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Blake Lively.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty ImagesBlake Lively‘ lawyers deny “more attacks” from Justin Baldoni and his team.
The New York Times break the news on December 21 that Lively sued Baldoni – her costar and director in the film It Ends With Us – for sexual harassment. Baldoni denied every accusation made against him in the legal proceedings, namely obtained by Us Weeklyand days later, among 10 plaintiffs who launched a $250 million lawsuits against The New York Times for his coverage of Lively’s accusations.
On New Year’s Eve, Lively, 37, file a lawsuit against Baldoni, 40, in federal court in New York, mirroring her earlier allegations filed with the California Department of Civil Rights. In addition to Baldoni, Lively is suing publishers Melissa Nathan a Jennifer Abelas well as Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni’s production company.
Attorneys for the actress said People in a statement on Monday, January 6, that Lively’s “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation” are “supported by concrete facts.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s reported split made headlines months before the It Ends With Us costars filed lawsuits. While Lively and Baldoni promoted 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 costars while Baldoni, who (…)
“This is not a ‘fate’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” the lawyers’ statement read, per outlet. “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer (Studios) and its associates engaged in illegal, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since she filed.”
The statement noted: “Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in all workplaces and in all industries. A classic tactic to deflect attention from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the behaviour, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied .”
Lively’s team continued, “Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and the perpetrator, and suggest that the perpetrator is really 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. We will continue to prosecute his claims in federal court, where the rule of law prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”
The knives are well and truly out when it comes to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s professional relationship. Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, have claimed in their legal battles that they were all involved in creating different cuts of the film in the middle of the drama, It Ends With Us. In (…)
Us Weekly reach out to Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedmanfor comment.
On Thursday, January 2, Freedman said NBC News that he “absolutely” intends to sue Lively on behalf of his client.
“We plan to release every single text message between the two of them,” Freedman told the outlet. “We want the truth to be out there. We want the documents to be out there. We want people to make their decision based on receipts.”
Previously, he shared a statement with Uspromise to “pull down” The New York Times for his “vicious smear campaign.”
As for the Timesa spokesman said Us that the outlet intends to “vigorously defend” itself.
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” read a statement on December 31. “Our story was reported in detail and responsibly. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails we quote accurately and extensively in the article. Those text messages and emails were also the core of a discrimination claim filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his associates. “
