Justin Baldoni has sued Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, claiming that the couple hijacked the production of It Ends With Us, the hit summer 2024 film he directed and sought to “destroy” him with false allegations of sexual harassment.
In the suit, filed in the southern district of New York, Baldoni and his publicists accuse the couple of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy, to the tune of $400m in damages.
The 179-page complaint is the latest volley in a bitter legal battle between the co-stars over the production and marketing of the film, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book, that began when Lively filed a complaint with the California civil rights commission detailing alleged sexual harassment by Baldoni during production and retaliatory efforts to smear Lively’s reputation afterward via artificial social media activity and planted stories.
That complaint, and a subsequent New York Times report quoting numerous text messages between Baldoni and his team, sent shockwaves through Hollywood and prompted vigorous denials from Baldoni and his producing partner, Jamey Heath.
On 31 December, Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni, Heath and publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, alleging that the group orchestrated a clandestine smear campaign to “bury” her reputation. Baldoni followed a day later with a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing the paper of working with Lively’s team and “cherry-picking” text messages...
According to CSJP, the parent not only levelled the unfounded allegation but also circulated a WhatsApp message urging Hindus in the Mormugao taluka to gather outside the school at 11:00 a.m. in p...