Blake Lively is defended by director Paul Feig amid allegations of a smear campaign by Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively has received support from a director who praised her work ethic in a social media post following her sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni. 

Lively, 37, has accused It Ends With Us director and star of creating an 'hostile work environment' while working on the film and hiring a crisis management team to 'take down' the actress afterward. 

Paul Feig, 62, who worked with Lively on the psychological thriller A Simple Favor and the sequel, A Simple Favor 2, took to X/Twitter on Sunday to defend her.

'I’ve now made two movies with Blake and all I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people I’ve ever worked with,' the Directors Guild of America Award winner stated.

'She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.'

Feig included the link to an article in The New York Times detailing alleged efforts to make the veteran star look bad during the promotion of the drama about domestic violence after rumors of discord between her and Baldoni, 40, emerged. 

The legal complaint, filed Friday, contained subpoenaed communication, including texts, between Baldoni and the PR Crisis team he hired. 

'You know we can bury anyone, but I can't write that to him (Baldoni)' Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group wrote to Jennifer Abel of RWA communications in a text.

Nathan reportedly represented Johnny Depp during his 2022 lawsuit against former wife Amber Heard, following an op-ed piece she wrote about her experience with domestic violence in The Washington Post. Heard did not mention the actor by name in the piece.   

A screen shot showing an unflattering article about Hailey Bieber being a bully alleged to be from Baldoni to Abel was included in the documents, with Baldoni telling his team 'this is what we would need.' 

Lively's breakout role was in 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her co-stars, America Ferrera , Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, have all spoken in support of their longtime friend. 

In a joint Instagram post on Sunday, Tamblyn and Ferrera released a statement signed by all three of them, including Bledel, who is not active on the platform.

'In support of our sister, Blake,' they wrote in the caption and signed off with a red heart emoji and their first names.

'As Blake's friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,' the trio's statement read.

'Throughout the filming of It Ends With Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set,' they stated.

'And we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice,' they continued.

'Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors' stories to silence a woman who asked for safety,' Lively's Sisterhood co-stars wrote. 

'The hypocrisy is astounding.'

In the lengthy complaint Lively also detailed dozens of alleged incidents of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior toward herself and other women on the set.

Among the allegations, The Rhythm Section actress accused Baldoni of being overly concerned with her appearance and weight.

She detailed how he allegedly went behind her back to talk to her personal trainer about helping her to lose weight, and disguised a referral to a weight loss expert as someone who would 'help her with probiotics and to combat' strep throat. 

Baldoni has denied the allegations, however, the damning charges have resulted in his being dropped by talent agency WME, which also represents Lively.