Topics: Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds
Justin Baldoni is suing Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane's PR firm Vision PR.
Today (16 January), attorneys for Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit on behalf of the actor, producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan.
Blake Lively had previously sued Baldoni herself, with her court filing alleging sexual harassment and a 'smear campaign' on the part of her It Ends With Us co star.
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They had played the leads together in the film, which dropped in cinemas last year, while Baldoni was also the director.
Per the suit, some of the demands Lively made in response to Baldoni's alleged behaviour on set included: "No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous 'pornography addiction', no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father."
Now, Baldoni has launched his own suit against Lively and those around her, including her husband Ryan Reynolds, as his legal team had indicated was likely.
A statement from Baldoni's legal team said: "This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.
"It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret.
"Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth. Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power.
"Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action.
"We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie."
Baldoni had previously filed a lawsuit for libel against the New York Times on 31 December over an article which covered an alleged campaign against Lively after she had spoken out about her experience on the set of It Ends With Us.
In the article, Lively had spoken about 'sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct'.
In Lively's suit against Baldoni, she said his alleged behaviour while making the film had caused her 'grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety'.
LADbible Group has contacted Lively, Reynolds, and Wayfarer for comment.
