While many celebrities have spoken out in support of Blake Lively since she filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, the real pillar of her support system has been her husband, Ryan Reynolds, according to a source close to the pair.
"Ryan is always her rock," the source told People two days after news of Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni, who also directed It Ends With Us, broke. "They have such a special relationship. He's very proud of her in so many ways."
Now that she's filed the lawsuit and gone public with the scope of her negative experiences working on the film, which her complaint says had a "hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production," the actress is taking some much-needed time to focus on her family—including her daughters James, 10, Inez, 8, and Betty, 5, and son Olin, 1—for the holidays.
"She's trying to just focus on making Christmas special for her children," the People source said of Lively, adding that she's unlikely to publicly speak about the harassment again for the time being. "For now, she's said what needed to be said."
Lively may not have anything else to add at the moment, but in the wake of the lawsuit, several other celebrities have spoken out in support of the actress, including her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars, her sister, Robyn Lively, and actress Amber Heard.
"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," Lively's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars, Amber Tamblyn, Amercia Fererra, and Alexis Bledel, said in a joint statement released on Instagram. "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, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice. Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors' stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding."
Heard, whose ex-husband Johnny Depp reportedly hired the same PR crisis manager as Baldoni during Heard and Depp's public legal battle, issued her own statement of support for Lively to NBC News, saying, "Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying 'A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on.' I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive."
As for Lively herself, the actress issued her own statement about the lawsuit to the The New York Times, which reported on situation and Baldoni's crisis management team.
"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," she said.
