A Simple Favor Director Defends Blake Lively Amid Justin Baldoni Lawsuit

Blake Lively is receiving more support amid her sexual harassment lawsuit against It Ends With Us director and costar Justin Baldoni.

“I’ve now made two movies with Blake and all I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people I’ve ever worked with,” A Simple Favor director, Paul Feig, shared via X on Sunday, December 22.

Feig added, “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”

The Bridesmaids filmmaker directed Lively and Anna Kendrick in the 2018 crime thriller and a sequel set for release next year.

Lively, 37, filed a complaint against Baldoni, 40, with the California Civil Complaints Department on Friday, December 20, accusing the actor/director of sexual harassment on the set of their recent Colleen Hoover adaptation. She also claimed Baldoni was behind a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.

In a statement to Us Weekly, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said Lively’s accusations were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.” Freedman claimed that Lively sued to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” regarding the film’s production. Freedman further alleged that Lively made “multiple demands and threats” while filming It Ends With Us, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”

Since news of the lawsuit broke on Saturday, December 21, various people have come out in support of Lively, including her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel.

“As Blake’s friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,” the trio wrote in a joint statement shared via Instagram on Sunday, December 22.

The actresses continued, “Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice. Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding.”

“Blake Lively you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” shared Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us, via social media Sunday. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”