Blake Lively.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesBlake LivelyLawyers for decry ‘more attacks’ from Justin Baldoni and his team.
New York Times reported the news on Dec. 21 that Lively was suing Baldoni, her co-star and director on the film It ends with us — for sexual harassment. Baldoni denied all the charges against him in the trial that was received from Us Weeklyand days later was among 10 plaintiffs who launched a $250 million lawsuit vs New York Times for coverage of Lively’s allegations.
On New Year’s Eve, Lively, 37, filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, 40, in New York federal court, echoing her earlier claims filed with the California Department of Civil Rights. Besides Baldoni Lively also sues publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abelas well as Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni’s production company.
This was announced by the lawyers of the actress people in a statement on Monday, Jan. 6, that Lively’s “serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation” were “supported by concrete facts.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s reported split made headlines months before the It Ends With Us actors filed lawsuits. While Lively and Baldoni were promoting the film in August 2024, rumors began to swirl about an alleged feud between the pair. Fans noticed that Lively was promoting the film with some of her co-stars, while Baldoni, who (…)
“This is not a ‘feud’ stemming from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” the lawyers’ statement read, according to the publication. “As Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges, and as we will prove at trial, Wayfarer (Studios) and its associates engaged in illegal, vindictive astroturfing against Ms. Lively because she was simply trying to protect herself and others on set. And their response to the lawsuit was to launch more attacks on Ms. Lively after she filed it.”
The statement noted: “Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in any workplace and in any industry. A classic tactic to deflect attention from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the behavior, caused it themselves, misunderstood the intent, or even lied.”
Lively’s team continued, “Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These notions normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.
And in conclusion, they wrote: “Most importantly, the media statements are not a defense of Ms. Lively’s legal claims. We will continue to pursue her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.
The knives are well and truly out when it comes to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s professional relationship. Both Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, claim in their respective legal battles that they were each involved in the creation of different parts of the film at the center of the drama, It Ends With Us. In (…)
Us Weekly turned to Baldoni’s lawyer, Brian Friedmanfor comment.
Thursday, Jan. 2, Friedman said NBC News that he “fully” planned to sue Lively on his client’s behalf.
“We plan to release every single text message between the two of them,” Friedman told the publication. “We want the truth to be out there somewhere. We want the documents to be there. We want people to make a decision based on receipts.”
He previously shared a statement with uspromising to “take down” New York Times for his “vicious smear campaign”.
As for timesa spokesman said us that the outlet plans to “vigorously defend itself.”
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts as they lead,” read a Dec. 31 statement. “Our story was reported thoroughly and responsibly. It is based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails, which we quote accurately and in detail in the article. Those text messages and emails were also the basis of a discrimination lawsuit filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his associates.
