Blake Lively is firing back at Justin Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit
TMZ.com
Blake Lively does not shy away from it Justin Baldoni‘s massive legal challenge … and she says his $400 million lawsuit is straight out of the abuse manual.
Blake’s legal team responded to Justin’s lawsuit on Thursday with a scathing statement, saying: ‘This is an age-old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser tries to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO.
Lively’s team says Justin and his production company are pulling out all the stops to try to “overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against allegations of sexual harassment.”
As we told you… Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios has filed a federal lawsuit to Blake, Ryan Reynolds and Blake’s publicist Leslie Sloane this week accused Blake and Leslie of an alleged campaign to defame Baldoni and take control of “It Ends With Us.”
TMZ.com
Blake’s legal team is pushing back, saying… ‘They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she took creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own opinions. my own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer will also reveal that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s version of the film, which they subsequently selected for distribution and was a resounding success.
In May 2023, when the film was first shot, Baldoni claims that Lively employed a “takeover” strategy because she wanted creative control over the film.
He also mentions a meeting at Blake and Ryan’s penthouse in New York to discuss a rewrite of the script… a meeting that Baldoni views as an ambush rather than a collaboration.
Taylor Swift even appeared during this alleged meeting, Baldoni claims… and he included text that he says shows Blake Lively comparing himself to Daenerys Targaryen, a major character in “Game of Thrones.”
Baldoni makes other claims, including about his experience at a production meeting where Ryan allegedly went up on him, claiming JB had sexually harassed Blake. Baldoni also mentions a competition where the two costars each make their own version of the film.
He is suing Lively, Reynolds and Sloane for defamation, civil racketeering, interference with contractual relations and a host of other allegations – seeking no less than $400 million in damages.
The bottom line for Blake’s legal team… “Their response to sexual harassment allegations: She wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: Look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse the abuser targets the victim. The strategy to attack the woman is desperate, it does not rebut the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint and will fail.
