Justin Baldoni has fired back at Blake Lively.
In scathing fashion, we should emphasize.
As you’ve very likely read about by now, Lively has threatened to sue her It Ends With Us co-star for sexual harassment… alleging in an explosive legal submission that Baldoni created a hostile work environment on the set of the aforementioned movie.
She also claims that Baldoni and his public relations team took part in a campaign to smear her reputation.
Specifically, the documents in question state that Baldoni caused “severe emotional distress” to Lively as a result of his behavior… included “showing nude videos or images of women to Blake,” along with discussion of Baldoni’s past “pornography addiction” or “sexual conquests.”
Pretty serious stuff, right?
According to Baldoni’s lawyer, however, also pretty false stuff.
In a statement released on January 7, attorney Bryan Freedman said the following:
“It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when,” he asserts, “her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending The New York Times grossly edited documents prior to even filing the complaint.”
Indeed, Lively sent alleged text messages from Baldoni to this publication as part of its story last month that documented the supposed harassment.
“We are releasing all of the evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie,” Freedman added on Tuesday, alleging:
“None of this will come as a surprise because consistent with her past behavior Blake Lively used other people to communicate those threats and bully her way to get whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more.”
Lively and Baldoni starred opposite each other in It Ends With Us.
A big screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s wildly popular book, the movie has earned $242 million across the globe and was considered a hit at the box office last year.
But all success has now been overshadowed by the allegations back and forth between its pair of leads, as tension became evident almost from the star of the film’s PR campaign.
It didn’t take long for fans to notice, for example, that Baldoni and Lively did not sit for any joint interviews or pose for any red carpet photos together.
Just a day ago, Lively’s legal team told People Magazine that her “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation,” first lodged in a California complaint on December 20, 2024, are “backed by concrete facts.”
“This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” her lawyers’ statement read.
“As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set.
“And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.”
The actress’s initial complaint included accusations that Baldoni and another producer entered her trailer “uninvited” while she was undressed or “vulnerable.”
It also claimed Baldoni “suddenly” pressured her to “simulate full nudity” in a birth scene and “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved.”
On December 31, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times over the newspaper’s December 21 article about Lively’s complaint, alleging it was the actress “who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”
We really have no idea where this is going, except to say:
We doubt there will be an It Ends With Us sequel.
Justin Baldoni to Blake Lively: STFU, You Bully! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.