On an episode of How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, which premiered Dec. 4, Baldoni, who directed and starred as a domestic abuser in Colleen Hoover’s adaptation, also waxed lyrical about how he didn’t want his film to lead women . being tried, as Lively now accuses him of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her around the time the film was released.
“We have enough women judging women, we have enough men judging women,” the actor, 40, said during the interview with the award-winning podcaster.
It Ends With Us tells the story of Lily Bloom, played by Blake Lively, and how she deals with the trauma of domestic abuse inflicted by her husband, Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni.
It became the most talked about movie of the year, although not because of its content, after rumors of a breakup between Lively, 37, and Baldoni emerged on set.
Now Lively has sensationally accused her director and co-star of orchestrating a ‘smear campaign’ against her in a sexual harassment lawsuit in which she has made explosive allegations, including that Baldoni showed her explicit videos and photographs of other women, openly discussed his struggles with pornography and made inappropriate comments about her appearance and weight during filming.
Lively’s accusations shed new light on comments made by her co-star in the podcast episode, where she also discussed the “trauma” of taking on the role of an abuser, as she felt like the character “lived in (her) body” during the filming.
The Jane The Virgin actor also spoke about his experiences of ‘abuse’ and his ADHD diagnosis at age 40.
Justin Baldoni (pictured) said he was ‘gaslighted’ and lied to audiences in the film It Ends With Us, but insisted ‘we have to stop judging women’ in a recent interview with Elizabeth Day.
The comments were made on December 4, just weeks before Blake Lively (pictured), 37, filed a damning lawsuit against the 40-year-old actor, with whom she starred in the summer blockbuster It Ends With Us.
During the interview, Baldoni emphasized how he wanted the film to bring to light the quieter, more insidious parts of domestic violence that are ““It hasn’t been talked about enough.”
‘One in three women worldwide is a staggering number. If something was happening to one in three men, the problem would have been solved a long time ago.
“So I felt like we had to talk about it. It remains somewhat in the shadows.
‘I didn’t want people to judge Lily (Lively’s character). I think we have enough women judging women, we have enough men judging women to stay in these relationships, and these relationships are very complex.
‘They are not black and white, they are full of nuance, manipulation and real love, which is not talked about enough when talking about abusive relationships.
“I thought that if you showed Ryle abusing Lily in the first 30 minutes of the movie, it would be very difficult for the audience not to form a negative opinion of her.”
During the interview, he also added that he wanted the audience to “fall in love” with his character Ryle, who was abusing Lily, only to then “have the rug pulled out from under his feet” when it becomes clear later in the plot. that the character is abusive.
Justin Baldoni recently appeared on How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, where he waxed lyrical about how he criticized the strong judgment towards women, while his co-star Blake Lively accuses him of orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni, 40, directed It Ends With Us, a film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel about domestic violence.
Blake Lively, 37 (pictured with husband Ryan Reynolds), filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni.
Baldoni insisted he had worked hard to create a “realistic” depiction of the abuse, speaking to victims of domestic violence and speaking to the No Más foundation, a non-profit charity that aims to end domestic and sexual violence.
‘I really wanted the audience to feel what it feels like to be gaslighted, to feel what it was like to wonder if everything they saw was a lie and if everything they felt wasn’t true, because that’s the reality for a lot of women.’
He also told the novelist and podcaster that he had problems while playing the role of Ryle and had to “drop out” during several scenes.
Baldoni said he had experienced “trauma” playing Ryle, a character who is said to have accidentally killed his brother in childhood.
“The hard thing about having that in your body is having the trauma alive in your body from what he’s experienced and creating that trauma in your body, insecurity, pain and the feeling that you really shouldn’t be alive.”
‘That was very hard. It took a few months. I had dreams about him for a while, he lived in my body but I think he’s mostly outside.
Baldoni shared his own experiences with “trauma” and his struggles with feeling like “something was wrong” with him, following his late diagnosis of ADHD.
He said: ‘No matter how much work I did, I felt something was wrong with me. What I realized was that I lived as if I had a deficit, that I wasn’t like everyone else.’
Before his diagnosis, which he received this year, Baldoni described the impact his ADHD has on “inflicting pain on others.”
Justin photographed with his wife Emily Baldoni at the premiere of Five Feet Apart in 2019
He said he “was hurt quite a bit throughout my life” about whether or not it was ADHD, so the diagnosis “gave me a lot of compassion for myself.”
Describing how he felt before making the discovery, he said: “That pain makes people inflict more pain on me, on myself and on others.”
The actor, who said he chose to direct the film in an effort to shed light on the “manipulation” that occurs in abusive relationships, said he has a hard time “forgiving himself” for spending time away from his family while filming the now controversial film. .
Baldoni met his Swedish wife of 11 years, Emily Fuxler, in 2011 and the couple share two children; his daughter Maiya Grace Baldoni, nine years old, and his son Maxwell Roland-Samuel Baldoni, seven years old.
He admitted that filming the film was “devastatingly difficult for many reasons”, but especially because of the time he was forced away from his family, so he said he now had a hard time “forgiving myself”.
Baldoni admitted that he was struggling to forgive himself for how “lonely” his wife Emily, who played a small role in the film, felt while he was away during the nearly two years it took to complete production.
“I missed some of the most important things and if I could give anything, I would go back in time and experience,” he said.
“I took on the role of provider and we ended up in very stereotypical gender roles without ever talking about it…she was doing the invisible work of motherhood and I missed it a lot,” she said.
He said losing time away from his family is “the one thing I’ll never get back.”
‘One of the things that saddens me the most is how alone she felt during all of this.
‘I think our world, our culture and our society could do a better job at two things. Considering how lonely it is to be a mother, it’s no longer a village raising a child, it’s a single mother.
“And I think we also have to keep in mind how lonely it can be to be a man trying to support that mother or his family.”
Describing how he felt before making the discovery, he said: “That pain makes people inflict more pain on myself and others.”
Lively required that an intimacy coordinator be present in all the scenes she filmed with Baldoni.
‘Instead of classifying who is more tired, who is more this or who is more that. Being able to see, wow, you felt so alone when I was building my career and I’m so sorry.
‘And for her to say, you felt so alone and you missed so much and then being able to come together and realize that we still have time to heal. “Those are the things I’m doing now to make sure I don’t repeat the failures tomorrow.”
Lively’s lawsuit includes shocking allegations that Baldoni, 40, showed her explicit videos and images of other women, discussed her alleged addiction to pornography and made inappropriate comments about her weight, among other troubling comments directed at the cast and crew. equipment.
In a particularly egregious detail, Lively’s legal team claims that Baldoni introduced ‘gratuitous improvised sexual content and/or scenes of nudity’ into the film, including one involving an underage character, in a deeply disturbing way even before for filming to begin.
Baldoni is also accused of attempting “improvised physical intimacy” during a scene without prior discussion or choreography.
One incident allegedly involved Baldoni “discreetly biting and sucking on Ms. Lively’s bottom lip” during multiple takes, allegedly insisting on repeatedly reshooting the scene despite Lively’s clear discomfort.
The lawsuit alleges that Baldoni asked sexual questions, including asking Lively if she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, experienced simultaneous sexual climaxes, a question she claims he refused to answer.
These new accusations add to the already worrying accusations against Baldoni, who has continued to deny all accusations.
The accusations extend to the film’s producer, Jamey Heath, accused of aggravating the toxic environment.