Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni of ‘abuser’ tactics

EXCLUSIVE: Hours after Justin Baldoni filed a $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, the Iit ends with us The star and her legal team applauded – hard.

“This latest lawsuit brought by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and his associates is another chapter in the abusers’ playbook,” attorneys for Lively Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP said in a statement provided to Deadline late Thursday.

“It’s an old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the perpetrator attempts to turn the tables on the victim,” they said. “This is what experts call DARVO. Refuse. Attack. Reverse delinquent victim.

“Their response to the sexual harassment allegations: She wanted it, it’s her fault,” the lawyers add of the federal case filed by Baldoni and his gang in New York this morning.

“Their justification for why this happened to her: Look what she wore,” Lively’s team continues in a deft narrative recovery after Baldoni’s 179-page omnibus was filed in court. “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.

Read the full statement below.

Of course, as demonstrated today and over the past few weeks, Baldoni, his Wayferer Studios CEO Janey Heath, crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan (who worked for Johnny Depp during his battles difficult and ultimately successful legal disputes with his ex-wife and Aquaman star Amber Heard) and publicist Jennifer Abel insist they are the real victims.

“At its core, this isn’t about celebrities sniping at each other in the press,” proclaims Baldoni’s complaint filed today against Lively, Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and her company Vision PR, with appearances from Deadpool and Wolverine, the Los Angeles wildfires, an uncredited Taylor Swift, the New York Times and more. As has happened since all of this was revealed in the public sphere last month, many of the dark arts of Hollywood PR have also been revealed – with no reward for anyone.

Slamming his Reynolds-backed co-star Lively for not even reading the 2016 Colleen Hoover book on which the domestic violence film was based, Baldoni’s lawsuit Thursday is the latest in a ever-increasing series of filings, agency slip-ups and lawsuits over what may have happened on It ends with us and the alleged smear campaign that followed.

Aside from lack of mutual press between co-stars ahead of box office success It ends with us After its release in August, it began in earnest with Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation complaint filed Dec. 20 with the California Department of Civil Rights. Since then, the New York Times published a detailed story “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” on December 21, and Baldoni and his gang sued the Gray Lady in Los Angeles for defamation and $250 million 10 days later, Lively suing her co-star and her cohorts the same day. with most of what was in his CRD complaint.

Add to that, Stephanie Jones, founder of Baldoni’s former PR firm and ex-employer of publicist Jennifer Abel, has launched her own lawsuit against her ex-client and former employee. Additionally, amid subpoenas, attorney media appearances and more, Baldoni’s team sent an evidence preservation letter on Jan. 7, just before the fires exploded in Los Angeles, to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel boss Kevin Feige about the situation. Joan the Virgin the veteran’s feeling that Reynolds mocked and bullied him with the Nicepool character featured in Deadpool and Wolverine.

Or, as the file states today, I didn’t smear you, you smeared me, it’s complicated.

“This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film from the hands of its director and production studio,” the text message and the 179-page email illustrated by Baldoni. of attorney Bryan Freedman, based in Los Angeles, and Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC of New York. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to earn them the recognition they so thought they deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat. Tolerating a year and a half of their behavior while remaining polite and professional at all times offered Badoni and Wayfarer no protection.

Baldoni and his fellow plaintiffs want a jury trial — as does Lively in her own federal filing last month. They might get it if this isn’t sorted out in a law firm’s boardroom in the next few months. This seems unlikely at this stage.

There will also be more pox in the PR houses, because no one will want to see themselves allegedly attacked or exposed in this way again. Then again, the Federal Court could even link or merge Lively’s NYE ​​lawsuit with Baldoni’s for the sake of expediency — but you can bet there will be even more.

Here is today’s statement from Lively’s legal team:

This latest lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and his associates is another chapter in the abusers’ playbook. This is an old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the attacker attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Refuse. Attack. Reverse delinquent victim.

Wayfarer has chosen 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 it is doing constitutes retaliation against allegations of sexual harassment.

They are attempting to shift the narrative toward Ms. Lively by falsely claiming 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 demonstrate that Sony asked Ms. Lively to supervise Sony’s editing of the film, which they then selected for distribution and which was a resounding success.

Their response to the sexual harassment allegations: 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.