Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni -Advokater is set to meet for first hearing in ‘It ends with us’ case

Cnn
–

The case involving actress Blake Lively and her former “IT End With Us” director and Co -Star Justin Baldoni, whom she has accused of sexually harassing her during the film’s full production, will have her first day in court Monday, a hearing It comes after the complex saga has been exposed to weeks of dissection in the court of public opinion by spectators on social media.

Neither Baldoni nor Lively is expected to be present, a source with knowledge of the planned procedure that was previously told CNN.

Baldoni – a writer, instructor and producer who too built a fire About the encouragement of men to be better allies for women – and lively has been in a legal battle that began in December when Lively accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation in a complaint that was first filed with California’s civil rights department before For a civil trial that followed about a week later.

Baldoni has meanwhile denied Lively’s claims. Last month, he brought a lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of civilian pressing, defamation and invasion of privacy.

At that time, Lively’s lawyer CNN told in a statement that Baldoni’s suit “is another chapter in the abuser’s playbook. This is an ancient story: A woman speaks with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser tries to turn the tables on the victim. ”

Both Baldoni and Lively delivered in their suits text messages they say do their cases. Baldoni’s team also released video footage from the actors’ time that worked together, and on Saturday a website with its changed complaint and a timeline for the film’s production. Baldoni was also heard in an audio recording published by TMZ apologized for Lively, reportedly sent while working on the project.

CNN has not independently verified the text messages included in neither Baldoni nor Lively’s litigation nor the audio recording.

Baldoni’s trial claim that Lively, best known for his work with CW’s “Gossip Girl” and in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movie, tried to take over much of the film’s creative direction, including having Reynold’s rewrite of a scene to make “unauthorized changes in the manuscript secretly.” (Reynolds had no formal role on “It ends with us.”)

The case claims that lively “called” Baldoni to the penthouse she shares with Reynolds in New York City for a meeting on the manuscript, where Reynolds, along with a “megacelebrity friend” of the couple praised lively’s proposed audits of the manuscript.

One of the text messages included in Baldoni’s suit seems to show an exchange between Baldoni and Lively about her proposed script changes: “I really love what you did. It really helps a lot. Make it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor), ”he wrote with a wink -emoji.

While Baldoni’s text message does not include a last name for “Taylor”, Lively is close friends with artist Taylor Swift. CNN previously reached representatives of Baldoni, Lively, Reynolds and Taylor Swift to ask if “Taylor” mentioned in Baldoni’s text is actually Swift.

In one of Livly’s text messages in Baldoni’s suit, the actress refers to her friends and says, “If you ever get around watching ‘Game of Thrones,’ you would appreciate that I’m khaleesi and like her, I’ll happen to have a few dragons.

Baldoni has also sued the New York Times for $ 250 million and accused the newspaper of working with Lively’s team to publish a one -sided article that benefits lively and contained documented evidence.

The New York Times has denied Baldoni’s claims and said it stands by its reporting.

The legal archives in this case are only part of the story. Representatives of lively and Baldoni have continued to sparred the information given to the public outside the court.

Lively’s lawyers have accused Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, of giving “misleading and selective” statements of lively and her ongoing legal dispute with Baldoni, and earlier asked the judge in their case of a hearing “to tackle the appropriate behavior that goes on . “This and other questions are expected to be addressed in Monday’s consultation.

In the letter filed after shooting from the set, released by Baldoni’s team, Lively’s attorneys say two cessations have been lodged with and desist letters since her first complaint. The first was issued to the “Wayfarer parties”, which includes members of Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios and members of Baldoni’s advertising team.

Blake Livly Files complaint that includes text messages from ex-cost claiming mismatch

Blake Livly Files complaint that includes text messages from ex-cost claiming mismatch

03:32

The second cessation-and-desist was sent “directly to Mr. Freedman”, who asked him to stop “making further defamatory and retaliatory statements relating to Mrs. Lively” and said his public statements are “unprotected by litigation. ”

Both lively and Baldoni claim in their litigation to have been the subject of retaliatory advertising campaigns from the other.

In Livly’s suit, she accuses Baldoni’s PR representatives of orchestrated attempts to hurt her reputation in the media as part of a “social manipulation campaign.”

In his suit, Baldoni rejected this claim and accused Lively and Reynolds of “implementing their enormous power to steal a whole film right out of the hands of its director and production studio.” Furthermore, the case accuses Lively and her advertising team of creating a “smear campaign against Baldoni and Wayfarer of diverting attention” away from criticism that Lively received during the press trip for “It ends with us.”

The movie from Sony Pictures was released in August 2024 and gross more than $ 148 million domestic. Based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel with the same name, “It ends with us” spotlight in home domestic violence in a couple portrayed on the screen of Lively and Baldoni.