Justin Baldoni Sues Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for $400 Million in Bombshell Lawsuit
Justin Baldoni has launched a $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Vision PR, Inc., citing a series of claims related to the film It Ends With Us.
Filed in the Southern District of New York on January 16, the lawsuit accuses Lively and her associates of defamation, civil extortion, breach of good faith, invasion of privacy, and interference with both contractual and economic relations.
The legal filing alleges that Lively, 37, took actions to wrest control of the movie's production by spreading damaging and manipulated information about Baldoni and his team. Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement describing the case as being based on "overwhelming evidence" and accusing Lively's team of "grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information."
He added: "Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth."
The statement also criticized Lively's team for what it described as manipulative tactics to damage reputations. "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. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie," Freedman continued.
According to the filing, the Gossip Girl alum, who reportedly didn't read the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name but "tried to Google the color of her character's hair rather than pick up the book," was "determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story."
This lawsuit follows Lively's December 20 complaint against Baldoni, which accused him of sexual harassment and conducting a retaliatory smear campaign during the production and promotion of It Ends With Us. Her claims included allegations of causing her "grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety."
In addition to the new suit, Baldoni previously sued The New York Times on December 31 for libel over an article titled We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. Baldoni's legal team argued that the article featured "cherry-picked and altered communications" to present a misleading narrative. The Times defended its reporting as "meticulously and responsibly reported."
