Amid a messy legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, former workers of Blake Lively‘s lifestyle brand, Preserve, have accused the star of fostering a “toxic, unprofessional and chaotic” workplace.
In 2014, the Gossip Girl star launched Preserve, an online lifestyle shop that sold artisanal goods. However, within a year, Lively’s venture unfortunately shut shop.
But now, 10 years later after it shut down, six former Preserve employees have alleged that working for the show was “toxic” and “emotionally draining”.
“The entire company was an absolute disaster,” one anonymous staffer claimed to Daily Mail.
“The workplace allegations that Blake is making now [against Justin Baldoni] are deeply ironic, given that it was one of the most insane, toxic, emotionally draining and disorganised environments you could imagine.”
A second former Preserve employee echoed the first former worker, adding that it was “a really toxic work environment”.
“The impression [Lively] left on me after I worked at Preserve is that she doesn’t care,” the second staffer shared.
Alongside the workplace allegations, Eric Lively, Blake Lively’s brother, was reportedly hired as Preserve’s creative director and was accused of being “careless” and often “overslept” while he was in the role. As a result, employees had to wait outside and face the elements of NYC before they were let into the office.
Four more ex-staffers also claimed they were forced to sit on the floor of the Preserve’s studios for “months” before any furniture arrived.
“For many weeks or months, there were no desks,” an ex-employee claimed.
“The irony of it being a lifestyle site that was selling these really expensive wares was not lost on anyone.”
On top of all the workplace environment allegations, two more ex-staff members claimed they were unable to pay for their transport to work when they weren’t paid on time.
Per the Daily Mail, some of Preserve’s former employees allegedly received settlements of up to USD$300,000 (AUD$4657,517.22) after they threatened legal action.
The ex-employees also claimed that it was Blake’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, who kept the drama of Preserve from surfacing in the media.
“Leslie Sloane shut it down,” one ex-staffer claimed.
“They buried every single thing from that company.”
Shortly after Preserve shut shop in 2015, Blake admitted to Vogue that she wished she had waited six more months before launching her online venture.
“We have an incredible team of people who do beautiful work, but we launched the site before it was ready, and it never caught up to its original mission: It’s not making a difference in people’s lives, whether superficially or in a meaningful way,” she told the publication.
In another interview with Entrepreneur in 2023, Blake also admitted there was some “behind-the-scenes stuff that [she] couldn’t figure out” when it came to Preserve. However, she did not elaborate on said “stuff”.
At the time of writing, neither Blake, Eric, nor Leslie has addressed the allegations made against Preserve.
The workplace allegations made against Blake Lively come amid her heated legal battle with It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
You see, Blake sued Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her ahead of the movie’s release. However, Baldoni countersued Blake, her publicist Leslia Sloane, and her husband Ryan Reynolds for defamation and other claims.
The highly publicised case is set to go to trial in March 2026.
Image source: Getty Images
The post Blake Lively Accused Of ‘Insane, Toxic’ Workplace At Now-Defunct Lifestyle Brand: ‘Draining’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
