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Why Is Blake Lively’s Lifestyle Brand Under Fire? Inside ‘Toxic, Unprofessional’ Allegations Amid Justin Baldoni Feud
Former employees of Blake Lively’s defunct lifestyle company have come forward with allegations of a “toxic” work environment. Here’s what the report reveals.
It seems Blake Lively has found herself at the center of more drama amid her legal battle with Justin Baldoni. Six ex- employees of the actress’s defunct lifestyle company, Preserve, have reportedly spoken out about the alleged “toxic,” “unprofessional,” and “chaotic” workplace they experienced.
For the unversed, Lively founded Preserve in 2014 as an online shop selling artisanal home products. The company shut down within a year.
In a Daily Mail exposé published Monday, a former employee described the company as “an absolute disaster,” calling the workplace accusations Lively is making against Baldoni “deeply ironic,” given that Preserve was “one of the most insane, toxic, emotionally draining, and disorganized environments you could imagine.”
Another former staffer reportedly said that the impression Blake Lively left on them during their time at her company was that she "doesn't care.” They added, “It was a really toxic work environment.”
One employee recalled a photo shoot for the brand at Lively’s Westchester County, NY mansion. They alleged that when the employees and the model arrived, Lively showed up “looking like an absolute mess.”
The actress’s brother, Eric Lively, who was the company’s creative director, was also reportedly careless and often “overslept,” causing many employees to wait outside in the cold before being let into the Manhattan studio apartment that served as the company’s base.
An ex-employee alleged that for “months,” they had to sit on the studio floor before any furniture arrived. A former staffer called Eric “totally unqualified” to run the brand, adding, “There were a lot of ways in which the employment was unprofessional.”
It was also claimed that desks were missing for weeks or even months. The ex-staffer remarked, “The irony of it being a lifestyle site selling really expensive wares was not lost on anyone.”
Another ex-staffer described Lively’s brother as an “actor” who only played the part of creative director. Former employees also alleged they worked a “crazy amount” of hours, with two unable to afford subway fares due to delayed payments.
According to the report, after threatening legal action over mistreatment, some former employees received settlements of up to USD 300,000. The ex-staffers claimed the issue remained hush-hush thanks to the actress’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, who “shut it down” and “buried every single thing from that company.”
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