Blake Lively accused 'It Ends With Us' co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in federal lawsuit
Blake Lively’s hidden motives revealed in resurfaced clip as legal war escalates
Blake Lively’s secret agenda exposed in a resurfaced 2022 clip revealing she hid her push for 'authorship' from directors until after signing on, a key issue in her legal battle with 'It Ends With Us' director Justin Baldoni.
Blake Lively controversies continue to resurface as internet sleuths dig up the actress's past amid the legal back-and-forth between her and "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni.
Lively, 37, rose to fame in the 2000s thanks in part to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and her starring role on "Gossip Girl," where she portrayed Upper East Side "it girl" Serena Van Der Woodsen.
The show, which premiered in 2007 and ran for five years on The CW network, featured an all-star cast of up-and-coming actors, including Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick.
Lively told UK Glamour that she was so unhappy Badgley was cast on the show, she did everything she could to turn her co-stars against him.
BLAKE LIVELY VS JUSTIN BALDONI: EVERYTHING TO KNOW
Blake Lively once "poisoned" the "Gossip Girl" cast to keep them clear of her then-boyfriend Penn Badgley. (Gotham)
'Poisoned the whole cast against him'
"At first I was so upset that they hired him," she said in 2009, per People Magazine. "I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn’t a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that, too, but it took me about a week to admit it."
The former couple dated from 2007-2010. Executive producer Joshua Safran told Vanity Fair in 2017 that their breakup was mostly a secret.
"They kept the breakup hidden from the crew, which you could never do now. I don’t even know how they did it," he said. "They kept it from everybody, which is a testament to how good they are as actors. Because they did not want their personal drama to relate to the show."
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley dated for three years until 2010. (Jamie McCarthy)
'A rug pull'
According to an unearthed interview from the 2022 Forbes Power Women's Summit, the "A Simple Favor" actress admitted some directors and producers felt uncomfortable with her need to feel "authorship" while working on projects.
JUSTIN BALDONI CLAIMS BLAKE LIVELY ‘NEVER INTENDED’ TO FILE LAWSUIT: DOCS
"When I was younger, in my life and career, I would sort of shape myself to the version of myself that I thought they wanted, or when I would show up on a set I knew that they just wanted me to show up and look cute and stand on a little pink sticker where I'm supposed to go and say what I'm supposed to say," Lively said in the resurfaced interview.
"But I also knew, like, that wasn't fulfilling for me, that I wanted to be a part of the storytelling, that I wanted to be part of the narrative, whether that be in the writing, in the costume design, in creating the character."
Despite some willingness from production for Lively to be hands-on with the project, Lively also said she received backlash.
Blake Lively attended the 2022 Forbes Power Women's Summit. (Taylor Hill)
"Sometimes, I had directors or producers or writers who would welcome that and invite that once they saw that I was able to offer that, and sometimes I would have people who really resented that because they were like, ‘We just hired you to be an actor.’
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"Yet when I went in the meetings, I would just seem like I'm just there to be the actor and ready to get the gig. I wouldn't reveal that I actually need to have authorship in order to feel fulfilled."
She added, "So, I think that for them, sometimes that might have felt like a rug-pull because you're like, 'You're trying to assert yourself into something that we didn't hire you to do,' and so it was a really strange position to be in. I want to have more authorship. It's about knowing what I want and what I need and knowing what I need from the outset."
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively starred in the film based on the Colleen Hoover novel. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
'Congrats on your little bump'
Norwegian entertainment reporter Kjersti Flaa interviewed Lively and co-star Parker Posey in 2016 as part of their "Café Society" press tour. Flaa uploaded the video recently amid the "It Ends With Us" backlash and titled the clip, "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."
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Flaa seemingly experienced an uncomfortable moment with Lively after she congratulated the "Gossip Girl" star on her pregnancy. In the video, Flaa congratulated Lively on her "little bump." Lively responded, "Congrats on your little bump."
However, Flaa was not pregnant at the time. The video gained traction on social media, garnering millions of views on YouTube.
'Regina George vibes'
On the red carpet in London during press for "It Ends With Us," Lively received backlash for the way she responded to a gift from a reporter.
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much. That’s so sweet," Lively said after receiving a pink and white friendship bracelet. "I’m going to put it here because it doesn’t go with my outfit, but I will wear it later."
TikTok fans noted that Lively had "Regina George vibes" and referenced the character in "Mean Girls." Another user wrote, "The way it actually FITS her whole outfit."
Blake Lively was criticized for how she responded to receiving a gift on the red carpet. (Gareth Cattermole)
The star's resurfaced interviews, dug up by internet sleuths, come on the heels of Lively detailing allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional affliction of emotional distress, negligence and more made by Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights department on Dec. 20 and later in federal court on Dec. 31.
The same day Lively filed her federal suit, Baldoni filed a $250 million suit against the New York Times for a December article about the alleged smear campaign Baldoni attempted to run against his co-star.
Weeks later, Baldoni then named Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, in a separate $400 million defamation lawsuit in which he accused the Hollywood power couple of attempting to hijack "It Ends With Us" and create their own narrative.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Lively's rep for comment.
Fox News Digital's Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to
