Blake Lively's lawsuit against Justin Baldoni has been 'ugly' and 'insanely stressful'

Blake Lively's legal battle against Justin Baldoni has been 'insanely stressful' for her.

A new People report provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Lively's legal filing against Baldoni, which came several months after the actress, 37, endured a brunt of negative publicity for It Ends With Us amid suspicions of a feud between her and Baldoni.

Last week, the matter escalated when Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, 40, alleging he sexually harassed her on the set of their film before orchestrating a smear campaign against her with his publicists after she complained about his alleged behavior. 

A source shared with People that Blake and her inner circle have been crafting up her latest lawsuit 'for months'.

They go on to describe how the matter has put Lively under an incredible amount of stress.  

'Blake along with her team have been working on this lawsuit for months. It’s truly been so ugly for her. And insanely stressful. She’s never dealt with anything like this before,' an insider told People.

Lively's support system amid the legal battle has been her husband Ryan Reynolds, with whom she shares three children with. 

And since the complaint was filed, she has been keeping her focus on her family.  

'Ryan is always her rock,' a source told the outlet. 'For now, she’s said what needed to be said.'

In Lively's legal complaint - which typically predates a formal lawsuit - Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her during production of the motion picture in multiple ways.

Lively said in the legal complaint that Baldoni had barged into her trailer as she was breastfeeding her child; spoke about his past addiction to adult films; spoke about past sexual experiences with non-consensual implications; and pried her about details of her 'intimate life.'

Lively's legal team said in the complaint that Baldoni 'routinely degraded [her] by finding back channel ways of criticizing her body and weight.'

In response to Lively calling out the alleged behavior, the actress claims that Baldoni hired a crisis PR team to engage in a 'multi-tiered' plan to 'destroy' her reputation after she and Reynolds, 48, complained of the 'repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior' on set. 

'I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,' Lively told The New York Times.

Baldoni has denied all of the claims against him in Lively's legal filing.

In the wake of Lively's legal filing, Baldoni has faced a number of consequences, including a lawsuit from a former publicist; and being dropped by the agency WME, which also reps Lively and Reynolds.

The organization Vital Voices said in a statement December 24 that it had rescinded an honor presented to the actor-director earlier this month, The Voices of Solidary Award.

'The Voices of Solidarity Award honors remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls,' the group said.

Vital Voices subsequently said that allegations in the complaint filed by Lively were 'disturbing,' 'abhorrent' and 'contrary to the values' it holds dear, leading it to revoke the honors for Baldoni.

On the heels of Dailymail.com's exclusive report Friday that Baldoni and multiple associates are preparing to file a countersuit against Lively when courts open up January 2, Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman vowed the contents of the filing will 'shock everyone.'

'I am not going to speak to when or how many lawsuits we are filing but when we file our first lawsuit, it is going to shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative,' Freedman on Saturday told Deadline.

Freedman said that contents of the countersuit 'will be supported by real evidence and tell the true story' of how things went down between the creatives and their respective publicity teams.

'In over 30 years of practicing, I have never seen this level of unethical behavior intentionally fueled through media manipulation,' Freedman told the outlet. 'It reminds me of what NBC tried to do to Megyn Kelly and Gabrielle Union and we all know how that ended up. Standby.' 

Among the expected claims made in the alleged upcoming countersuit, as previously reported by Dailymail.com, include allegations that Lively's associates mislead with their release of out of context WhatsApp messages.

Other anticipated claims in the countersuit are that Lively's rep used media outlets to take shots at Baldoni's reputation; and that Lively's December 20 complaint was filed to salvage her reputation after a stretch of negative publicity.

The timing of the complaint from Lively 'makes no sense' as it's being presented, an insider previously told Dailymail.com.

'Do you seriously think that Blake Lively, married to one of the most powerful men in town and represented by one of the most powerful publicists, is going to sit meekly by if she is sexually harassed on a film set, and then hang on for four months after the film is released before making a complaint?' the insider asked.

The insider confirmed that while Lively and Baldoni 'never got on' and 'rubbed each other up the wrong way,' the actress 'has taken bits of conversations which they had when he was trying to be her friend, when they were friendly, and weaponized them.'