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Blake Lively believes that Justin Baldoni just dug his own grave.
As most celebrity gossip followers know at this point, Blake Lively recently accused the actor of sexual harassment on the set It Ends With Us… alleging her co-star created a toxic work environment and also took part in a smear campaign against his colleague after the film’s release.
In response, Baldoni denied the allegations.
Then, lawyers for the the 40-year old filed a $400 million lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on January 16 on behalf of Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan.
Baldoni previously said Lively was “consistently unable to take direction” throughout the shooting of the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book.
The director of this film, Baldoni also claimed Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds hijacked It Ends With Us via script re-writes and launched a smear campaign against him when “her thoughtless promotions fell flat.”
Overall, Baldoni is taking legal action on allegations of civil extortion… defamation… false light invasion of privacy… breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing… intentional interference with contractual relations… intentional interference with prospective economic advantage… and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
Earlier this week, meanwhile, he tried to provide evidence of his side by releasing behind the scenes footage from It Ends With Us.
This footage features Baldoni and Lively talking and laughing during a romantic scene, with the pair seemingly getting along as they chatted about the most effective way to film this moment in the movie.
Proof that Baldoni was respectful and the two worked well together, right?
WRONG, Lively now says.
“Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,” Lively’s attorneys said on January 21.
“The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.”
These lawyers alleged that “every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.”
They added:
“Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss. The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk.”
Lively has said that Baldoni showed her lewd photos while filming, often brought up the topic of pornography and generally made her feel disrespected and uncomfortable.
The Gossip Girl alum’s counsel doubled down on Tuesday:
“Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.”
In this message, Lively’s legal team also accused Baldoni of presenting an “unethical attempt to manipulate the public” through the release of the behind-the-scenes footage.
As you can tell, things are just getting uglier and uglier between these two.
In a January 21 response, Baldoni’s lawyers said that it is “his right to publicly defend himself by putting forth actual facts and evidence,” continuing:
“Ms. Lively wants very different standards to apply to her but fortunately, truth and authenticity apply to everyone and can never be wrong. Looking at the video and the evidence to come, I can understand why Ms. Lively would now, not want this to play out in public.
Blake Lively Fires Back, Accuses Justin Baldoni of “Inappropriate Touching” was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.