Justin Baldoni kicks off 2025 with New York Times lawsuit over Blake Lively story
The ‘It Ends With Us’ writer and director is one of 10 plaintiffs suing the newspaper for $250 million
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It Ends With Us star and director Justin Baldoni is suing the New York Times over its reporting of Blake Lively’s sex harassment allegations against him.
Lively filed a lawsuit December 20 against Baldoni alleging that her co-star caused her “severe emotional distress” on the set of It Ends With Us and that he orchestrated a “smear campaign” against her after she asked for complaints to be addressed.
Those allegations were covered prominently by the Times in a December 21 article headlined: “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
On Tuesday afternoon Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel brought a $250 million lawsuit against the newspaper alleging libel and false-light invasion of privacy.
The suit, which has been seen by The Independent, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and claims that the Times reporting “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
It goes on to argue that “the Times relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative.”
The Independent has reached out to the New York Times and Baldoni and Nathan’s legal representatives for comment.
Baldoni is also reportedly planning to counter-sue Lively.
Last week, the Daily Mail reported that “an explosive counter lawsuit will be filed by Baldoni” on Thursday. The publication reported that the legal document, which Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman has been preparing, claims Lively’s Vision PR team was responsible for smears against Baldoni, not the other way round.
Freedman told Deadline that he could not confirm when the lawsuit would be filed, but that it would contain some surprises.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“I am not going to speak to when or how many lawsuits we are filing, but when we file our first lawsuit, it is going to shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative,” the lawyer said. “I will be supported by real evidence and tell the true story.”
He continued: “In over 30 years of practicing, I have never seen this level of unethical behavior intentionally fueled through media manipulation.”
Meanwhile, the Gossip Girl alum’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, has responded to reports from the Daily Mail about Baldoni’s counter-lawsuit.
In a statement, she denied the publication’s claims that she “tried to smear Baldoni by planting stories with numerous news organizations.”
“I was contacted on 8/11 by Sara Nathan (Melissa Nathan’s sister) forwarding an anonymous tip that Page Six received, regarding allegations of HR complaints on the set of It Ends with Us,” Sloan said in a statement to Us Weekly, as Baldoni’s crisis representative, Melissa Nathan, was named in Lively’s lawsuit.
“After that, I was contacted by various press outlets asking about allegations of HR complaints. When contacted, I responded to press questions by referring them to Wayfarer or Sony for information regarding HR complaints,” she continued.
The publicist concluded: “It’s clear that Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer Associates are suggesting that I originated press stories about HR complaints on set, which is false. Please read Ms. Lively’s Complaint and the Complaint filed by Jonesworks LLC and Stephanie Jones, which provides the details of the campaign against my client.”
In her lawsuit against Baldoni, it was alleged that Lively asked the studio for several requirements after she raised concerns about Balidoni’s behavior on the set of It Ends With Us, which he also directed.
Her requirements included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, and no more inquiries about Blake’s weight.”
The lawsuit says that the film’s distributors, Sony Pictures, approved Lively’s requests. However, the Age of Adaline star claims in the filing that Baldoni then began a campaign to “destroy” her reputation in response. She cited texts from Baldoni’s crisis PR representative as evidence.
After the filing was made public, Freedman called Lively’s allegations “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.” Freedman alleged that Lively had caused issues on the film set by “threatening to not [show] up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release.”
Hours after Lively’s lawsuit was made public, Baldoni was reportedly dropped by his management, the WME agency.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments