Blake Lively’s legal team has responded to Justin Baldoni’s new lawsuit against the actress, saying it’s another chapter taken from the abuse playbook.
“This is an old story: A woman speaks out with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the attacker tries to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call a Darvo. Deny. Attack. ‘Victim reverses perpetrator,'” read a statement from Lively’s attorney provided to Hollywood Reporter Late Thursday afternoon.
Lively is repped by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
The appeal was issued hours after Baldoni filed a 179-page lawsuit in New York federal court against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, along with two publicists, alleging extortion, defamation and allegations of breach of contract related to the preparation and release. And it ends with us.
The film is directed by Baldoni, who stars alongside Lively. Both are PGA-certified producers of the picture, which may have been a box office success but became the subject of successive legal actions that began when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and launched a smear campaign against her in retaliation for speaking out about her. Misbehavior on set. Her complaint was filed in late December with the California Department of Civil Rights before a formal lawsuit was filed earlier this month in federal court in New York.
Baldoni — who also claims he is the subject of a smear campaign and denies any sexual harassment — is joined in his lawsuit by his film studio, Wayfarer, and its CEO, Jamie Heath, along with his public relations representatives, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Appel. . They are demanding compensation of no less than $400 million. Wayfarer is backed by billionaire Steve Sarewitz.
Brian Friedman, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Baldoni’s side of the aisle, said the lawsuit filed early Thursday “is based on a tremendous amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s double-dealing attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni.” his team and their companies by releasing new, grossly manipulated, and unverified information to the media.
He added: “It is clear based on our full willingness to provide all the full text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a fight that you will not win and will win.” We certainly regret it.”
In her suit, Lively names Baldoni, Wayfarer, Jennifer Appel, who is Baldoni’s publicist, and veteran crisis public relations director Melissa Nathan. The latter was hired by Baldoni around the time of the film’s premiere, when almost the entire cast sidelined their director in support of Lively, who refused to be photographed with him on the red carpet or appear with him at the trigger.
Baldoni’s account is that he was “under duress” when he and Heath agreed to sign a list of 30 demands if Lively returned to the set after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended. It did not include further showing nude videos or photos of women, including the producer’s wife, to Lively or her employees; There is no more mention of Baldoni or Heath’s “pornography addiction” or Lively’s lack of porn consumption; No more discussions with Lively about her personal experiences with sex, including with husbands or others; No more descriptions of their genitals for Lively; No more inquiries about Lively’s weight. The actress also received assurances that Baldoni will no longer talk about the way she spoke to her late father, or enter her trailer unannounced. Sony, which was acting as distributor, was also required to be more involved.
The document was signed in early November 2023. In early January 2024, before production resumed after the actors’ strike, a meeting was called in Lively and Reynolds’ loft in New York City with Wayfarer and Sony execs, among others. Baldoni claimed that things escalated, and that Reynolds accused him of exposing his wife (Lively gave birth to their fourth child, a son, in early 2023, just before filming began).
According to Baldoni’s lawsuit, “Wayfarer was shocked when, after the end of the industry strikes, Lively refused to return to production in the absence of the company agreeing to non-negotiable ‘return to production protections’ (the ‘Return to Production Requirements’) that the alleged misconduct had It happened during filming (which, as the evidence would prove, didn’t happen.) Wayfarer was also shocked that Lively took advantage of this document, which was essentially signed under duress, To control the movie.
Lively’s lawyers responded, saying, “They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the actors from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the actors and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively oversaw Sony’s production of the film, which they then picked up for distribution and became a huge success.
Sony has already come out with Lively’s version of the film, issuing public support for it in the wake of the dispute with Baldoni.
In describing how Lively slowly and deliberately took over the film, Baldoni says she cited her best friend Taylor Swift’s name when she submitted the rewrite to him, telling him that both Swift and Reynolds, whom she referred to as her “dragons,” thought the changes were great. Baldoni eventually acquiesced, telling Lively in an email that he didn’t need her to bring in Swift and Reynolds in order to influence him, according to Thursday’s lawsuit. Speaking about other ways in which she tried to control the film, he said that she took control of her wardrobe early on, including ordering expensive shoes.
Lively’s lawyers said Baldoni’s response to the sexual harassment allegations was, “She wanted it, and it’s her fault.” Their justification for what happened to her: Look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, irrefutable “The evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint will fail.”
They continued, saying that “Wayfarer has chosen to use the resources of its billionaire founder to issue media statements, launch baseless lawsuits and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation for sexual harassment allegations.”
On the same day Lively began legal proceedings earlier this month in federal court, Baldoni filed a lawsuit New York Times For allegedly conspiring with Lively’s public relations team to present an “unverified and self-serving narrative” while ignoring evidence that contradicted her claims.
In another development, Baldoni and Friedman are also going after Disney and Marvel Studios, saying that Reynolds used the character of baseball in… Deadpoodle wolverine To mock him.