Blake Lively.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesBlake LivelyHis lawyers are denouncing “more attacks” from Justin Baldoni and his team.
New York Times gave the news on Dec. 21 that Lively had sued Baldoni — her co-star and director on the film It ends with Us – for sexual harassment. Baldoni denied all the allegations against him made in the lawsuit, which was taken from Us Weeklyand days later, was among 10 plaintiffs who launched a $250 million lawsuit ANTI New York Times for covering Lively’s allegations.
On New Year’s Eve, Lively, 37, filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, 40, in a New York federal court, mirroring her earlier claims that were filed with the California Department of Civil Rights. In addition to Baldoni, Lively has also sued publicists Melissa Nathan AND Jennifer Abelas well as Wayfarer Studios, Baldon’s production company.
The actress’ lawyers said The people in a statement on Monday, Jan. 6, that Lively’s “serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation” are “supported by concrete facts.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s reported breakup made headlines months before the It Ends With Us actors filed suit. As Lively and Baldoni promoted the film in August 2024, rumors began to circulate of an alleged rift between the pair. Fans noticed that Lively was promoting the film with some of her co-stars, while Baldoni, who (…)
“This is not an ‘agreement’ arising out of ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” the lawyers said in a statement to the paper. “As alleged in the complaint of Mrs. Lively and, as we will prove at trial, Wayfarer (Studios) and its associates engaged in illegal, vindictive astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a movie set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.”
The statement noted: “Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in any workplace and in any industry. A classic tactic to deflect allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the behaviour, brought it on themselves, misunderstood their intentions or even lied.
Lively’s team continued, “Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and the offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.”
And in conclusion, they wrote: “Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively’s legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”
The knife is well and truly out when it comes to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s professional relationship. Both Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, have claimed in their respective legal battles that they each had a hand in creating different cuts of the drama-centric film It Ends With Us. In (…)
Us Weekly contacted Baldon’s lawyer, Bryan Freedmanfor comment.
Thursday, Jan. 2, Freedman said NBC News that he “absolutely” planned to sue Lively on behalf of his client.
“We plan to release every single message between them,” Freedman told the media. “We want the truth to be out there. We want the documents to be there. We want people to decide based on the bills.”
Earlier, he shared a statement with usvowing to “put down” New York Times for her “vicious smear campaign”.
Regarding Timesa spokesman said us that the media is planning to “strongly defend” itself.
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” it said in a Dec. 31 statement. “Our story was accurately and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and extensively in the article. Those texts and emails were also the core of a claim for discrimination filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldon and his associates.”
