Intimacy Expert Unpacks Justin Baldoni’s ‘Smell’ Comment Controversy

A newly surfaced unedited clip from the set of "It Ends with Us" is going viral, as it offers audio and context that appear to contradict Blake Lively’s sexual harassment allegations against co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

The footage sheds new light on a heated legal battle filled with allegations and counterclaims, including Blake Lively’s claim that Justin Baldoni acted inappropriately during the filming of a romantic dance scene.

In her civil rights complaint, Lively accused Baldoni of dragging his lips down her neck during a scripted dance scene, allegedly whispering, “It smells so good.” She stated that no one overheard the remark because the microphones were turned off for the silent scene.

The newly released footage paints a different picture of the interaction, capturing a lighthearted exchange between the two actors. Around the seven-minute mark of the clip, Baldoni can be heard asking, “Am I getting beard on you?” Lively responds with a laugh, “I’m probably getting spray tan on you.”

Baldoni replies, “It smells good,” which prompts both actors to laugh. Lively clarifies that the scent comes from her body makeup, maintaining the playful tone of their interaction.

This comment has been a focal point amongst fans who are dissecting the clip, but Mia Schachter, an intimacy coordinator who has worked on Apple TV+’s "Lessons in Chemistry," HBO’s "Insecure" and FX’s "American Crime Story," told The Hollywood Reporter people should be looking at the bigger picture.

"In terms of the smell comment, to me, it’s less about that particular comment and whether or not it was a straw that broke the camel’s back type of situation," she said. "It’s like she’s got a running list of moments where she felt uncomfortable and pushed, and that things that were inappropriate were happening. That line to me is something that you may not even notice if you feel comfortable and safe."

Schachter did acknowledge how complex it is, "because obviously to say that in character makes sense."

"To say that out of character, it’s not inherently wrong or inappropriate," she added. "But when there has been mounting discomfort and mounting line crossings, I can see how that becomes yet another thing that was out of line."

When discussing the Daily Mail's headline with the video that reads “Who’s Lying?”​​ Schachter admits she doesn't think either of them are lying.

"I think they’re both talking from their own experience," she told THR. "They are really strongly disagreeing about things like professionalism, etiquette, what’s appropriate, what’s not, what it means to be an actor. There are actors still who are like, 'This should all be organic.' And 'Oh, I’m sorry I pushed you. I was in the moment.'"

"Most, if not all, intimacy coordinators and stunt coordinators would say, 'You just don’t do that. You don’t kiss someone if you haven’t talked about it ahead of time.' In Hollywood, in the not too recent past, that was not out of the ordinary," Schachter added. "That doesn’t mean that it was OK, but we were operating with a different set of standards."

At the end of the day, Schachter feels Baldoni should have stepped up and made sure Livley was comfortable shooting the scenes.

"In a scene like that, without an intimacy coordinator, I think it was his responsibility to ask Blake, 'Hey, what do you think about kissing in this scene?' if that’s what he wanted to see. But he didn’t ask her or even mention that it was something he wanted to shoot — he just went for it. She pulled away, and then he did it again. He definitely should have communicated that that was what he wanted to shoot, but he didn’t. To me, that’s pretty damning, both as an actor and a director."

After the clip went viral, Lively’s legal team quickly responded with a statement applauding the release of the footage, asserting that it supports her claims rather than refutes them.

“Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,” Lively’s lawyers told TMZ. “Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

The statement goes on to detail the alleged behavior seen in the video, claiming it shows Baldoni “repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.”

As the legal battle unfolds, the video raises important questions about how on-set dynamics are interpreted and the challenges of distinguishing between scripted actions and alleged misconduct. For now, both sides remain firm in their narratives, leaving the court of public opinion to weigh the evidence.