Justin Baldoni sued Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for defamation

Actor Justin Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Thursday, saying they tried to destroy him by accusing him of sexual harassment. against the actor and then took revenge on him through a negative campaign.

The lawsuit is the latest legal action in the controversy surrounding the 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” which also starred Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni, who also directed it.

The 179-page complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, names Ms. Lively and her husband, Mr. Reynolds, as defendants, as well as journalist Leslie Sloane and her company, Vision PR. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Mr. Baldoni; the film’s producer, Jamey Heath; their production company, Wayfarer Studios; and reporters Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. They are seeking $400 million in damages.

A representative 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 accusations against Mr. Baldoni. She said in a complaint, filed a day earlier with the California Department of Civil Rights, that Mr. Baldoni began the campaign after she accused him of sexual harassment during the shooting of the “It Ends With Us”.

The Times report pointed to private text messages and emails that Ms. Lively received through subpoenas and included in her complaint.

The complaint said the messages show Mr. Baldoni and his colleague, Mr. Heath, working with crisis public relations experts to tarnish Ms. Lively because they were afraid that their claims of bad behavior would be seen in public. Ms. Lively sued Mr. Baldoni and others on Dec. 31 in federal court in New York City.

That same day, Mr. Baldoni filed a defamation suit against The New York Times in Los Angeles, accusing the paper of relying on Ms. Lively’s “unverified and unsubstantiated story.” He reiterated some of the demands for the release of that lawsuit on Thursday.

The Times said it planned to vigorously defend itself against Mr. Baldoni’s publication demands. Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha added in a statement Thursday: “The New York Times’ allegations in this new lawsuit are without merit and are based on baseless claims against ‘ the lawsuit filed against The Times in California.”

In his accusations against Ms Lively, Mr Baldoni said the actress used her star power to hijack “every aspect” of the film and then tried to blame her when she publicly shot down her reputation while promoting the film for the way he chose. it’s a market. He accused her of trying to make him “the real villain of her story” and conspiring with The Times to “prepare a false and damaging narrative.”

“This is a case of two of the world’s most powerful stars using their enormous influence to steal an entire film right out of the hands of the director and production studio,” the lawsuit said. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds failed in their efforts to gain the fame they believed they deserved, they turned their anger on their chosen scapegoat.”

Mr. Baldoni denied sexually harassing Ms. Lively or smearing her, and said he was the victim of such propaganda.