Blake Lively Issues Statement on Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit

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Blake Lively‘s legal representatives have countered Justin Baldoni’s latest, $400 million lawsuit, labeling it as a script taken from the playbook of an emotional manipulator.

What did Blake Lively’s team say?

In this classic scenario, a woman presents solid proof of sexual harassment and retaliation, only for the perpetrator to counterattack and try to shift the blame. This tactic is known as DARVO, where they Deny the accusations, Attack the accuser, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender.” (This version was created by me.)

A few hours ago, Baldoni initiated a fresh lawsuit in New York against Lively, Reynolds, and two publicists. This legal action, comprising 179 pages, makes accusations of extortion, defamation, and breach of contract. These allegations revolve primarily around the production of It Ends With Us.

Previously, Baldoni initiated a legal action against Lively on the verge of New Year’s Eve. He accuses Lively’s PR team of spreading an “unconfirmed and self-beneficial story” at his expense, manipulating “selective and distorted communications lacking crucial context” to portray him negatively. The lawsuit demands a minimum of $250 million, citing fraud, breach of contract, and libel as grounds for the claim.

In a controversial move, The New York Times appears to have yielded to the demands of Blake Lively and her associates, influential figures in Hollywood, who orchestrated a defamatory campaign. This seemingly led them to disregard journalistic integrity, ethics that were once synonymous with the esteemed publication. They allegedly used doctored and manipulated materials, while intentionally omitting contradictory texts to shape a preferred public relations narrative, as stated by Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer.

Lively’s complaint alleges that Baldoni created a hostile work environment

The legal action arises from a formal grievance that Blake Lively filed against Baldoni last month. In this complaint, she alleges that the working conditions on the set of “It Ends With Us” became increasingly hostile. So severe were these conditions that an urgent meeting was convened to address her concerns. During this meeting, Lively requested that Baldoni cease displaying nude videos or images of women, stop discussing his pornography addiction with her, stop sharing details about sexual experiences in her presence, and also desist from commenting on her weight.

The lawsuit alleges that Wayfarer Studios and the cast had an agreement which emphasized promoting the movie more on [Lively’s character’s] strength and resilience rather than portraying it as a tale about domestic violence. However, Lively asserts that Baldoni went back on this agreement and instead highlighted the film’s grave narrative in interviews.

According to Lively’s statement, it was alleged that Baldoni and his public relations manager, Melissa Nathan, brainstormed strategies for a social media smear campaign aimed at damaging her reputation. The documents submitted by Lively contain approximately 22 pages of text messages between Baldoni’s PR representative and Nathan, where they express a desire to “bury” Lively online.

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2025-01-17 21:40