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Justin Baldoni sues Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are being sued for civil extortion, defamation and other conduct in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Baldoni accused Lively of torturing him, his family and colleagues in a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York and obtained by Fox News Digital. The actor requested a jury trial and a $400 million verdict.
Lively sues Baldoni The pair were first accused of sexual harassment after starring together in Colleen Hoover’s film adaptation of “With Us.” Lively has also accused Baldoni of engaging in a deliberate smear campaign to destroy her reputation since the film premiered in August.
However, Baldoni, along with Wayfarer Studios, Jamie Heath and others, paint a different story in the actor’s own lawsuit.
Justin Baldoni filed a lawsuit on January 16, suing Blake Lively for civil extortion, defamation and other charges. (Getty Images)
“Plaintiffs now have no choice but to fight back with facts and substantial concrete evidence that refutes Lively’s allegations,” court documents read.
“It’s heartbreaking that a film that Baldoni envisioned years ago to honor survivors of domestic violence by telling their stories, with the noble goal of making a positive impact on the world, is now being replaced simply because of Lively behavior and cruelty.”
Baldoni’s legal team claims Lively has no evidence of intentional defamation and is instead working to repair his reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.
Blake Lively’s This Is Us co-stars Brandon Scriner and Jenny Slate ‘admire her bravery’ amid lawsuit
“But Lively could not for a moment tolerate her public image being tarnished, let alone accept that it was entirely of her own making,” the lawsuit reads. “She needed a scapegoat. She failed to acknowledge and take responsibility for her misfortune. responsibility, but chose to accuse the accuser in a malicious and inexcusable public manner.”
“She waited months when she and Reynolds were unable to force Baldoni and Werfalle to read a statement she and her representatives had prepared and blackmail them into ‘taking responsibility’ to defend Lively’s actions. , prepared to publicly attack Baldoni, falsely claiming that he sexually harassed her.”
On January 12, 2024, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni appeared on the set of “It Ends With Us”. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Baldoni’s legal team provided “untampered evidence” such as text messages, emails and more to support the “Jane the Virgin” star’s claims.
“This lawsuit is a legal proceeding based on substantial untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s attempts to deceive Justin by disseminating heavily redacted, unverified, new and doctored information to the media. Baldoni, his team and their respective companies,” Baldoni’s attorney Brian Friedman said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Based on our full willingness to provide all of the complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence shared by both parties in real time, it is clear that this is a fight she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively Either she was grossly misled by her team or she deliberately misrepresented the facts.”
“Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit real victims of harassment simply for the sake of personal reputation at the expense of those who have no power,” the statement continued. “Let us not forget that Ms. Lively and her The team sought to destroy reputations and livelihoods through dangerous media manipulation before taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public knows. Justin and his team have nothing to hide. , documents don’t lie.”
Representatives for Lively and Reynolds did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Graphically detailed sexual harassment allegationsBaldoni and filmmaker Jamie Heath filed the lawsuit first with the California Civil Rights Division and later in federal court, claiming retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and more.
According to the complaint obtained by Fox News Digital, the actress held an “all hands meeting” on January 4, 2024, in which her husband Reynolds also attended, to discuss Baldoni and Heath’s alleged conduct. .
“Ms. Lively was forced to raise concerns about inappropriate conduct by Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath directly with them, and began doing so months before filming began,” the complaint reads. “The concerns she raised were not only Not only for herself, but also for other female cast and crew members, some of whom also spoke out.”
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Justin Baldoni sues The New York Times for defamation following Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Following Lively’s lawsuit, Baldoni also Sue the New York Times For defamation.
However, Lively’s team noted that her accusations are “supported by concrete facts.”
“This is not a ‘feud’ arising out of ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” her attorney told Fox News Digital. “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in the lawsuit, Wayfarer (studio) and its associates engaged in an unlawful retaliatory attack against Ms. Lively because Just trying to protect themselves and others on the film set and their response since the lawsuit was filed against Ms. Lively, this lawsuit is designed to attack her even more.”
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