A Simple Favor's assistant director deletes Instagram after allegedly posting comments hinting Blake Lively's rude behavior made her quit

Blake Lively got a new allegation from a former co-worker amid her ongoing legal battle against It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni. An assistant director named Barbara Szeman, who allegedly worked with Lively in the 2018 film A Simple Favor, per IMDb, appeared to call out the actress, saying Lively was the reason she quit, the New York Post reported.

As per the same outlet, Szeman appears to have deleted her Instagram account @barbwiretv, as it is no longer active on the platform.

Internet sleuths pointed out a series of since-deleted comments under Henry Golding's February 5, 2025, Instagram post of the poster for A Simple Favor's sequel, Another Simple Favor. An X user named CitizenJournalist shared screenshots of Szeman's comments, with the first reading:

"I worked with you on the first one. My experience with everyone was absolutely amazing, except for a certain someone who is the reason I quit being an AD. Guess who that person is.... I wish you all the best with this though!"

While she didn't explicitly mention Lively's name, Page Six and the New York Post reported that the comments were about Lively.

After Szeman's initial comment went viral, she expressed a desire to "avoid attention" regarding her allegations. However, she ultimately chose to speak out against the star of It Ends With Us, citing that she was allegedly "cruel to many," as per Page Six.

She claimed that Blake Lively made her "cry my way home many nights" and further accused her of being hard to please and putting her down "constantly." Seemingly referencing Lively's current legal drama with Justin Baldoni, Szeman concluded her comment, saying:

"I can't believe it's actually getting back at her. Karma is real."

Per IMDb, Szeman is listed as the fourth assistant director to have worked on A Simple Favor, which also stars Henry Golding and Anna Kendrick.

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A Simple Favor's assistant director mentioned regretting coming forward after alleging Blake Lively of "cruel" behavior

Barbara Szeman deleted her comments under Henry Golding's Instagram post after it garnered significant attention. She also appeared to have left Instagram altogether. However, she took it to her Facebook account under the name Barbara Julianne to share some regret over coming forward with her allegations against Blake Lively.

Per the New York Post, she wrote on Facebook on February 12, 2025:

"Last time I leave a comment on an Instagram post."

However, she didn't specify what comments or Instagram posts she was referring to. So, when someone asked her in the comments, 'What did you do?" she replied with a link to Perez Hilton's YouTube about the Instagram comments, saying, "This video is about me." She further wrote on the Facebook post, as per the New York Post:

"[I] just didn't want to be dragged into this whole thing to begin with lol."

Amid recent allegations, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's court battle continues after Lively accused Baldoni of s*xual harassment and starting a public smear campaign against her. In turn, Baldoni sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for defamation, extortion, and more. Their trial has been scheduled for March 2026.

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Blake Lively's upcoming sequel, Another Simple Favor, is set for a May 1, 2025, release on Prime Video. She returns as Emily Nelson, the frenemy to Anna Kendrick's Stephanie Smothers.