There’s a new development in the ongoing feud between It Ends With Us co-stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively – and the legal back-and-forth that seems never-ending. This time, Baldoni has sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as well as publicist Leslie Sloane and her PR company, to the tune of $400 million (£327 million) for alleged defamation and extortion.
This is not to be confused with Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times; the newspaper published a bombshell report on an alleged smear campaign against Lively, which she claims was perpetrated by Baldoni and his team. (The NYT has denied Baldoni's accusations and said their original story was "meticulously and responsibly reported," and that their report was “based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”)
Attorneys for Baldoni filed this latest lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds on January 16 in the Southern District of New York. The suit was filed on behalf of Baldoni, as well as producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel, crisis publicist Melissa Nathan, and Baldoni’s production company.
“This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media,” said Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman in a statement to People.
“It is clear based on our own all-out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth.”
The lawsuit itself states: “This is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press. This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio.”
As Blake Lively sues Justin Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment, many other famous women are speaking up.
It alleges that Blake "set out to destroy Plaintiffs’ livelihoods and businesses if they did not bend to her incessant demands, and when they refused to give way, she did exactly that, accusing them of foul and reprehensible sexual misconduct.”
Blake Lively's lawyers have since responded with a statement in response to the lawsuit, calling it "another chapter in the abuser playbook".
"This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim," it states. "This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.
"They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success
They added: “The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and it will fail.”
Back in December 2024, before the Times article was published, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni for sexual harassment on the set of their film, It Ends With Us, and further alleged that Baldoni’s team had set out to destroy her reputation through “social manipulation.”
The suit listed the demands Lively made of Baldoni, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.
