As part of her recently filed lawsuit against actor Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively has alleged that her former co-star asked an "intrusive" question about her sex life with Ryan Reynolds.
As widely reported, the 37-year-old actress has accused her It Ends With Us co-star of sexual harassment on the set of the film in a lengthy legal complaint.
Lively and Baldoni starred in the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel. The movie grossed $350 million at the box office.
The film follows Lily Bloom (Lively), a woman who moves to a new city and falls in love with a man named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) - who becomes abusive.
Bloom's life takes an unexpected turn when her first love, Atlas Corrigan, re-enters her life, forcing her to confront her tumultuous relationship with Ryle and make a difficult choice.
The promotional campaign for the film got off to a rocky start in August after social media sleuths noticed 40-year-old Baldoni - who was also the director of the movie - and Lively failed to make any joint press appearances.
Industry insiders revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that there was a rift among the co-stars as two film cuts had been produced.
Rumors then circulated that Lively, a producer on the film, may have enlisted the help of her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to exert greater creative control.
These speculations were further amplified by a resurfaced interview of the Gossip Girl actress by journalist Kjersti Flaa, who described the encounter as the "most uncomfortable" of her career.
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While the Jane The Virgin actor alluded to "friction" between him and Lively on set in an interview cited by PEOPLE, The Age of Adaline actress remained silent and chose not to address the claims.
Now, it seems Lively has made her feelings very clear as she has filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, alleging that he not only sexually harassed her on the movie set, but that he also coordinated an effort to destroy her reputation.
In one aspect of the complaint, the mom-of-four claims that before filming took place, Baldoni added "improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film (including for an underage character) in highly unsettling ways," per another report by the outlet.
These changes, which were “a scene in which Lily Bloom was to orgasm on-camera” and a “detailed scene” of the younger version of Lively’s character losing her virginity that was not in the book, were inserted without the actress’ consent.
When Lively “objected to these additions," Baldoni insisted on the scenes, citing the importance of portraying the story "through the female gaze," per the complaint.
Though the actor ultimately agreed to remove the scenes, he ended up adding another depicting a simultaneous orgasm between Lily and Ryle (Baldoni's character) on their wedding night, saying that it was “important to him because he and his partner climax simultaneously during intercourse".
In addition to this, Baldoni “intrusively asked” Lively whether she and her husband also “climax simultaneously during intercourse" - a question that the actress deemed invasive and declined to discuss with him.
According to the filing, the Five Feet Apart actor is accused of both sexualizing Lively and criticizing her appearance.
In one incident, the filmmaker "pressured” Lively to take off her coat to reveal her onesie, which she had been partly unzipped to reveal her bra, in a “packed” setting, and reportedly told her: “'I think you look sexy’ in a tone that made her feel ogled and exposed.”
The complaint also claimed that Baldoni “went out of his way to message criticisms of her age and weight,” including voicing concerns that the actress “looked old and unattractive based on paparazzi photos from the set".
It's also been claimed that Baldoni “routinely degraded” Lively by “finding back-channel ways of criticizing her body and weight,” such as discreetly contacting her personal trainer, less than four months after she gave birth to her fourth child.
He also insinuated that he “wanted her to lose weight in two weeks,” the lawsuit alleges.
After the explosive complaint was filed, Lively said in a statement to 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."
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's lawyer, hit back and told PEOPLE that the actress' lawsuit was to "fix her negative reputation," adding that her allegations are "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt".
The attorney added that Lively caused problems on the set of the film, which is currently streaming, "threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release".