New year, new lawsuits. First, Justin Baldoni, publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and more filed a lawsuit against the New York Times for “libel and false light invasion of privacy,” reports Variety. Then, news broke that Lively formally filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and co. as detailed in said NY Times article from December 21. Here’s everything about the two lawsuits filed just before the end of the year.
What does Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit about Blake Lively say?
The lawsuit filed on December 31 states, “The Times story relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.” It fires back at claims in the Times’s piece titled ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine and allegedly adds context to text messages that were clipped in the article. For example, in the text messages between Nathan and Abel where, they were seemingly gloating about the negative press Lively had received throughout the It Ends With Us press tour. “You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Abel texted. “That’s why you hired me right? I’m the best,” Nathan replied. However, in the full context, it seems that they are sarcastically taking credit for Lively’s bad press, as right before Nathan writes, “Damn this is unfair because it’s also not me.”
The suit also claims that the “pornographic” video that producer Jamey Heath showed Lively was a video of his wife’s home birth of their child, a video that was reportedly shown during the creative discussions for a scene in the film. Other claims disputed in the lawsuit include Lively reportedly wanted to wait to meet with an intimacy coordinator when production started and how she advocated for her character’s clothes to be sexier.
What about Blake Lively’s lawsuit?
Lively formally filed a lawsuit in New York against Baldoni, his PR team, and Wayfarer Studios on December 31 for mental pain and anguish, severe emotional distress, and lost wages, all related to the allegations made in the NY Times piece, reports Page Six. An attorney for Lively tells Vulture: “Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today. This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.’ As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false. While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”
What have other parties said about the suit?
On January 1, WME issued a statement denying Baldoni’s suit’s claim that Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds pressured the agency to drop the It Ends With Us director. In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. This is not true,” they said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”