Blake Lively has officially filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoniher actor and director in the film It ends with Us.
Lively, 37, began legal proceedings against Baldon, 40, in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, December 31. Us Weekly can confirm. In addition to Baldoni, the actress has also sued publicists Melissa Nathan AND Jennifer Abeltogether with Wayfarer Studios.
The suit alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and loss of wages. The allegations parallel those made in Lively’s complaint filed with the California Department of Civil Rights last week.
“Earlier today, Ms. Lively filed a federal complaint against Wayfarer Studios and others in the Southern District of New York,” Lively’s attorneys said in a statement to To us. “Mrs. Lively previously filed her complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights in response to Wayfarer’s retaliation campaign against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Unfortunately, Ms. Lively’s decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks.”
The statement continued: “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal complaint, Wayfarer and its associates violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where many of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other countries and jurisdictions at law.”
Lively spoke about her legal action in a statement on Saturday, December 21 Us Weekly.
“I hope my legal action will help pull back the curtain on these evil retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted,” she said.
The lawsuit comes on the same day that Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against New York Times for his reporting on Blake Lively’s sexual harassment allegations.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
(Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)Baldoni was among 10 plaintiffs, including publicists Nathan and Abel as well It ends with Us Manufacturer James Heath AND Steve Saraowitzin the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Dec. 31, in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Plaintiffs are sued for defamation and false slight invasion of privacy and allege that New York Times “Cherry-picked” communications and omitted context to mislead readers in his article We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Tarnish Machine.
Part written by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire AND Julie Tate Alleged Lively faced months of sexual harassment from Baldoni and it went public on Saturday, December 21.
The lawsuit alleges that Lively pursued a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign against Baldoni (rather than the other way around), using “false allegations of sexual harassment to claim unilateral control over every aspect of the production.”
After filing the lawsuit, Baldon’s lawyer Bryan Freedman called Lively’s allegations published by New York Times a “vicious smear campaign”.
Blake Lively has sued the actor and director of “It Ends With Us”, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment. According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ and The New York Times, Baldoni’s alleged behavior caused Lively, 37, “severe emotional distress.” The lawsuit claims there was a meeting to address Lively’s allegations that there was a “hostile (…)
“In this vicious smear campaign completely orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, New York Times bowing to the whims and whims of Hollywood’s two powerful “untouchable” elites, flouting the journalistic practices and ethics that once graced the venerable publication, using elaborate and manipulated texts and deliberately omitting texts that contradict the narrative of their chosen PR”, he said through a statement to us on Tuesday, December 31. “In doing so, they predetermined the outcome of their story and aided and abetted their own destructive PR smear campaign designed to revive Lively’s self-induced battered public image and counter the organic basis of criticism among the public online. The irony is rich.”
He continued: “Make no mistake though, as we all come together to bring down NY Times By not allowing them to deceive the public any longer, we will continue this campaign of authenticity by also prosecuting those individuals who have abused their power to attempt to destroy the lives of my clients. While their side embraces partial truths, we embrace the whole truth – and have all the communications to back it up. The public will make up their own minds as they did when it first started.”
Baldoni has previously vehemently denied all of Lively’s allegations through Freedman, who called the allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally embarrassing” in a statement to To us. The statement also claimed that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “retell a narrative” about the film’s production.
