Justin Baldoni is suing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for defamation

Actor Justin Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Thursday, claiming they tried to destroy him by accusing him of sexually harassing the actress and then retaliating against her through a smear campaign.

The lawsuit is the latest in a feud over the 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” which starred Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni, who also directed it.

The 179-page complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, named Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds, her husband, as defendants, as well as their publicist Leslie Sloane and her company, Vision PR. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mr. Baldoni; the film’s executive producer, Jamey Heath; their production company, Wayfarer Studios; and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. They are demanding $400 million in damages.

In response to the lawsuit Thursday, Ms. Lively’s legal team in a statement: “The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not rebut the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”

The New York Times published an article on December 21 about Ms. Lively’s accusation against Mr. Baldoni. She claimed in a complaint filed a day earlier with the California Civil Rights Department that Mr. Baldoni had launched the campaign after she accused him of sexual harassment during the filming of “It Ends With Us”.

The Times report referred to private text messages and emails that Ms. Lively had received through a subpoena and which was included in her complaint.

The complaint alleged that the messages showed Mr. Baldoni and his business partner, Mr. Heath, working with a crisis PR expert to smear Ms. Lively’s reputation because they were afraid the allegations of misconduct would become public. Mrs. Lively sued Mr. Baldoni and others on Dec. 31 in federal court in New York City.

On the same day, Mr. Baldoni filed a defamation suit against The New York Times in Los Angeles, accusing the newspaper of relying on Ms. Livelys “unverified and self-serving narrative.” He reiterated some of the allegations against the publication in the suit he filed Thursday.

The Times has said it plans to defend itself vigorously against Mr. Baldoni’s allegations against the publication. A Times spokeswoman, Danielle Rhoades Ha, added in a statement Thursday: “The allegations against The New York Times in this new lawsuit are without merit and are recycled from the equally baseless allegations in the suit filed against The Times in California.”

In his counterclaim against Ms. Lively said Mr. Baldoni that the actress had used her star power to hijack “every aspect” of his film and then tried to blame him when her public reputation took a hit during the film’s promotion for how she chose to market it. He accused her of trying to make him “the real villain in her story” and of colluding with The Times to “prepare a false and damaging narrative.”

“This is a case of two of the most powerful stars in the world using their enormous power to steal an entire movie right out of the hands of its director and production studio,” the lawsuit states. “So, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the recognition they felt they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat.”

Mr. Baldoni denied that the alleged sexual harassment of Ms Lively or the smear campaign against her had happened and said he was the victim of such a campaign.