Colleen Hoover supports Blake Lively following Justin Baldoni's complaint

Colleen Hoover is behind Blake Lively.

The It Ends With Us author is supporting the actress after Lively filed a lawsuit accusing her co-star and director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment.

In an Instagram Story posted on Saturday, Hoover praised Lively and shared a photo of the two hugging at a screening of “It Ends With Us.” She also linked to a New York Times report detailing Lively’s allegations that Baldoni subjected her to an online smear campaign.

“@blakelively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” Hoover wrote. “Thank you for being exactly the person you are. Never change. Never wither.”

Lively starred as Lily Bloom, a woman in an abusive relationship with Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni, in It Ends With Us, the film based on Hoover’s best-selling novel. Baldoni not only played the lead role, but also directed it.

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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni had a fight.Next came the smear campaign, she claims.

In the complaint, obtained by USA TODAY on Saturday, Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on the set of the film and of trying to ruin her reputation in retaliation for her allegations.

“Ms. Lively and other cast and crew members experienced invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior from Mr. Baldoni and (producer Jamey) Heath,” the complaint states. “Because Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath all held leadership positions in the production, they responded to no one and brushed off or ignored the concerns raised by Ms. Lively and others.”

An attorney for Baldoni’s production company, Bryan Freedman, disputed Lively’s claims in a statement to The New York Times, describing them as “completely false, outrageous and deliberately suggestive.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Baldoni’s lawyers for comment.

All allegations in the Lively complaint:Unwanted kisses, slander tactics and more

Among other things, the complaint said Baldoni “improvised physical intimacy without Lively’s consent,” asked intrusive questions about her sex life, spoke of a “past pornography addiction,” and suggested that he had “engaged in sexual behavior without consent” in the past.

In January, the complaint says, the parties met to discuss the “hostile work environment,” agreeing that Lively or her employees would no longer be shown nude videos or images of women, and Baldoni would no longer be shown any physical touching or sexual comments I’ll give more or Heath to Lively or others.

Lively alleged that Baldoni and employees of his production company Wayfarer Studios subsequently coordinated a public relations campaign against her because she disagreed with his behavior.

“Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates launched an elaborate press and digital plan in retaliation for Ms. Lively’s exercise of her legally protected right to speak about her on-set misconduct, with the additional goal of intimidating her and anyone else into doing so “They don’t disclose anything.” “make public what actually happened,” says the statement of claim, which was filed as a precursor to a lawsuit.

The filing states that fans had previously speculated about tensions between Lively and Baldoni after they failed to promote the film together. “Some also pointed out that neither Lively nor Hoover nor the rest of the cast follow Baldoni on Instagram (although he does follow them),” the complaint states.

Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us was followed by a sequel, It Starts With Us. However, although the film was a box office success in late summer, grossing $148.5 million in North America, no plans for an adaptation of the second book have been announced.

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Colleen Hoover supports Blake Lively following Justin Baldoni’s complaint

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