Justin Baldoni’s lawyer claims his countersuit against Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit “is going to shock everyone.”
In an 80-page legal complaint filed against Baldoni on December 20, Lively alleged 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.
Last week, the Daily Mail reported that “an explosive counter lawsuit will be filed by Baldoni” on January 2. 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.
“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.
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“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.”
The Independent has contacted representatives for Baldoni and Lively for comment.
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.