Blake Lively accuses 'It Ends With Us' co-star Justin Baldoni of smear campaign

Blake Lively has filed a legal complaint against her It End With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

According to the legal filing, she accuses Mr. Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image after a meeting to which she brought her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and producer of the film.

Mr Baldoni's legal team told the BBC the allegations were “categorically false” and said they had hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to scuttle the film unless her demands were met.

In the romantic drama, Ms. Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Mr. Baldoni.

The meeting between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni, along with others involved in the film's production, took place on January 4 this year and was intended to address a “hostile work environment” on the set, the legal statement said documentation.

Ms. Lively's husband, the Deadpool star, Mr. Reynolds, who did not appear on It Ends With Us, joined her at the showdown, according to the legal complaint, which is one step before a lawsuit.

Baldoni, 40, attended the meeting as co-chairman and co-founder of the company that produced the film, Wayfarer Studios. He was also the director of the film.

In the legal complaint, Ms Lively's lawyers allege that both Mr Baldoni and Wayfarer's chief executive, Jamie Heath, engaged in “inappropriate and unwelcome conduct towards Ms Lively and others on the set of It Ends With Us'.

In a filing with the California Department of Civil Rights, the meeting made a list of 30 demands related to the pair's alleged misconduct to ensure they can continue producing the film.

Among them, Ms Lively, 37, asked that no further mention of Mr Baldoni and Mr Heath's previous “pornography addiction” be made to Ms Lively or other crew members, no more descriptions of their own genitalia in front of Ms. Lively and “no more addition of sex scenes, oral sex or climax on camera by BL (Blake Lively) outside the scope of the script approved by BL when signing the project,” the complaint says.

Ms Lively also asked Mr Baldoni to stop saying he could speak to her dead father.

Ms. Lively's legal team further accuses Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of running a “multi-level plan” to destroy her reputation.

She claimed it was the “intended result of a carefully crafted, coordinated and financed retaliatory scheme to silence her and others from speaking out about the hostile environment that Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath created.”

In response to the legal complaint, Mr. Baldoni's lawyer, Brian Friedman, said Saturday: “It is disgraceful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and patently false allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and her representatives. “

Mr. Friedman accused Ms. Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including “threatening to not show up on set, threatening not to promote the movie,” which would ultimately lead to “his ultimate death during release , if her demands are not met” .

He claimed Ms Lively's claims were “deliberately obscene with the intent to publicly injure and revise a narrative in the media”.

In a statement through her lawyers to the BBC, Ms Lively said: “I hope my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to hurt people who speak out about wrongdoing and helps protect others who may to be marked'.

She also denied that she or any of her representatives released or circulated negative information about Mr. Baldoni or Wayfarer.

The film was a box office hit, although some critics said it romanticized domestic violence.

Shortly after the August premiere date, another co-star, Brandon Sklenar, hinted in an Instagram post about a rumored rift between Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni.

Breakup speculation only grew after they didn't appear together on the red carpet.

It Ends With Us tells the story of Boston florist Lily Bloom, played by Ms. Lively, as she navigates a love triangle between her charming but abusive boyfriend, Ryle Kincaid, played by Mr. Baldoni, and her compassionate first love, Atlas Corrigan, played by Mr. Sklenar.

It is based on the bestselling book by Colleen Hoover. The 45-year-old author has previously said that her inspiration was the domestic violence her mother experienced.

In an interview with the BBC at the film's premiere in August, Ms Lively said she felt “a responsibility to serve the people who care so much about the source material”.

“I really feel like we delivered a story that's emotional and funny, but also funny and painful and scary and tragic and inspiring, and that's life, it's in every color,” the actress said.

Ms Lively, who is also credited as a producer, told the BBC she thought the film was made “with a lot of empathy”.

“Lily is a survivor and a victim and even though those are huge labels, that's not who she is,” Ms Lively said. “She defines herself, and I think it's deeply empowering that no one else can define you.”