Oof. Blake Lively made a lot of accusations against Justin Baldoni in her legal filing. But this is one of the most despicable. If you’ve read even a small fraction of the complaint, you know that’s saying something.
But amid all the alleged harassment, bullying, and inappropriate behavior for a film set… there’s also something that’s more deeply, personally hurtful. Blake said in her filing that Baldoni “engaged in other behaviors that were shocking and emotionally distressing.” This is maybe the one that really pops out. According to Blake, the It Ends With Us director claimed he could communicate with the dead — and spoke personally to her late father!
For those who don’t know, Blake lost her dad Ernie Lively in 2021, and it was an absolutely devastating loss for the Gossip Girl alum. Her beautiful tribute to the late actor — who also played her dad onscreen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants — showed just what an enormous presence he was in her life.
And Justin came in, after not even knowing the man, and told her he was speaking to his ghost.
Blake alleged in her complaint that Justin claimed “he could speak to the dead, and on several occasions told [Lively] that he had spoken to her dead father.” She described the ghastly boast as “off putting and violative.” She couldn’t believe this man would “claim a personal relationship with [Lively’s] recently deceased father.”
We can’t believe it either. It’s one thing to claim you have these kinds of powers. There are mediums who make a whole career out of it. It’s another to violate someone’s personal emotional space by claiming you’re speaking to their deceased relatives without their consent. Even TV mediums would surely decry that as unethical behavior.
We wonder if this is part of why Blake’s sis Robyn Lively and brother-in-law Bart Johnson were so vocal in their support of the fight against Justin? We mean, it’s her father, too. She has every right to be offended.
Blake also noted in her list of demands on the contentious film set that she would not tolerate Baldoni’s “unsolicited sharing” of his “religious beliefs” with her — and also noted:
“No more pressing by Justin Baldoni to sage any of Blake Lively’s employees.”
To “sage” them? He was forcing them to take blessings? Burnt sage is supposed to cleanse negative energies. And it sounds like he was trying to push that on everyone during filming. But if this is anything to go on, the negative energy was all coming from one place.
