dec. 31 lawsuit against her former costar.
Baldoni last month filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against the “Gossip Girl” star, her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane, in which he also accused them of civil extortion. Baldoni alleges that Lively and co. wanted to run roughshod over the film and, when they encountered pushback, tried to ruin his name.
Baldoni has also accused Lively of intimidating him by leveraging the star power of Ryan Reynolds and best pal Taylor Swift, calling them her “dragons.”
A newly resurfaced clip from the 2022 Forbes Power Women Summit seems to support that last claim from Baldoni. In it, Lively says she tries to gain more “authorship” on projects where she has been hired only to act.
She says she would often “try to assert [my]self into something that we didn’t hire you to do” on set. This, she said, would sometimes engender “resentment” as collaborators felt she’d done “a rug pull.”
The “A Simple Favor” star was also sued last week for defamation by Jed Wallace and his company Street Relations Inc., which she accused of participating in the alleged smear campaign.