Justin Baldoni has filed a $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, along with Sloane's PR firm, Vision PR, Inc., in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit claims civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage. This legal action is in response to allegations made by Lively, who accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating a retaliatory smear campaign against her after the release of their film "It Ends With Us."
Baldoni's legal action comes on the heels of a contentious period marked by allegations of misconduct and retaliatory behavior. Earlier, Blake Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of the film and claimed that he had launched a smear campaign against her when she spoke out about the issues. These accusations were initially detailed in a complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department, which led to widespread media coverage.
Baldoni's lawsuit specifically alleges that Lively and Reynolds attempted to hijack the film's creative control and marketing, accusing them of using their influence to damage his reputation and career. The suit claims that Lively and her team disseminated "grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media." Baldoni's legal team states that they have "an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence" to support these claims.
This lawsuit follows a series of legal actions, including Baldoni's previous $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for defamation concerning their coverage of Lively's initial complaint. The situation has escalated from what was initially perceived as on-set and promotional friction for "It Ends With Us," a film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel about domestic violence, which was a box office success upon its August 2024 release.
The legal battle between these high-profile figures has sparked discussions about power dynamics in Hollywood and the handling of sexual harassment allegations. There has been no immediate response from Lively, Reynolds, or their representatives to these new allegations.
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