Blake Lively

Lively accused Baldoni and other officials of inappropriate sexual behaviour and boundary violations on set, including sexual remarks, improvised physical contact, demands for nudity and intrusions into private spaces. The allegations were raised in an administrative complaint and subsequently a federal action.

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

Lively accused Baldoni, Wayfarer and communications professionals of preparing or encouraging a strategy intended to exploit and amplify online backlash against her after she raised safety and conduct concerns on set.

Attribution

Protagonist is the complainant

Baldoni and Wayfarer accused Lively and Ryan Reynolds of attempting to take creative control of the film, civil extortion, defamation and interference, seeking 400 million dollars. The judge dismissed most of this lawsuit in 2025. Following the main settlement in 2026, Lively secured the right to recover part of her defence costs.

Attribution

Accused

A 2016 interview with Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa went viral in 2024. Flaa said that Lively's sarcastic response to congratulations on her pregnancy and the way she was ignored during the exchange had deeply humiliated her.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Lively's promotional campaign for It Ends With Us was criticised for its highly fashion-focused and romantic tone, notably the invitation to 'grab your friends and wear your florals', despite the film dealing with domestic abuse. Critics argued that the marketing trivialised domestic violence.

State of the evidence

Documented

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds married in 2012 at Boone Hall in South Carolina, a former plantation associated with slavery. Their choice of venue attracted criticism at the time and repeatedly thereafter. In 2020, the couple publicly apologised and expressed deep regret over the decision.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Lively captioned a Cannes photograph 'L.A. face with an Oakland booty', a line from Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back. Social media users accused the post of turning references associated with Black women's bodies into an accessory for a white celebrity.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Personally implicated

During Cannes, as Dylan Farrow's allegations against Woody Allen became the subject of renewed discussion, Lively described her experience working with Allen as empowering for women and criticised certain jokes made about him at the festival.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Preserve attracted criticism for its positioning, aesthetics, mix of editorial and commercial content, and certain prices. Lively ultimately announced the website's closure in 2015, explaining that it had launched before it was ready and did not reflect what she wanted to create.

State of the evidence

Documented

Lively's lifestyle website Preserve published a fashion editorial entitled 'Allure of Antebellum', celebrating a pre-Civil War Southern aesthetic without directly addressing slavery. The article was criticised for romanticising the white Southern elite.

State of the evidence

Documented