Blake Lively officially filed a lawsuit against her “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni on Tuesday for sexual harassment and retaliation, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Lively, 37, initially filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department on December 21, accusing Baldoni (who also directed the film) of sexual harassment while working on the drama.
She also alleged that after raising his concerns, he and a public relations crisis team orchestrated a retaliation campaign aimed at ruining her career.
Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, December 31. (Getty Images)
Lively’s federal indictment was released Tuesday, shortly after Baldoni filed his own lawsuit $250 million defamation suit to the New York Times, which he said published an article “full of inaccuracies, misrepresentations and omissions.”
“Nothing in this lawsuit changes the claims asserted in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department complaint, nor her federal complaint, which was filed earlier today,” Lively’s representatives told Fox News Digital.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni in December after rumors of a feud on “It Ends With Us.” (Getty Images)
“This lawsuit is based on the patently false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on the choice ‘not to file suit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal .’ As evidenced by the federal complaint Ms. Lively filed earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is flawed. While we will not discuss this matter in the press, we encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing all of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”
The Actress of ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ alleged in her federal filing that Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios’ film production company and a handful of associates engaged in a “carefully crafted, coordinated and financed retaliatory scheme to silence her and others.”
Lively alleged that Baldoni, along with a crisis PR firm, created a “layered plan” to ruin her reputation after she (along with her husband Ryan Reynolds) “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” from Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath had addressed. who is named in the lawsuit).
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively seen on the set of ‘It Ends with Us’ on January 12, 2024 (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
She also alleged that Baldoni and Heath “discussed their personal sexual experiences and prior porn addiction” on set, according to documents.
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Representatives for Baldoni did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. He previously told the Times that Lively’s initial claims were “completely false, outrageous and deliberately salacious with the intent to hurt publicly and retell a story in the media.”
Baldoni filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the New York Times after they published a story headlined, “We Can Bury Anyone:” Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, which reported that private emails and text messages show a “playbook for committing a largely undetectable defamation.” campaign in the digital age” about Lively.
However, Baldoni and other accusers, including Hollywood public relations gurus, allege that the Times article “intentionally omitted portions of text exchanges and other information that contradicted the actress’ version of events.” They allege that the Times discredited them in the process, omitting critical context from communications that dispute many of Lively’s claims.
Baldoni not only starred in the film adaptation of the novel, but also directed the film. (Getty Images)
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“The central contention of the article, summarized in a defamatory headline designed to immediately mislead the reader, is that Plaintiffs orchestrated a campaign of retaliation against Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment – a premise that is categorically false and could easily be refuted,” said the 87-year-old. page lawsuit, filed by attorney Bryan Freedman in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleged.
Released man told Variety that the Times “croached to the wishes and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics that once suited the respected publication by using falsified and manipulated copy and deliberately omitting copy that question their chosen PR story.”
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was reported accurately and responsibly. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails which we quote accurately and at length in the article,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades told Ha Fox News digital.
“We published them full statement also in response to the allegations in the article,” she continued. “We intend to vigorously defend ourselves against the lawsuit.”
Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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