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By Erin Keller
Reporter (Live News)
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The tense legal battle between It Ends With Us co-stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively continues as Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane.
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Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, told Newsweek in a statement, "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.
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Newsweek has contacted representatives for Lively, Reynolds, and Sloane by email for comment.
What To Know
The 179-page lawsuit, filed by plaintiffs, including Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios among others, accuses Lively, Reynolds, and others of defamation, extortion, and mismanagement during the production of the movie.
Key allegations include Lively's alleged attempt to seize control of the film, claims of sexual harassment that the plaintiffs refute, and public relations disputes leading to significant personal and professional damages for the plaintiffs.
Baldoni is seeking no less than $400 million in damages from Lively and Sloane.
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What's In Baldoni's Lawsuit?
- Control and Extortion: Lively allegedly sought to take over the production of It Ends With Us, which was co-produced by Wayfarer Studios and directed by Baldoni. The lawsuit claims she employed tactics including fabricated allegations and extortion to assert control over creative aspects of the film, such as editing and promotional strategies.
- Defamation and False Allegations: The plaintiffs allege Lively made false claims of sexual harassment against Baldoni, which they describe as part of a broader campaign to damage his reputation. These claims, according to the lawsuit, were later disseminated to the media to further harm Baldoni and Wayfarer.
- Marketing Conflicts: Lively allegedly disregarded the film's sensitive subject matter—domestic violence—during its promotional campaign, focusing instead on promoting her own brands. This approach reportedly drew widespread criticism, which she then blamed on Baldoni and his team.
- Professional and Personal Damages: The plaintiffs argue that Lively's actions led to significant professional harm, including Baldoni's exclusion from the film's promotion and his creative vision being overshadowed by Lively's interventions. They also cite personal humiliation, as evidenced by their relegation to a separate viewing theater during the film's premiere.
- Collaborative Breakdown: While the initial relationship between Lively and Baldoni was reportedly collaborative, tensions escalated as Lively began to demand greater control, including wardrobe decisions, script edits, and the final cut of the film. The lawsuit states that she manipulated and leveraged power dynamics, supported by Reynolds and their team, to dominate the production process.
- False Narrative and Media Manipulation: The lawsuit accuses Lively's publicist and collaborators of working with media outlets to spread a misleading narrative about the plaintiffs, further damaging their reputations and careers.
Why Did Baldoni Hire a Crisis PR Team?
The lawsuit claims Baldoni sought expert guidance and was advised to engage in "crisis PR" after Reynolds allegedly approved Baldoni's WME agent at the premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine, expressing his dislike for Baldoni, and telling the agent that they were working with a "sexual predator." Later, Reynolds allegedly told the agent to "drop" Baldoni.
"This pivotal moment terrified Baldoni and ultimately caused him to seek help anywhere he could to protect his reputation, his partners, and his wife, children, and family from false accusations that could ruin their lives," the lawsuit reads.
A crisis PR team prepared a proposal for Baldoni with quotes and available measures he could possibly take to protect his reputation. The lawsuit accuses Lively of later using the proposal to allege Baldoni was setting out on a "smear campaign" against her by knowingly and falsely asserting that Baldoni had agreed to the most aggressive option in the proposal, as included in a bombshell New York Times article.
On December 31, Baldoni filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing the publication of publishing a biased narrative using manipulated and cherry-picked evidence while ignoring evidence that refuted Lively's allegations.
The New York Times defended its reporting, stating it was based on thousands of original documents and adhered to journalistic standards, with no factual errors identified by Baldoni or his team.
Lively Allegedly Said Baldoni Should Get a Nose Job
The lawsuit accuses Lively of telling Baldoni that he should undergo a rhinoplasty, a nose job, which was allegedly caught on camera.
Baldoni, who's openly discussed his insecurities with his nose, "brushed it off and moved on with the scene."
Baldoni Disputes Showing Lively Naked Photos of Jamey Heath's Wife
The lawsuit says Livley's allegations that she was shown naked photos of producer Jamey Heath's naked wife on the set of the film is "outrageous and knowingly false."
The incident in question allegedly involved Heath, at Baldoni's request, attempting to show Lively a video illustrating the director's vision for a birthing scene.
The video, which was not ultimately shown to Lively, featured an image of Heath, his wife, and their newborn after a home birth. Lively initially expressed interest in viewing the video later and did not object to the situation at the time.
While Lively was never shown the video, she did see the first image of it, which pictured the couple with their newborn after the natural birth.
"To characterize this image that captures such a beautiful moment with their newborn baby, shared with the consent of his wife for purposes of the Film, as a naked photo, or worse, 'porn,' is deplorable," the lawsuit reads.
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Baldoni Sent to the Basement During Movie Premiere
The lawsuit claims security escorted Baldoni off the red carpet and into the basement of the building at the movie's premiere to avoid seeing Lively. It includes two photos of Baldoni and others in the basement with fold-out tables set up around bulk concessions stock.
"Surrounded by close friends, family, soda bottles, and a lot of love, the irony of being held in a basement on what was arguably one of the most important nights of Baldoni's career thus far, was not lost on anyone," the complaint reads.
Once the main theater was "clear," Balondi and his group were allegedly ushered to a separate theater to watch the movie.
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What People Are Saying
Freedman's statement to Newsweek continued: "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."
"Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power. Let's not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie."
This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.
Update 01/16/25 1:21 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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