Warring co-stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s legal back-and-forth is officially underway now that the former has kicked off the formal lawsuit saga targeting the New York Times. Having sued the US news outlet for $250 million, the It Ends With Us director and a group of nine other plaintiffs, including his production company Wayfarer Studios, allege libel, false, light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied in-fact contract, according to PEOPLE.
Baldoni’s 87-page complaint filed on New Year’s Eve addresses the Times article titled, “‘We Can Buy Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” which was published shortly after Lively filed her initial complaint against the Jane the Virgin veteran. Taking it straight to heart, Baldoni started the New Year on the offensive, ruthlessly name-dropping Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, while accusing the Hollywood couple for strategically coming after him.
Justin Baldoni names Ryan Reynolds in his $250m lawsuit against NYT
Without mincing his words, the actor-director-producer has accused the Green Lantern pair of “bullying” him. He specifically details the events of an alleged January 4, 2024, meeting that convened at Lively and Reynolds’ New York penthouse, where the Deadpool icon purportedly “berated” him.
According to the Daily Mail, Baldoni launches a verbal onslaught against the ‘Marvel Jesus’ for “aggressively” accusing him of several offences against his wife, including “fat shaming” her.
The couple put together the said January 4 meeting, inviting Baldoni and other producers alongside a Sony rep. Everyone “arrived eager to discuss plans for the next day’s filming, prepared with their production materials,” the filing says. However, Lively and Reynolds “blindsided” them by presenting a “list of grievances that were both unanticipated and troubling.”
Baldoni described the encounter as a “traumatic” one, claiming he had “never been spoken to like that in his life.” The suit alleges that Ryan Reynolds demanded Baldoni to apologise to his wife, but the It Ends With Us directors deemed the reasons mischaracterised and demonstrably false. The filing adds that Justin stood his ground, asserting that he had never done those things. However, it only led Reynolds to becoming ‘further enraged.”
Justin Baldoni accuses Blake Lively of using her power to push him out
In the aftermath of the mention gathering at the NY penthouse, those in attendance were left in “shock.” Furthermore, Baldoni maintains that once the filming wrapped up, Lively was all over the project. While promising that more lawsuit would be filed in the coming days, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, (along with his publicists) presented a trove of receipts – text messages, email, and WhatsApp evidence, incriminating the Gossip Girl starlet of undertaking a “hostile take over” of It Ends With Us.
Their filing depicts this by insisting that Lively was the reason why Justin Baldoni had to walk the red carpet alone. The suit comes down hard at her and Reynolds for allegedly using their influential status to damage his reputation and even trying their best to stop him from attending the movie premiere.