By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-01 00:51:22 | Updated at 2025-01-03 22:45:39
2 days ago
Blake Lively has now filed a second lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, less than two weeks after her previous legal complaint against him went public.
In the first suit, she accused him of sexually harassing her and fostering a toxic work environment on the set of their movie It Ends With Us, in which he both directed her and acted with her. He has staunchly denied the allegations.
Also in the initial complaint, Lively claimed Baldoni worked to tarnish her reputation with a team including his publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis PR Melissa Nathan, who previously worked with Johnny Depp. Abel has denied waging a 'smear campaign.'
Lively, 37, filed her first complaint earlier this month with the California Civil Rights Commission, but is now suing Baldoni in federal court in New York, TMZ reports.
Her new lawsuit targets Baldoni, Abel and Nathan as defendants, as well as Baldoni's production company Wayfarer Studios.
In her latest complaint, Lively accuses the defendants of inflicting mental pain and anguish and emotional distress, as well as causing lost wages.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Nathan, Abel and Wayfarer Studios, as well as representatives for Lively and Baldoni for comment.
Blake Lively has now filed a second lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, less than two weeks after her previous legal complaint against him went public
Since news of Lively's first lawsuit broke earlier this month, Baldoni's career has imploded, as he was dropped by his agency William Morris Endeavor.
Liz Plank, one of the co-hosts of Baldoni's Man Enough podcast that billed itself as a space for 'positive masculinity,' announced she was quitting the show.
Lively, who is married to Deadpool lead Ryan Reynolds and who is close friends with pop superstar Taylor Swift, has seen former colleagues rally around her.
Her It Ends With Us co-stars Brandon Sklenar and Jenny Slate have spoken out to support her, as has Colleen Hoover, author of the novel on which the film is based.
Lively's first lawsuit contained a raft of accusations against Baldoni, whom she says showed her nude images and videos of other women, 'improvised physical intimacy' during a scene without prior discussion, entered her trailer while she was 'nude' and allowed his 'friends' to watch her filming sex scenes.
In the run-up to the movie's August 9 release, rumors began swirling of a rift between Lively and Baldoni - and Lively now claims that around this time, Nathan and Abel worked for Baldoni on a targeted strategy to vilify her.
During the run-up to the release of It Ends With Us, Lively repeatedly went viral as social media users slammed her 'mean girl' behavior in interviews - a trend she now insists was the result of an 'astroturfing' campaign waged by Baldoni's PR team.
Lively's first complaint included purported screen-grabs of text messages, many of them between Nathan and Abel, allegedly showing the PR takedown being planned.
One exchange, obtained by subpoena, showed Abel allegedly saying that Baldoni 'wants to feel like she [Lively] can be buried.'
Nathan supposedly replied: 'Of course - but you know when we send over documents we can't send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble,' adding, 'We can't write we will destroy her.'
She allegedly also texted Abel: 'Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone but I can't write that to him. I will be very tough.'
In Lively's first suit, she also submitted an alleged text that Baldoni purportedly sent Abel - a screenshot of an X thread about bullying allegations against Hailey Bieber, along with the message: 'This is what we would need.'
There is no suggestion that Bieber was in any way involved or associated with the alleged smear campaign against Lively.
Along with her claims of sexual harassment, Lively's first complaint accused Baldoni of 'other behaviors that were shocking and emotionally distressing.'
One example of such was her allegation that he insisted he could speak to the dead and had communicated with her late father, acting coach Ernie Lively.
