Blake Lively has officially filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni. The legal drama, which has been brewing for a while now, has finally come to a head with Lively taking formal action in a New York federal court.
This legal action marks a significant escalation from her previous California civil complaint, formalising her allegations in a court of law.
As part of this lawsuit Justin Baldoni is being sued for sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages, as reported by the ABC.
The lawsuit, alleges a comprehensive attack on Lively’s reputation. As the court documents state per 9News., Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios engaged in “a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out”.
Lively accused Baldoni of a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation. The plan allegedly started in response to a meeting where she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath.
Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel are also named in Lively’s lawsuit as they previously worked for the PR firm that allegedly set up this “smear campaign”.
The lawsuit also claims violations of both federal and California state laws.
This alleged plan, according to the lawsuit, was nothing short of a calculated media assault. It reportedly included “a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively”.
The lawsuit claims violations of both federal and California state laws as it alleges Wayfarer retaliated against Blake Lively for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns.
Specific allegations in the suit include inappropriate comments about women’s bodies, discussions of personal sexual experiences, and that Baldoni and Heath “discussed their personal sexual experiences and previous porn addiction, and tried to pressure Ms Lively to reveal details about her intimate life”.
Baldoni’s previous response to similar allegations was that they were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious”. The timing is particularly interesting as this lawsuit comes on the same day Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy, seeking $250 million. Baldoni, accused the newspaper for relying on Lively’s “unverified and self-serving narrative” in their reporting.
The Times has stood firm, stating their reporting was “meticulously and responsibly reported” and based on “thousands of pages of original documents”.
Justin Baldoni has not yet responded to this new lawsuit at the time of writing.
As the legal proceedings unfold, one thing is certain: this is a story that’s far from over.
Lead image: Getty images
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