In her Dec. 20 complaint, Lively sued Baldoni and some of his associates, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. She claimed Baldoni exhibited “disturbing” and “unprofessional” behavior on the set of the Colleen Hoover adaptation, creating a “hostile work environment” and causing her “grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety”. For example, she said that during a “slow dance scene,” Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good.’ ” After that, when she objected, he allegedly responded by saying, “I’m not even attracted to you”.
Baldoni countered with a Dec. 31 lawsuit against The New York Times for libel, false light invasion of privacy and more due to an article covering her allegations. Then, on Jan. 16, he filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist, claiming defamation, extortion and other issues. In this latter suit, it’s alleged that while filming a “romance montage” of their characters, Lively implied that Baldoni should get plastic surgery to fix his nose. In the released video, both can be seen making remarks about his nose, including a joke from Lively about plastic surgery.
