Actor Justin Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Thursday, claiming they tried to destroy him by accusing him of sexually harassing the actress and then retaliating against her through a smear campaign.
The lawsuit is the latest legal action in a controversy connected to the 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” which starred Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni, who also directed it.
The 179-page complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, named Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds, her husband, as defendants, as well as their publicist Leslie Sloane and her company, Vision PR. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mr. Baldoni. The film’s main producer, Jamey Heath. their production company, Wayfarer Studios. and reporters Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. They are seeking $400 million in damages.
Representatives for Ms. Lively’s team did not respond to a request for comment.
The New York Times published an article on December 21 about Ms. Lively’s allegations against Mr. Baldoni. He alleged in a complaint, filed a day earlier with the California Department of Civil Rights, that Mr. Baldoni had launched the campaign after she accused him of sexual harassment during the filming of “It Ends With Us”.
The Times report referred to private text messages and emails that Ms. Lively had obtained through a subpoena and that were included in her complaint.
The complaint alleged that the messages showed Mr. Baldoni and his business partner, Mr. Heath, to work with a crisis PR specialist to smear Ms Lively’s reputation because they feared allegations of misconduct would become public. Ms. Lively sued Mr. Baldoni and others on December 31 in New York federal court.
On the same day, Mr. Baldoni filed a libel suit against the New York Times in Los Angeles, accusing the paper of relying on Ms. Lively’s “unverified and self-serving account.” He reiterated some of the claims against the publication in the lawsuit he filed Thursday.
The Times said it plans to vigorously defend itself against Mr. Baldoni v. publication. A Times spokeswoman, Danielle Rhoades Ha, added in a statement Thursday: “The allegations against The New York Times in this new lawsuit are without merit and are recycled from the equally meritless allegations in the lawsuit filed against The Times in California.”
In his counterattack against Ms. Lively, Mr. Baldoni said the actress had used her star power to steal “every aspect” of his film and then tried to blame him when her public reputation took a hit during the film’s promotion for how he chose to market it. He accused her of trying to make him “the real villain of her story” and colluding with the Times to “prepare a false and damaging narrative.”
“This is a case of two of the most powerful stars in the world using their enormous power to steal an entire movie out of the hands of its director and production studio,” the lawsuit said. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the recognition they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their ire on their chosen scapegoat.”
Mr. Baldoni denied Ms Lively’s alleged sexual harassment or smear campaign against her had occurred and said he was the victim of such a campaign.
