Over the weekend, Justin Baldoni’s team began to fight back against Blake Lively and her team. Just days before Christmas, Blake filed a suit against Baldoni, claiming that he sexually harassed her while they filmed It Ends With Us. Not only that, Blake’s team made some bombshell allegations about Baldoni waging a social manipulation campaign to destroy her reputation online. Blake’s story is backed up by her access to emails and texts between Baldoni’s publicist and crisis manager. Baldoni’s team went to the Daily Mail (yikes) to preview what’s next for him in this battle – they said that Baldoni would countersue Blake and that (basically) Blake is just mad that her attempted smear campaign against Baldoni failed and boomeranged back onto her over the summer. After the Mail published that exclusive, People Magazine got their own exclusive from Baldoni’s team:
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer says that the actor’s impending lawsuit against Blake Lively will not only bring forth the “truth” — but also expose “those who believe themselves untouchable.”
“This is not a response or countersuit — it’s a deliberate pursuit of truth,” attorney Bryan Freedman exclusively tells PEOPLE of Baldoni’s forthcoming lawsuit, which follows Lively’s explosive complaint accusing Baldoni, 40, of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us and a subsequent retaliatory smear campaign.
Freedman, a veteran Hollywood lawyer, also says that Baldoni’s filing will “expose” falsities in Lively’s complaint — specifically a series of private text messages that allegedly show Baldoni texting and emailing with PR executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan as they planned what Lively, 37, alleges was a smear campaign orchestrated to “destroy” her reputation.
“This lawsuit will uncover and expose the false and destructive narrative that was intentionally engineered by a trusted media publication who relied upon nefarious sources and neglected a thorough fact checking process to confirm the validity of these texts,” Freedman tells PEOPLE. “There is an insurmountable collection of authentic evidence, including timelines and communications, which have not been doctored or spliced without context, unlike the altered [New York Times] story that ran on Saturday, December 21st 2024,” he continues in the written statement.
The article Freedman is referring to — titled “ ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” — broke the news of Lively’s complaint the day after she filed it in California.
“In over three decades of legal practice, I’ve never witnessed such unethical behavior, fueled by those who abuse their power and manipulate the truth,” Freedman adds. “This isn’t an isolated case; it’s a recurring pattern in Hollywood and the mainstream media where careers and reputations are destroyed to maintain control. Legacy media has long weaponized their platforms to distort the truth, exploit vulnerabilities, and destroy lives without accountability,” the attorney continues. “These lawsuits will confront this system head-on, ensuring that no individual or entity, no matter how influential, can continue perpetuating this cycle of fear and destruction.”
“The truth will not only come to light — it will dismantle the illusions propped up by those who believe themselves untouchable,” Freedman concludes.
A representative for Lively did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, Dec. 29.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s odd and notable that there’s so much focus on the “social manipulation” part of Blake’s claim and not the sexual harassment part. Blake’s case against Baldoni for sexual harassment and inappropriate/toxic behavior seems to be more cut and dry, and from what I’ve seen, she has some documentation to back it up, including lots of high-level meetings with the studio. The social manipulation part of her claim is a lot trickier than her side wants to admit. As someone who reads “legacy media” and gossip outlets like Page Six on a daily basis, I remember the curious, anti-Baldoni stories “planted” in various outlets ahead of IEWU’s release. Now, does Baldoni actually have evidence that Blake’s team was trying to hurt him over the summer, or is it all insinuation? I don’t know.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
