BREAKING NEWSJustin Baldoni Countersues Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Her Publicist for $400 Million Over 'It Ends With Us' Smear Campaign
Justin Baldoni is seeking $400 million in damages from Blake Lively and her publicist, Leslie Sloane.
It ends in court — Justin Baldoni has hit back at Blake Lively amid their intense legal battle.
On Thursday, January 16, lawyers for the It Ends With Us director and his production company filed a counter-lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, the actress' publicist Leslie Sloane and the agent's PR firm Vision PR, Inc. for a bombshell $400 million.
Justin Baldoni claimed Blake Lively 'deliberately robbed' him of his own movie.
Baldoni — on behalf of himself, producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan — accused Lively and Sloane of using their own campaign to smear his image as a way to take control over the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's hit novel.
The Five Feet Apart director sued Lively, Reynolds and Sloane on claims of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
Blake Lively filed her own lawsuit against Justin Baldoni in December 2024.
In court documents obtained by OK!, the Jane the Virgin actor claimed Lively was "determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story" in an effort to draw attention away from critics labeling her "tone-deaf" over the way she chose to promote the film.
"Had Lively chosen to merely ride out the self-inflicted press catastrophe she faced in August 2024, the public would likely have moved on and never known the truth about her," the lawsuit suggested. "They would have never known that she deliberately and systematically robbed Plaintiffs Justin Baldoni ('Baldoni') and Wayfarer Studios, LLC ('Wayfarer') of their movie."
- Justin Baldoni Claims Blake Lively Only Let Him Attend 'It Ends With Us' Premiere 'Under Humiliating Conditions': She 'Stole the Film'
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Justin Baldoni accused Blake Lively of taking 'legal action' in an attempt to 'destroy' him.
The documents continued: "No one except the parties involved would have known that she used threats and extortion to relegate the colleagues she once highly praised to a basement to sit out their own premiere, while she enjoyed the spotlight of a premiere and afterparty that was ultimately co-financed by both Wayfarer and Sony. She would have gotten away with these things and more, because Baldoni, focused entirely on seeing the film succeed, would have held his tongue, as he had through the year and a half that Lively tormented him, his family, and his partners."
Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman addressed the court filing in a statement to OK!, declaring: "This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media."
Justin Baldoni believes Blake Lively tried to take control over 'It Ends With Us,' which he directed.
"It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth," the renowned attorney alleged.
"Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too," his statement added. "Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie."
