‘The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate’

Justin Baldoni has sued Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, the actress’ publicist Leslie Sloan and the couple’s advertising firm Vision PR for $400 million. The move comes after his $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times and two weeks after Lively sued Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation and more.

Attorney Bryan Freedman filed the suit Jan. 16 in New York on behalf of Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios, It ends with us co-producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan. All parties were named in Lively’s lawsuit, in which she accused Baldoni and Heath of wrongdoing on the set of the film and alleged that his publicists launched a smear campaign that destroyed her reputation. They have denied all charges, and Freedman has alluded to Thursday’s trial for weeks.

Lively’s legal team fired back in a statement Thursday night, accusing Baldoni of victim-blaming.

According to the lawsuit obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, Lively “stole” the Baldoni-directed film It ends with usand if it weren’t for her “self-inflicted press disaster she faced in August 2024, the public would probably have moved on and never known the truth about her.”

Some of the anecdotes included in the 179-page document are likely to grab headlines – including an A-list name. Baldoni claimed he felt pressured to have Lively rewrite a scene because of Taylor Swift and Reynolds. (Swift’s rep did not return Yahoo’s request for comment.)

The lawsuit claimed that Lively never read Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book It ends with us and that she Googled the hair color of her character Lily. Lively reportedly wouldn’t meet with the film’s partner domestic violence organization and embarked on a “tone-deaf” press tour. The lawsuit claimed that Lively served the Los Angeles-based defendants “as they evacuated their homes amid devastating fires that engulfed their city.”

Baldoni also responded to Lively’s claim in her complaint that he had initiated “unchoreographed kissing scenes” and alleged that she had initiated it.

“While Lively now takes issue with any innocuous improv that Baldoni, as Ryle, allegedly initiated while in character, Baldoni treated their on-camera relationship as professional; each playing their part, each doing their job,” the lawsuit read . “If no one had to improvise, Baldoni would have no way of knowing based on Lively’s own actions. Lively demonstrated time and time again that this was a normal and acceptable part of filming romantic scenes.”

This appears to be something Lively’s legal team directly hit back at when they issued the following statement to Yahoo on Thursday evening:

This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: a woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser tries to turn his gaze on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Refuse. Attack. Reverse victim offender.

Wayfarer has chosen to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch frivolous lawsuits, and threaten lawsuits to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.

They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. By falsely claiming that she took creative control, Lively alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.

Their response to allegations of sexual harassment: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their reasoning for why it happened to her: look at what she was wearing. Simply put, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms Lively’s complaint and it will fail.

Freedman issued a statement on behalf of his clients after filing the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit is a lawsuit based on an overwhelming amount of unmanipulated evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s twofold attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and manipulated information to the media. ” the lawyer told Yahoo on Thursday. “It is clear based on our own willingness to provide all of the complete text messages, emails, video recordings and other documentary evidence that were shared between the parties in real time that this is a battle she will not win and most certainly will regret.”

Freedman continued, “Blake Lively was either seriously misled by her team or willfully and knowingly misrepresented the truth. Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely to gain her personal reputation at their expense without power Let’s not forget that Ms. Lively and her team tried to dig up reputations and livelihoods for despicably selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before they even take anyone actual legal action.We know the truth and now the public has something to hide too, documents don’t lie.

The group is suing Lively, Reynolds and Sloan for:

• false light invasion of privacy

• breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing

• intentional interference with contractual relations

• intentional interference with potential economic benefits

• negligent interference with potential economic benefits

Baldoni’s lawsuit claimed “this is not a case of celebrities snooping on each other in the press.”

“This is a case of two of the most powerful stars in the world using their immense power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio,” the complaint read.

Text messages were provided in an attempt to show that Lively and Baldoni had a “close” working relationship prior to filming.

“Baldoni and Lively shared stories and photos from their lives, lamented family illnesses, and exchanged jokes and memes. Baldoni offered concern and support as Lively faced family issues. They texted almost daily, and friendly banter created a comfortable dynamics that under typical circumstances would have made it easy to work together,” the lawsuit said.

Baldoni maintained that Lively tried to assert creative control almost immediately, pointing to her wardrobe requirements that were not included in her contract.

“At one point Lively insisted her character ‘had money’ and could afford $5,000 shoes — despite being a start-up small business owner,” he alleged.

“Baldoni and the studio reluctantly ceded full control to Lively over her wardrobe. This concession quickly proved regrettable,” the document states, pointing to online criticism of paparazzi photos capturing Lively on set “wearing her handpicked wardrobe. “

The document called Lively’s “grossly misrepresented” version of the locker room conversation in her complaint. Baldoni denied her claim that he had a “prolonged outburst” but admitted that he “became briefly emotional during the conversation, but only in response to what he thought was a genuine compliment from Lively, praising his work as a director and actor.”

The lawsuit detailed alleged pressure from Reynolds and a “megacelebrity friend” of the couple, believed to be Taylor Swift. (A text included in the document mentions “Taylor.”) Baldoni said he felt he had to “comply” and accept a rewritten scene from Lively. The scene in question was the rooftop scene, which Lively later said in an interview was written by Reynolds.

Baldoni also hit back at the allegedly fat-shaming Lively. He admitted that he had texted his trainer, who he was introduced to via the actress, about her weight. However, he said it was for training purposes. Baldoni said he was then “summoned” to Lively and Reynolds’ NYC penthouse, and that Deadpool and Wolverine star “sworn to Baldoni.”

“How the hell dare you ask about my wife’s weight? What’s wrong with you?” Reynolds allegedly said, according to the lawsuit.

“The confrontation between Reynolds and Lively was so aggressive that Baldoni felt he had no choice but to offer repeated (and completely unwarranted) apologies for what was a good faith and reasonable question to ask his trainer,” it said in the trial. “Reynolds demanded that Baldoni remove the scene entirely. Lively refused to do the elevator scene at the end, even after it was rehearsed with a stunt double.”

Baldoni said Lively “outright lies about the absence of this scene” in her complaint.

“The only reason the scene was not in the film is because Lively and Reynolds made sure it was taken out of the film. Accommodating Lively, Baldoni rewrote the scene with Lively, despite this scene being creatively important to him as a storyteller and director,” the lawsuit said.

“Lively had previously expressed insecurities about her postpartum figure and Baldoni made every attempt to really reassure her,” it added. A text message about this exchange is included in the document.

The lawsuit also goes into detail about Sloan’s alleged smear attempts on Baldoni.

Updated January 16, 2025: This story was originally published on January 16, 2025 at 1:08 PM ET and has been updated to include new information from the trial.