Amber Heard has spoken out in support of Blake Lively in the wake of her explosive allegations against Justin Baldoni, saying she too knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of a smear campaign.
Lively’s lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star alleges that he embarked on an elaborate effort to tank her reputation once filming had wrapped.
The movie production was marred with stories about their tense relationship, and the promotional tour that followed was disastrous. Lively was branded out of touch for failing to address domestic violence, and clips resurfaced in which she was seen being rude to journalists.
In her bombshell lawsuit, she accuses Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath of repeated sexual harassment. Among the most damning claims is that Baldoni ‘improvised’ kissing scenes to suck and bite on her lip.
She also alleges she was forced into nude scenes during which Heath’s friends were on-set.
Heard has long claimed that she was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by her famous ex, Johnny Depp, during their infamous court battle over domestic violence.
In a statement to NBC News of Lively’s claims, she said: ‘Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying “A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.”
‘I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.’
Amber Heard has spoken out about Blake Lively ‘s allegations her co-star Justin Baldoni launched a smear campaign against her
Lively, 37, has filed a legal complaint against Baldoni over allegations of sexual harassment, fostering a hostile work environment and trying to tarnish her reputation while they worked together on the movie It Ends With Us
NBC reports that Baldoni’s PR, Melissa Nathan, helped Depp through the trial – something her reps deny.
She started up her company, TAG PR, earlier this year – long after the Depp and Heard’s showdown.
Nathan’s reps denied that she had anything to do with a smear campaign against either woman, telling Daily Mail: ‘TAG PR must be the most powerful group of publicists the world has ever seen for it to be able to completely change the perception of both Amber Heard and Blake Lively.
‘The only correlation between both individuals was that for decades every move they have made has been out there for everyone to see, widely filmed and documented for the public to make up their own minds – which they did, organically.
‘All you have to do is watch the interviews that still remain if they have not already been scrubbed by their crisis PR teams (which is apparently their crisis teams next move since that’s what crisis teams do, they protect their clients).’
Heard was sued by Depp over allegations she fabricated claims of domestic abuse to further her career after she published an op-ed in the Washington Post outlining her accusations.
The jury sided largely with Depp after a weeks-long televised trial.
He was awarded $15million in damages in total. The amount was later reduced.
Heard has always maintained her innocence, insisting that the jury got it wrong. She lamented Depp’s revived popularity, and moved to Spain after the scandal died down.
Lively’s claims against Baldoni went viral over the weekend and have sent shockwaves through the industry.
In her lawsuit, Lively claims Baldoni showed her nude images and videos of women, talked about an alleged previous porn addiction and made sexual comments about the cast and crew
This included articles accusing Lively of a ‘tone deaf’ approach to the movie’s themes of domestic abuse after she failed to mention the issue during several interviews.
The actress reportedly want to market the film as a more uplifting and inspiring tale, compared to Baldoni who felt domestic abuse should be at the forefront of the promotional run.
Around the time of these articles, Lively’s old interviews also began to resurface which saw her branded rude and a ‘mean girl’ over the apparently dismissive way she responded to questions.
Among them was an awkward encounter with journalist Kjersti Flaa during which a visibly pregnant Lively appeared to take offense at Flaa referencing her baby bump.
Another saw Lively accused of ‘mean girl’ behavior during an interview with Café Society costar Parker Posey during promotion for the movie.
In her complaint, Lively states Baldoni fostered a toxic workplace environment on the set of their movie, which included the director showing her nude videos and images of other women and discussing his previous alleged porn addiction.
She claimed Baldoni made inappropriate inquiries about her weight, comments about her dead father as well as sexual remarks about the cast and crew.
The situation became so unworkable that she and her husband demanded crisis talks during filming to put a stop to the behavior, according to the lawsuit.
Heard said she has experienced a smear campaign ‘firsthand’ during a defamation trial where she was sued for defamation by her ex-husband Johnny Depp
She spoke out after it emerged that Baldoni hired the same crisis management PR team as Depp
She also requested ‘no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project,’ per the filing.
The demands were allegedly accepted by the studio, but the movie’s release was still hampered by their feud.
Another saw Lively accused of ‘mean girl’ behavior during an interview with Café Society costar Parker Posey during promotion for the movie.
Baldoni has now hit back and claims that Lively has only filed the lawsuit to try to repair her reputation in the wake of negative press she received following the film’s release.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman branded the legal action ‘false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt’.
He insisted Lively is attempting to ‘fix her negative reputation’ after rumors emerged of diva-like behavior during filming.
This included ‘threatening to not show up to set [and] threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release,’ according to Freedman.