Hollywood in transition

Lively & Baldoni’s fight: the end of #MeToo?

Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends With Us", among other things.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/©Sony Pictures / Everett Collection)

Something was already wrong at the premiere last summer. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, the two leads of the film drama "Just One More Time", did not appear together on the red carpet, hardly ever spoke about each other in interviews and no longer followed each other on social media.

The film, which is based on the bestseller of the same name by Colleen Hoover, received only mediocre reviews and grossed around 350 million US dollars (around 340 million euros) at the global box office - but now seems to have an even more dramatic aftermath.

Lively - who rose to fame with the series "Gossip Girl", is a close friend of Taylor Swift and wife of fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, with whom she has four children - and Baldoni - who rose to fame with the series "Jane the Virgin" and is married to fellow actress Emily Foxler, with whom he has two children - are suing each other.

Sexual harassment, defamation, manipulation
Lively first accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in December and accused him and producer Jamey Heath in a lawsuit of trying to destroy her reputation.

Baldoni countered Lively's lawsuit with a defamation suit.

(Bild: APA/Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Baldoni is now suing Lively - as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds and their joint press agent - for millions in damages for defamation. They allegedly manipulated the media and usurped the production and marketing of the film.

"This is ancient history," Lively's lawyers countered. "A woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the perpetrator tries to turn the tables on the victim."

Fans torn back and forth
Fans around the world are left wondering what might have really happened behind the scenes. Should they side with Baldoni and believe the many negative reports about Lively, according to which she inappropriately promoted the film "Just One More Time", for example, which also deals with domestic violence, and was primarily interested in self-promotion?

Lively and Reynolds have been married since 2012.

(Bild: APA/Cindy Ord/Getty Images/AFP )

Or should we believe Lively that Baldoni crossed boundaries in his behavior towards her on several occasions? Among other things, he allegedly came into her dressing room with producer Heath while she was breastfeeding her baby and made sexually harassing comments on several occasions.

"Collapse of the #MeToo era in Hollywood"
Baldoni had already sued the "New York Times" for defamation at the end of December - based on an article in which he was accused of instigating a smear campaign against Lively with the help of professional crisis managers after she accused him of sexual harassment. The article was written by Megan Twohey, among others - who, together with colleagues, brought Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults to light and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2018. This launched the global MeToo movement, in which women in particular drew attention to sexual assault by men.

What exactly happened in the Lively/Baldoni case and who gets justice will now have to be determined by lawyers and possibly the courts. But the case illustrates something else above all: the "collapse of the #MeToo era in Hollywood", as the New Yorker magazine writes.

Lively's accusations are not being taken seriously, but instead she is being covered in a counter-campaign - which is successful in terms of public perception. "We are no longer in the #MeToo era. The standard of 'believing women' never really became the standard."