It seems that the hostility between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will not end in 2024.
On the heels of Dailymail.com’s exclusive report on Friday that It Ends with Us actor and director Baldoni, 40, and several associates are preparing to file a countersuit against the film’s star Lively, 37, When the courts open on January 2, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman promised that the content of the filing will “shocker everyone.”
“I’m not going to talk about when or how many lawsuits we’re going to file, but when we file our first lawsuit, it will shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative,” Freedman said Saturday. Deadline.
Freedman said the content of the countersuit “will be supported by real evidence and tell the real story” of how things happened between the creatives and their respective advertising teams.
“In over 30 years of practice, I have never seen this level of unethical behavior intentionally fueled through media manipulation,” Freedman told the outlet. ‘It reminds me of what NBC tried to do to Megyn Kelly and Gabrielle Union and we all know how it ended. Support.’
Dailymail.com has contacted Freedman, as well as representatives for Lively and Baldoni, for comment on the latest developments in the developing story.
It looks like the hostility between Blake Lively, 37, and Justin Baldoni, 40, won’t end in 2024, as a lawyer for Baldoni promises that an upcoming countersuit against the actress is “going to surprise everyone.” Photographed on set in New York earlier this year.
Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her during the film’s production in multiple ways. Photographed last month in Los Angeles.
As Dailymail.com previously reported, Baldoni’s business partner Jamey Heath will also be involved in the countersuit, as will publicists who were named in the complaint filed by Lively on December 20.
In the 80-page legal complaint, which typically comes before a formal lawsuit, Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her during production of the film in multiple ways.
Lively said in the legal complaint that Baldoni had broken into her trailer while she was breastfeeding her son; spoke about his past addiction to adult films; discussed past sexual experiences with non-consensual implications; and they questioned her about details of her “intimate life.”
Lively’s legal team said in the complaint that Baldoni “routinely demeaned her by finding underhanded ways to criticize her body and weight.”
Baldoni and select associates worked together to instigate a negative public campaign at her expense, intended to diminish her reputation, Lively, who is married to Deadpool star Ryan Reynoldsc, 48, said in the complaint.
“I hope that my legal action will help expose these sinister retaliation tactics to harm people who report misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted,” Lively told the The New York Times in a December 21 report.
Baldoni has denied all claims against him in Lively’s legal filing.
Expected claims made in the countersuit, as previously reported by Dailymail.com, include allegations that Lively associates deceive by posting WhatsApp messages out of context; that Lively’s representative used the media to attack Baldoni’s reputation; and that the complaint was filed to save Lively’s reputation after a run of negative publicity.
Baldoni has denied all claims against him in Lively’s legal filing.
Lively’s spouse, Ryan Reynolds, was on Instagram Stories on Sunday promoting his Wrexham AFC soccer club.
Leslie Sloane, who runs the public relations company that represents Lively, Vision PR, denied providing the media with stories about complaints about Baldoni’s conduct on the film’s set, in a statement to Deadline on Saturday.
“It is clear that Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer Associates are suggesting that I originated news articles about human resources complaints on set, which is false,” Sloane said, referring to Lively’s “complaint and the complaint filed by Jonesworks LLC and Stephanie Jones” regarding “the details of the campaign against” Lively.
Sloane told the outlet that the situation involved both Baldoni’s public relations chief, Melissa Nathan, and her sister, Page Six editor Sara Nathan.
“On August 11, Sara Nathan (Melissa Nathan’s sister) contacted me with an anonymous tip that Page Six received,” Sloane told Deadline, “about allegations of HR complaints on the set of It Ends with Us”.
Sloane told the outlet: “After that, several media outlets contacted me to ask about allegations of HR complaints. When they contacted me, I responded to press questions by referring them to Wayfarer or Sony for information about the complaints. of human resources.’
It Ends with Us, also starring Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar and Kevin McKidd, hit theaters on August 9 and was a hit with audiences. It earned $148 million at the domestic box office and $350 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.