“Another chapter in the abuser’s handbook”

Blake Lively’s legal team has a response to Justin Baldoni’s new lawsuit against the actress, saying it’s another chapter in the abuser’s playbook.

“It’s an old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the attacker tries to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Refuse. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender,” reads the statement from Lively’s attorneys.

Lively is represented by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

The response was posted hours after Baldoni filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alongside two publicists, alleging extortion, defamation and breakup claims of contract linked to the production and publication of It ends with us.

The film was directed by Baldoni, who stars alongside Lively. Both are credited PGA producers on the picture, which may have been a box office hit but was the subject of cascading lawsuits that began when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and led a smear campaign against her in retaliation for speaking out about misconduct 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 New York federal court.

Baldoni – who also claims to be the subject of a smear campaign and denies sexual harassment – ​​is joined in his lawsuit by his film studio, Wayfarer, and its chief executive Jamey Heath, alongside their public relations representatives, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. . They are seeking at least $400 million in damages. Wayfarer is backed by billionaire Steve Sarowitz.

Bryan Freedman, the no-holds-barred Los Angeles attorney who represents the Baldoni side of the aisle, said the lawsuit filed early Thursday was “based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing the deceptive attempt by Blake Lively and her team to destroy Justin Baldoni”. his team and their respective companies by releasing grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and falsified information to the media.

He added: “It is clear, given our complete willingness to provide all text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle that she won’t win and she will. I certainly regret it.

In her lawsuit, Lively names Baldoni, Wayfarer, Jennifer Abel, who is Baldoni’s publicist, and Melissa Nathan, crisis public relations manager. The latter was hired by Baldoni at the time of the film’s premiere, when virtually all the actors sidelined their director in support of Lively, who refused to be photographed with him on the red carpet or appear with him at junkets.

Baldoni’s account is that he was “under duress” when he and Heath agreed to sign a list of demands if Lively returned to set after the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The document demanded that certain behaviors stop, such as entering his trailer unexpectedly, and that Baldoni stop talking about his porn addiction. There was also reportedly a kiss scene in which Baldoni went off-script and licked her neck.

The documentary was signed in early November 2023. In early January 2024, before production resumed following the actors’ strike, a meeting was called at Lively and Reynolds’ loft in New York. Baldoni alleged that things got heated and Reynolds accused him of wife-shaming him (Lively had her fourth child, a son, in early 2023, just before filming began).

“Wayfarer was blindsided when Lively, at the end of the industry strikes, refused to return to production without the company agreeing to its non-negotiable “Return to Production Protections” (“Return Requests”). to production”) which insinuated that misconduct had occurred. during filming (which, as the evidence will establish, was not). Wayfarer was also blindsided when Lively exploited this document, essentially signed under duress., take control of the film,” states the complaint filed Thursday by Baldoni.

Lively’s lawyers countered: “They are attempting to spin the narrative on Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she took creative control and steered the casting away 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 to oversee Sony’s editing of the film, which they then selected for distribution and which was a huge success.

Sony actually opted to edit Lively’s film and publicly supported her following the dispute with Baldoni.

When describing how Lively allegedly took over the film slowly and deliberately, Baldoni says she even invoked Taylor Swift’s name when he didn’t respond to suggested edits for the opening scene, claiming Swift thought the rewrites were good (Baldoni finally acquiesced). Addressing other ways she tried to take over the film, he says she took control of her wardrobe early on, including asking for expensive shoes.

Lively’s lawyers said Baldoni’s response to the sexual harassment allegations was “she wanted it, it’s her fault.” Their rationale for why this 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, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.

Continuing, they said that “Wayfarer chose to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch baseless lawsuits, and threaten legal action in order to prevent the public from understanding that what what he is doing is retaliation against allegations of sexual harassment. »

On the same day the lawsuit was filed last month in Federal Court by Lively, Baldoni sued The New York Times for allegedly conspiring with Lively’s PR team to advance an “unverified and self-serving narrative” while ignoring evidence that contradicted her claims.

In another twist, Baldoni and Freedman also go after Disney and Marvel Studios, claiming that Reynolds used the Nicepool character in Deadpool and Wolverine to make fun of him.