Justin Baldoni's RELIGION To Blame For Misunderstandings With Blake Lively?? New Report Flips Feud On Its Head!

Did Justin Baldoni‘s issues with Blake Lively all stem from his religion??

On Friday, The Hollywood Reporter released the results of their big investigation into the It Ends With Us drama. The big takeaway? They think Justin’s little-known faith could have played a part in his issues with the Gossip Girl star. The outlet notes Blake even hinted at it in her lawsuit!

Related: Blake & Ryan Claim Justin’s Billionaire Backer Threatened Them

Justin has long been public about being a member of the Baha’i religious community, which stems from what is now known as Iran in 1844. According to the outlet, the actor’s parents moved to California and converted to the religion before he was born, so he was raised to be Baha’i his whole life. Los Angeles currently has about 3,000 members — making it the largest in the country. There are between 5 million and 8 million followers worldwide, including stars like Rainn Wilson and Penn Badgley.

Contents [hide]

• 1 The Colleen Connection
• 2 Baha’i Explained
• 3 A Baha’i Studio
• 4 Too Touchy, Too Feely?
• 5 Blake’s Hints
• 6 Power Vacuum

The Colleen Connection

There were even rumors Colleen Hoover was also a member — and the only way Justin secured the rights to the book adaptation was because he and the author shared a spiritual bond. This, however, has been debunked. A close source insisted the author has NEVER been part of the Baha’i community. There was also nothing spiritual about the book rights deal either. It’s pretty standard. Johanna Castillo, her former editor turned literary agent, brokered the rights agreement. The reason Justin got the rights, so far as we can tell, is that the book wasn’t the smash hit it is now back then.

When Colleen became aware of this rumor shortly after the production wrapped, per THR‘s sources, she was frustrated… but thought it would be easiest to just let it blow over. It was, after all, just a rumor. But it fed into the idea that the whole movie was a Baha’i production…

So what’s the deal with the faith??

Baha’i Explained

A source who worked with Justin on Five Feet Apart compared it to another highly controversial religion many A-listers are involved with:

“This had shades of Scientology but with less of the prominence and people hovering at all times.”

At its core, the faith is based on notions of humanity, universalism, and gender equality. Hence his big feminist persona online! There’s no real hierarchy like that of other religions either — instead, elected bodies known as “spiritual assemblies” govern over their people. There are several texts they rely on, and members are free to “explore their own interpretation,” per Zackery Heern, a member of the faith and professor at Idaho State University. He explained that “nobody has authority to say you’re wrong” about an interpretation, though they are “urged to not to go wild with their interpretations.”

That said, there are codes of conduct members must follow, such as no premarital sex, alcohol, or drugs. Prayer, fasting, and meditation are also main aspects of the faith. Based on what it sounds like from some sources, the practices of the group — and at least Justin’s behavior — can get pretty touchy-feely (though this is, in part, based on a member’s location in the world and what is acceptable).

So, how did this impact It Ends With Us?? Apparently, in a LOT of ways!

A Baha’i Studio

Justin’s Wayfarer Studios co-founder Steve Sarowitz, president/producer pal Jamey Heath, and several other employees are all members of the religion. Steve told Inspired Insider in 2021:

“We think we’re one human family. It’s not like we need everyone to be Baha’i. We want to just spread these teachings of oneness. And so that’s what Wayfarer is doing.”

A company spreading a religious ideal to employees doesn’t sound very kosher to us. But that’s how they did it. For instance, when Justin and Wayfarer execs hold meetings, they reportedly often start by having participants go around and share something private — something that has NOTHING to do with their jobs or career but that brings them “joy.” Huh???

A female exec at a production company who had a meeting with Justin last year dished:

“In my head I was like, ‘I’m sorry, are we at Café f**king Gratitude?’ Why are you imposing your culture on this meeting that’s being held at our offices? I can’t explain exactly why, but it made me so uncomfortable.”

Jeez!

Sounds like a lot of their leadership style was faith-forward. The aforementioned Five Feet Apart source said Justin “did talk about his religion a lot” on the set of the Cole Sprouse-led film.

As a different source from the crew of Five Feet Apart explained, feelings were a big thing with Justin — something that didn’t sit well with everyone on the set of that movie either:

“I’ve never worked with a male director who was so worried about everyone’s emotional and mental well-being. There was an openness and emotionality to his style that was more typical of a woman, and it probably wouldn’t be an issue if it was a [female director] because of the preconceived notions of gender. But if you get a bunch of Teamsters together who are told that they should share their feelings, of course someone is going to ask, ‘Why is he such a freak?’ But [Justin] genuinely believes that if we do this, we’ll work better as a group. There’s a little bit of an arrogance to it. It’s like he doesn’t want to acknowledge the world we live in.”

Not acknowledging the world? Or not being respectful of other worldviews on set? Ah, that could be a real issue. If Wayfarer is secretly a faith-based studio, that could be just as intrusive as any other religion being forced on others.

Too Touchy, Too Feely?

Since the Jane the Virgin star had so much more control on It Ends With Us — as the producer, director, and leading man — he apparently leaned into his faith even more!

A source told THR several members of the crew participated in a Baha’i prayer on the first day of filming, with others adding that Justin would often “ask God for guidance” before making big creative choices. Two others claimed there was an unusual amount of physical contact, such as hugging. In a post-#MeToo era, you could see how that could get messy! Not everyone is part of the faith, not everyone is into the touchy-feely stuff. Like Blake?

Both Blake and Justin’s legal filings are full of descriptions of the co-stars instantly getting extremely close. It seems at times less like a professional setting and more like in-laws trying to bond. The way Justin tells it (with his text evidence), it’s people becoming fast friends. So close they watch each other breastfeed, and it’s all good.

Obviously Blake’s complaint paints a totally different picture. She says she didn’t want him barging in on her, that she didn’t like him talking about his sex life or asking about hers.

Is it possible they both are describing the exact same incidents and just seeing them SO differently due to their worldviews??

Blake’s Hints

While the A Simple Favor star didn’t explicitly name Justin’s religion as part of the problem, she did kinda hint at it! One complaint in her suit is that Justin made her “alarmed” when he hired his “best friend” Adam Mondschein to play the doctor in her birthing scene — despite him not being a smaller actor with only minor roles. Interestingly, he is a Baha’i member and his biggest previous credit was an appearance in The Gate: Dawn of the Baha’i Faith, a docudrama about the origins of the religion… which was billionaire Steve’s first producing project. It’s all connected!

Because of all of this, a source who worked on the domestic violence drama thinks tension on set was largely because of miscommunications and misunderstandings:

“The Justin that I know isn’t capable of doing the things that he’s accused of doing because he truly sees himself as this feminist. But Blake clearly got grossed out. I honestly feel like it was a perfect storm of two opposing personalities.”

Hmm…

Power Vacuum

But it wasn’t just unwanted touching or forced intimacy that Justin’s Baha’i faith brought to the project. It may have actually been the source of the filmmaker’s more communal, collaborative approach to directing. A source from Five Feet Apart recalled about Baldoni’s methods:

“Everybody is valuable no matter where you are in the hierarchy of the production. Everyone had the ability to bring up any concerns that are happening in our community. He liked to use that term: community.”

Did he make a point of emphasizing the freedom to add to the production with Blake? If so, that may have been all the encouragement she needed to try to do more… to write her own versions of scenes, to choose her own wardrobe, all of it. And that extra power may have gone to Blake’s head — THR wonders if Justin inadvertently created a “power vacuum.”

Maybe this was a misunderstanding, but even if so, Justin and the others should have changed their ways. Allegedly, multiple women submitted complaints about their behavior — but according to those actresses, nothing changed. Religious belief doesn’t excuse bad behavior. But could it have caused been the initial rift between the cast??

What do YOU think? Tell us (below)!

[Image via MEGA/WENN & We Are Man Enough/YouTube]

The post Justin Baldoni's RELIGION To Blame For Misunderstandings With Blake Lively?? New Report Flips Feud On Its Head! appeared first on Perez Hilton.