It Ends With Us actor Brandon Sklenar has spoken out in support of Blake Lively amid her lawsuit against director and co-star Justin Baldoni.

The Gossip Girl star sued Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios for sexual harassment and a ‘smear campaign’ to destroy her reputation in a lawsuit filed December 21. Baldoni and his team have since denied all allegations.

The pair starred in the movie adaptation of the controversial 2016 Colleen Hoover book of the same title.

It follows aspiring florist Lily Bloom, who navigates an abusive relationship with Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) as she reconnects with old flame Atlas Corrigan (Sklenar). Both the novel and the movie had come under fire for appearing to glamorise domestic abuse.

And as the movie’s August 9 release date approached, speculation began mounting around Lively and Baldoni’s alleged ‘friction’ , while Lively also found herself being slammed online during the film’s press tour.

Lively’s 80-page lawsuit alleges various misconduct of a sexual nature and a toxic work environment shadowed over the set, which resulted in her suffering ‘severe emotional distress’.

Lively’s attorneys said the star had made certain requests during filming, which included no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing outside the scope of the script she had approved when signing onto the project.

Meanwhile she alleges Baldoni launched a ‘smear campaign’ against her which she claims impacted her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their four children.

Justin Baldoni’s legal team have denied the claims (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Vital Voices Global Partnership)

It emerged Baldoni had hired high-profile PR crisis manger, Melissa Nathan, in August – who Johnny Depp enlisted for his 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

In fact, actress Heard as well as author Hoover are among the celebrities who have voiced their support for Lively in the days that have followed.

Now, Atlas actor Sklenar has become the latest Hollywood star to publicly support Lively.

Taking to Instagram on Monday (December 23), he reposted a link to the lawsuit in full, as obtained by the New York Times.

‘FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ THIS’ he wrote, tagging Blake Lively and adding a red heart emoji.

Sklenar posted to Instagram in support of Lively (Brandon Sklenar/Instagram)

Back in August, Sklenar addressed the controversy surrounding the movie by calling out who were ‘spreading hate on the internet’ and ‘vilifying’ those involved in the film.

In another Instagram post, he said: “Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and their soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in its message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about.”

He added: “What may or may not have happened behind the scenes the scenes does not and hopefully should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film. It’s been disheartening to see the amount of negativity being projected online.”

Bryan Freedman, who is representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and all its representatives, has responded to Lively’s allegations to describe them as ‘categorically false’.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” he said, while also accusing Lively of using the complaint as an attempt to ‘fix’ a ‘negative reputation’.

Justin Baldoni’s lawyer says his client was receiving ‘threats by two extremely powerful people’ amid the Blake Lively lawsuit.

It Ends with Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, stars 37-year-old Lively and Baldoni, 40, who also served as the movie’s director and producer.

But the mother-of-four claims the atmosphere on the set turned ‘hostile’ with Baldoni at the helm as she filed a legal suit accusing her co-star of ‘repeated sexual harassment’ on Friday (December 21).

Lively has accused her co-star of creating a toxic work environment (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Lively’s attorneys said the Gossip Girl favourite had to make certain requests during filming, which included an agreement that there would be no more ‘adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing’.

Other requests also allegedly stated there were to be no discussions of a sexual nature in front of her, no mention of cast and crew’s genitalia, no mention of Baldoni’s alleged ‘pornography addiction’ and no nude videos or images of women being show to Lively.

Lively reportedly asked there also were to be no further discussions about her weight or her dead father.

The demands were allegedly agreed between the two parties in a meeting, which was attended by various producers and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

Baldoni’s legal team have slammed the lawsuit (Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty Images)

However, Lively’s legal action claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios tried to ‘destroy’ her reputation through ‘social manipulation’ – using the same crisis communications team, headed by Melissa Nathan, that supported Johnny Depp in his infamous defamation trial with Amber Heard.

According to Lively’s complaint, Nathan created a plan for Baldoni to ‘help change narrative’ when the film was being promoted in which she claims turned into a smear campaign against her.

To this end, Lively’s legal team acquired text messages sent between the communications team and Baldoni, which appeared to discuss plans to ‘destroy’ her.

Fans on social media grew suspicious of a potential rift between the actors when they were seemingly avoiding each other at press junkets during the promotion of the film.

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, addressed Lively’s accusations in a new statement on Monday (December 23) that claims his client was subject to ‘threats’.

Freedman said the agency group, known as TAG PR, ‘operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources’.

Hoover uploaded a story on Instagram in support of Lively (colleenhoover/Instagram)

He said the agency was only doing its job, claiming that audiences on the It Ends With Us promotional tour found Lively’s ‘own actions, interviews and marketing’ to be ‘distasteful’.

Lively previously spoke to The New York Times, where she said: “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.”

Freedman also addressed this interview in The Times, adding: “It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to ‘uncover’ an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context — the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing.”

The new statement comes as Baldoni’s legal team slammed the lawsuit as ‘shameful’ and ‘intentionally salacious’ with Freedman appearing to criticise Lively further by saying her legal action is ‘another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation’.

Several celebs have since spoken out to lend their support to Lively, including It Ends With Us Author, Colleen Hoover, Amber Heard, and her The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars, America Ferreira, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, who said in a joint statement on Instagram that they ‘stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation’.

Amber Heard has weighed in on Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.

The American actress has spoken out about the lawsuit which has seen Lively accuse her It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni of sexual harassment.

The lawsuit blames Baldoni for creating a toxic work environment over the set, which caused Lively to suffer ‘severe emotional distress’.

Lively’s attorneys said the star had made certain requests during film, which included ‘no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project’.

Amber Heard has shared her thoughts on the case (Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images)

Other requests also allegedly stated no discussions of a sexual nature were allowed to happen in front of Lively, no mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more discussion about Lively’s weight, no mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction’, no nude videos or images of women being shown to Lively and no further mention of Lively’s dead father.

These requests were reportedly agreed to, but the lawsuit claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios tried to ‘destroy’ her reputation through ‘social manipulation’ with the help of a crisis communications team.

An attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that Lively’s own statement is ‘categorically false’, ‘intentionally salacious’ and slammed the lawsuit as ‘shameful’.

Blake Lively launched the lawsuit against her co-star last week (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni and the company, also criticized the move as ‘another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation’.

Lawyers defending Baldoni also accused Lively of making ‘multiple demands and threats’ during the production of the film, such as ‘threatening not to show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film’.

In response, Lively told The New York Times: “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.”

Justin Baldoni’s lawyers say the crisis communications team was hired because they claimed Lively made threats not to promote the film (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Speaking to NBC News today (Monday, December 23), Amber Heard said she ‘saw this firsthand’.

Her comments come as Baldoni retained prominent PR crisis manger, Melissa Nathan, who Johnny Depp had hired during his defamation trial against his ex-wife, Heard.

In an exclusive interview with NBC news, Heard said: “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.”

The Heard and Depp defamation trial was one of the most high-profile lawsuits in history (JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In her infamous defamation case with Depp, a jury unanimously came to the decision that Heard had defamed her former husband, and he was awarded $5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages.

Depp praised the outcome of the infamous trial, though Heard said the decision ‘sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated’.

According to Lively’s complaint, Nathan created a plan for Baldoni of ‘social media mitigation’, including ‘proactive fan posting’ and ‘social manipulations’ to ‘help change narrative’ when the film was being promoted.

Fans grew suspicious of a potential spat between the co-stars when they were seemingly avoiding each other in press interviews – and some spotted Lively and her co-star Jenny State did not follow Baldoni on Instagram.

Heard’s comments also come as the author of It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover, also appeared to lend her support to Blake.

In a story on Instagram, Hoover said: “@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met.

“Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”

The author of It Ends With Us has weighed in on the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuit.

Lively and Baldoni starred alongside one another in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book It Ends With Us, with Baldoni also acting as movie director.

However, rumours swirled after the movie’s release in August that there was ‘friction’ between the stars and, over the weekend, a lawsuit by Lively, which accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment, became public knowledge.

The lawsuit alleges various misconduct of a sexual nature and a toxic work environment shadowed over the set, which caused Lively to suffer ‘severe emotional distress’.

Lively’s attorneys said the star had made certain requests during film, which included ‘no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project’.

Blake Lively has launched a lawsuit against her co-star (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Other requests also allegedly stated no discussions of a sexual nature were allowed to happen in front of Lively, no mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more discussion about Lively’s weight, no mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction’, no nude videos or images of women being shown to Lively and no further mention of Lively’s dead father.

These requests were reportedly agreed to, but the lawsuit claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios tried to ‘destroy’ her reputation through ‘social manipulation’.

Justin’s lawyers have slammed the allegations as ‘false’ (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

In response, an attorney for Baldoni and the company told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that Lively’s own statement is ‘categorically false’, ‘intentionally salacious’ and slammed the lawsuit as ‘shameful’.

The lawyer, Bryan Freedman, also criticized her move as ‘another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation’ and made further accusations that Lively herself ‘made multiple demands and threats during production’ such as ‘threatening not to show up on set [and] threatening to not promote the film’.

The author and Blake Lively at the world premiere of It Ends With Us (Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)

Meanwhile, Lively told The New York Times: “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.”

Now, it appears the Texas-born author behind the plot of the movie has weighed in on the legal battle and has made the side she’s backing well known.

As the internet exploded with the reaction to the news, Colleen Hoover took to social media to praise Lively.

Colleen took to Instagram to show her support (colleenhoover/Instagram)

Posting on her Instagram story, Hoover wrote: “@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met.

“Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”

Underneath her words of support, Hoover shared a snap of the pair hugging in a movie theatre while fans could be seen clapping around them.

Hoover also added a link to the New York Times article on Lively’s lawsuit, if there was any doubt about the meaning behind her post.