Justin Baldoni is suing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for civil extortion, defamation

Justin Baldoni sued Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for civil racketeering, defamation and other actions in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Baldoni accused Lively of harassing him, his family and colleagues in a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York and obtained by Fox News Digital. The actor requested a jury trial and a judgment of $400 million.

Lively first sued Baldoni for sexual harassment after the two starred together in the Colleen Hoover-adapted film “It Ends With Us.” Since the premiere of the film in August, Lively has also accused Baldoni of engaging in a deliberate smear campaign to destroy her reputation.

However, Baldoni – along with Wayfarer Studios, Jamey Heath and others – is painting a different story in the actor’s own lawsuit.

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“Plaintiffs now have no choice but to fight back armed only with the truth — and the mountain of concrete evidence that refutes Lively’s allegations,” the court documents read.

“Heartbreakingly, a film that Baldoni envisioned years ago would honor the survivors of domestic violence by telling their story, with the lofty goal of making a positive impact in the world, has now been eclipsed beyond recognition solely as a result of Lively’s actions and cruelty.”

Baldoni’s legal team argued that Lively has no evidence of a deliberate smear campaign and instead worked to repair her reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.

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“However, Lively could not tolerate her publicly tarnished image for a moment, and furthermore could not accept that it was entirely of her own doing,” the lawsuit read. “She needed a scapegoat. And instead of admitting and taking responsibility for her own mishaps, she chose to blame the plaintiffs in a malicious and unforgivable public way.”

“When she and Reynolds could not force Baldoni and Wayfarer to read a statement she and her representatives prepared, blackmailing them into ‘taking responsibility’ in defense of Lively’s actions, she lay low for months, preparing to publicly to attack Baldoni by alleging that he had sexually harassed her.”

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READ THE COURT:

Baldoni’s legal team included text messages, emails and more as “hard evidence” supporting the “Jane the Virgin” star’s claims.

“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. ” Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “It is clear based on our own willingness to provide all of the complete text messages, emails, video recordings and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time that this is a battle she will not win and most certainly will regret. 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 the expense of those without power,” the statement continued. “Let’s not forget that Ms. Lively and her team tried to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for despicably selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before they even took any real legal action. We know the truth and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents don’t lie.”

A representative for Lively and Reynolds did not return Fox News Digital’s immediate request for comment.

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Vividly detailed allegations of sexual harassmentretaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and more made by Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint filed first with the California Civil Rights Department and later in federal court.

According to the complaint, obtained by Fox News Digital, the actress called an “all hands” meeting on January 4, 2024 regarding Baldoni and Heath’s alleged conduct, a meeting that her husband, Reynolds, attended.

“Ms. Lively was forced to address concerns about Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath’s misconduct with them directly, and began doing so months before filming began,” the complaint reads. “The concerns she raised were not just for herself, but for the other female cast and crew, some of whom had also spoken up.”

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After Lively’s trial, so did Baldoni sued The New York Times for defamation.

However, Lively’s team noted that her claims are “supported by concrete facts.”

“This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” her lawyers told Fox News Digital. “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove at trial, Wayfarer (Studios) and its employees engaged in illegal, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively simply for trying to protect herself and others on a movie set. And their response to the lawsuit has been launching multiple attacks against Ms Lively since her filing.”

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