Justin Baldoni has filed a lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, alleging civil extortion and defamation, among other claims.
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Baldoni is also suing Lively and Reynolds’ publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc. over the ongoing drama behind the scenes of last year’s It Ends With Us.
Per People, on Thursday, January 16, attorneys for the actor and director filed a $400 million lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan, alleges that Lively took actions to assume control of the film.
Baldoni’s suit has a laundry list of claims, including civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith, and fair dealing. It also lists intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
Justin Baldoni Attorney Issues a Statement Over Suing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for $400 Million
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement per People about the lawsuit
“This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team, and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new, and doctored information to the media. It is clear based on our own all-out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage, and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real-time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth.”
“Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too,” the statement adds. “Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”
Lively has already sued Baldoni and his associates, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign led by Baldoni.
Baldoni’s latest lawsuit follows his December 31 libel suit against The New York Times over its article, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
The lawsuit claims The Times used “cherry-picked” and altered communications, stripped of context, to create a misleading narrative about Lively’s complaint.
Meanwhile, The New York Times pushed back, saying the piece was “meticulously and responsibly reported.”