Blake Lively is accusing her It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni of mounting a “retaliatory social media campaign†against her in a sexual-harassment complaint. Amber Heard knows what that’s like. The Aquaman actress backed Lively amid the revelation that Baldoni hired the same crisis publicist that her ex-husband Johnny Depp used during his defamation lawsuit against her. (Heard is also suing that crisis publicist, Melissa Nathan.) “Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’†Heard told NBC News. “I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.â€
A jury found that Heard defamed Depp in 2022, after she accused the actor of abuse in a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post in a piece titled, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.†At the time, Heard said the verdict “sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated.†Depp worked with Nathan during the trial, who is now also representing Baldoni. In her complaint, Lively claimed Nathan worked to “help change narrative†against Baldoni during the film’s press cycle, via “proactive fan posting†and “social manipulations,†amounting to the alleged smear campaign. Now, Heard is just the latest to offer support to Lively, a list that includes her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars and It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover.