Celebrity
Blake Lively #Metoo Claims Supported By New Lawsuit
Blake Lively’s claims that director and co-star Justin Baldoni launched a smear campaign against her have been supported by a new lawsuit filed by Baldoni’s former publicist.
Stephanie Jones, who has been representing Baldoni since 2017, filed the case on Tuesday in New York State Court in Manhattan.
According to the report, the actor and his film production firm, Wayfarer, extended their deal in 2020, agreeing to a $25,000 monthly fee.
The lawsuit said that Baldoni, 40, and Wayfarer teamed up with publicists last August, when the film was released, to try to “bury” and “destroy” Lively, fearing that reports of misogynistic and toxic on-set behavior while filming the love drama would ruin his reputation and career.
Jones requested unspecified damages from the defendants, including Jennifer Abel, a former employee who she claims was behind the campaign to harm Blake Lively and tarnish Jones’ reputation.
The lawsuit claims that Abel was fired after Jones discovered on August 21, 2024, that Abel had “stolen more than 70 proprietary and sensitive business documents and additional client leads” from Jones Works as she prepared to leave the firm to start her own publicity company, with Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients.
The lawsuit also claims that Abel collaborated with Melissa Nathan, a crisis management professional who previously represented actor Johnny Depp, in an attempt to influence and control media information damaging to Blake Lively and Jones.
Numerous text conversations included in the case were recovered from Abel’s corporate phone, which she returned to Jones Works after being fired, the Associated Press reported.
In response to a request for comment on Wednesday, Abel forwarded an email with screenshots of text communications between herself and Jones, as well as a July 26 email she sent to Jones, two weeks after declaring her intention to leave the company on August 23, 2024, during a Zoom call.
In the email, she said, in part: “I know this journey will not be easy, but I wish to keep you in my life as a mentor, friend, and close confidant because I honestly consider you family and would be lost without your support.
I want to assure you that, unlike others who have burnt you in the past, there is no ill will here.
She said further: “I have left a company before with grace and with my relationships intact, and that’s what I fully plan on, and hope for.”
Blake Lively, 37, filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department last week, a step that frequently precedes the filing of a lawsuit, alleging that Baldoni sought to harm her reputation after Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment” by Baldoni and a film producer.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its reps, described the charges in Lively’s filing as “completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious.”
He denied Blake Lively’s claims of a planned effort, stating that the studio “proactively” employed a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production.”
A message addressed to Freedman on Wednesday seeking comment on Jones’ lawsuit was not immediately returned.
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s popular 2016 novel, defied box office estimates with a $50 million launch and eventual sales of $350 million.
Baldoni appeared in the telenovela parody “Jane the Virgin,” directed “Five Feet Apart,” and penned “Man Enough,” a book that challenges traditional ideals of masculinity.
