American actor and filmmaker Justin Baldoni recently admitted to having an unhealthy relationship with porn in a resurfaced interview, which has gained attention following Blake Lively’s lawsuit, Page Six reported. In the interview, the actor revealed that he was first exposed to pornography at the age of 10 and developed an unhealthy relationship with it over time.
“I was introduced to porn when I was 10 years old. Long before I ever, you know, could have an erection or even knew how I felt about anything. It was, you know, like any young boy who sees boobs for the first time, it’s exciting because our culture has shielded them from us because they’re sexualised. It’s cultural,” Baldoni shared on a July 2021 episode of Sarah Grynberg’s ‘A Life of Greatness’ podcast.
“You go to places like Africa and different tribes … and the breast is the breast. We’ve sexualised this thing, so, of course, it becomes fascinating and interesting and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, b**bs.’ And then, you know, hormones start raging,” he added.
The 40-year-old actor stated that he would turn to porn as a coping mechanism when feeling alone, abandoned, or hurt, as it provided a temporary “dopamine rush”.
“I trained my brain to deal with pain with the dopamine hit. … But it doesn’t mean that I’m not using something in an unhealthy way. And I found myself, throughout my life, going back to looking at images and videos of naked women when I was feeling necessarily bad about myself. And I knew that it was an issue for me when I would tell myself that I don’t want to do that,” Mr Baldoni added.
Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni
The resurfacing of Baldoni’s comments comes in the wake of Blake Lively’s allegations. The actress recently filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, her co-star in the film ‘It Ends with Us,’ alleging sexual harassment, workplace misconduct, and a coordinated smear campaign. The lawsuit claims that Baldoni’s behaviour created a hostile work environment and that he retaliated against Lively after she raised concerns about his actions.
Specific allegations against Baldoni include unplanned physical intimacy, invasive behaviour, and graphic scene additions. Lively also accused Baldoni of making inappropriate remarks and discussing his past struggles with addiction in a way that made her uncomfortable. The actress claims there had to be an intervention to stop him from showing her nude videos/images of women and to stop mentioning his previous experiences with sex.
The 40-year-old actor was also instructed to refrain from making comments about the cast and crew’s genitalia, as well as remarks about Lively’s weight or her late father. Additionally, Baldoni was told to stop inserting extra sex scenes into the film that were not included in the approved script, some of which involved explicit content, such as orgasming on camera.
Baldoni’s legal team has strongly denied Lively’s allegations, calling them entirely false, outrageous, and deliberately sensational. His attorney, Bryan Freedman, argued that Lively’s lawsuit is a desperate effort to address her tarnished reputation.