My open letter to Blake Lively
It has taken me four days to think about how to find a way to support someone who has been traumatized, violated and publically humiliated for fighting for herself, her and other female co-workers' physical and emotional safety on a set that was supposed to be a safe environment to go and express yourself as an artist and tell an important story of domestic violence, resilience and survivor of trauma and happened to be a Hollywood actress. I guess an Open letter is the only way.
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To all my followers and supporters who think this issue is an important one to learn more about, please read the entire court documents here:
Open letter to Blake Lively
Dear Blake Lively,
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As a survivor of trauma and sexual exploitation, I see you, I hear you, and I am offering my sincerest thoughts and prayers to you and your family during these very difficult times, which,h according to the court papers, started two years ago.
According to the court papers, you entered into what was supposed to be an incredible opportunity as a working actress to help an author to tell a very important story. I am a survivor, and an author, my story is being adopted to picture as we speak. I can only imagine how much responsibility you felt to do justice to the author and Lily, the character.
According to the court papers, you signed contracts, and from that moment on, people, your employees, the author, the cast, and the crew basically relied on you to complete this film.
You were just given birth as well and were breastfeeding in between scenes.
According to the court documents, soon after the production began, you and other co-workers were sexually harassed on set, your privacy was violated over and over again, and Mr. Baldoni as a director and co-star, has improvised sexual scenes that go against SAG guidelines, such as biting your lip during a kissing scene, asking you to get nude while the script or the story didn’t call for it. Creating a hostile environment, inviting his “friends” on explicit sexual scenes where your female parts were exposed without any intimacy coach or support on a set. Constantly entering your trailer while you were breastfeeding or having your body makeup removed, showing your pornography on set, asking about your private sex life, or making statements such as I had had sex in my life when the woman didn’t give consent, and I don’t believe no always means no. You and your infant were exposed to COVID-19 two times because they didn’t get COVID-19 insurance and they didn’t want to put safety measures in place. They also asked you and the cast members to stay away from talking about Domestic Violence during the interviews promoting the film, so you followed the contract and kept it as light as possible.
Mind you, you did the press tour after experiencing months and months of emotional and sexual exploitation. Yet you still went on the press tour and did your best to make it to the finish line.
According to the court documents, instead of quitting and leaving the entire production and the future of the film in a hole forever, you decided to get a lawyer and put in safety measures to finish the film. You decided to go back to work and film after everything you had been through. You didn’t go to the media, you didn’t launch a smear campaign, you decided to finish the film to what I am guessing to honor the author, this important story of hope and resilience, the co-workers and everyone who was relying on this project. But when you get your lawyers involved, Mr. Baldoni and their production company’s investor, who is a billionaire with endless resources, decide to hire a PR manager. According to the text message evidence in the court papers, you ordered them to orchestrate a well-engineered social media smear campaign. I quote: Bury Ms. Lively and her entire family by planting false stories about her and her being a diva on a set.
Ms. Lively, I am genuinely sorry for not only what you have experienced in the last two years but for how the so-called feminists of the world, 80% of the women on social media, so quickly turned on you and not even questioning for a second why an entire female crew would distance themselves from Mr. Baldoni.
You were victimized, traumatized, exploited and violated with your infant in your arms; you spoke up, you tried to resolve this behind the scenes, kept your dignity and tried to protect other female employees as well in the meantime.
You are the true definition of a resilient survivor, and I am standing with you.
May God give you strength and support to carry out your mission and pave the way for a safer environment for all women worldwide, whether they truly understand what you are fighting for right now or not.
Yours truly,
Timea E Nagy