BLAKE LIVELY VS JUSTIN BALDONI: THE HOLLYWOOD WAR THAT WON’T END PART 1

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PART 1: THE BOMBSHELLS KEEP DROPPING

RELATED: BLAKE LIVELY VS JUSTIN BALDONI: THE HOLLYWOOD WAR THAT WON’T END PART 2

Hold onto your popcorn, folks, because the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni saga just keeps getting messier! What started as whispers about tension on the set of It Ends With Us has exploded into one of the most dramatic legal battles Hollywood has seen in years. And trust us, the tea just keeps spilling!

The Latest Bombshell: “It Felt Like Extortion”

Just days ago, Justin Baldoni’s former agent Danny Greenberg dropped a bombshell in a deposition, saying the cumulative behavior and mounting pressure from Blake Lively felt like “extortion” to him, that if Baldoni didn’t give in to her demand to take over control of the project, he’d be sidelined.

WHOA. Let’s unpack that for a second. Greenberg, who used to represent Baldoni at WME (you know, before they dropped him like a hot potato), is basically saying Blake was allegedly trying to muscle her way into taking over the film. But here’s where it gets spicy: Lively’s spokesperson fired back HARD, telling TMZ that “the court already dismissed their so-called ‘taking over a movie’ claim” and that this cherry-picked deposition quote from Baldoni’s prior agent “adds nothing new”.

Blake’s team went on to remind everyone that the court’s dismissal even assumed their allegations were true for the sake of argument and still held that they don’t amount to a valid claim under the law. OUCH! That’s what we call a legal drag, honey!

But wait, there’s more! Lively’s makeup artist Vivian Baker said in her deposition that the incidents characterized as inappropriate all occurred during the first phase of filming, and Blake’s talent agent Warren Zavala also backed that up when he said he was not aware of any incidents that made Lively uncomfortable during the second phase of filming.

So basically, according to Blake’s team, all the alleged harassment happened early on, which contradicts the narrative that she was some diva trying to hijack the film later. The plot thickens!

How Did We Even Get Here? A Quick Recap

Let’s rewind to where this all started. In December 2024, Blake Lively filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the film, which he also directed.

The allegations were SERIOUS, y’all. Lively’s complaint described being subject to “nude videos or images of women,” mentions of “pornography addiction,” discussions about sex, descriptions of genitalia, and personal physical touching or sexual comments. If you just said “YIKES” out loud, same.

But Justin Baldoni wasn’t about to take that lying down. Baldoni countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds of defamation and extortion. FOUR. HUNDRED. MILLION. DOLLARS. That’s not just a lawsuit, that’s a declaration of war!

The Judge’s Ruling: A Major Win for Blake

Here’s where things get interesting. On June 9, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s defamation and extortion suit, finding Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment “legally protected” due to being part of a legal proceeding and thus immune from a lawsuit.

Let’s break down what that means in plain English: The judge basically said, “Nice try, Justin, but you can’t sue someone for defamation just because they filed sexual harassment claims against you in a legal complaint.” That’s the whole POINT of legal protection for victims who speak up!

Judge Liman also stated that Leslie Sloane, Lively’s publicist, did not defame Baldoni in her dealings with Daily Mail, finding that Sloane likewise relied on Lively’s account. So Blake’s team wasn’t making stuff up or running a smear campaign, they were literally just telling Blake’s side of the story based on what she told them happened. That’s kind of how publicists work?

The New York Times Gets in on the Action 📰

Oh, and if you thought that was the end of it, think again! More than three months after Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation suit against Blake Lively, the New York Times, Ryan Reynolds and others was tossed out, the Gray Lady wants the It Ends With Us director to cough up some cash, around $150,000 in attorney’s fees, damages and more.

The New York Times published an explosive article detailing Blake’s allegations and the alleged smear campaign against her, and Baldoni sued them for it. But now that his lawsuit has been dismissed, the newspaper is basically saying, “Pay up for wasting our time with a baseless lawsuit!”

The NYT filed a complaint “to recover costs, fees and expenses incurred,” seeking “compensatory and punitive damages against plaintiffs who, like Wayfarer, commence or continue meritless legal claims for the purpose of ‘harassing, intimidating, punishing or otherwise maliciously inhibiting the free exercise of speech'”.

Translation: Don’t sue journalists for doing their jobs, or you’ll pay for it. Literally.

Blake Wants Millions Too!

And Blake isn’t stopping there. In a motion filed in September, Lively’s attorneys argued that she should be awarded multiple millions of dollars to cover her attorneys’ fees and costs. Why? Because she’s invoking a California law that provides immunity from defamation lawsuits to accusers who have a “reasonable basis” to file a sexual harassment complaint, and do so “without malice,” that is, without knowing the claim to be false.

In a statement, Lively’s spokesperson said that the Baldoni team’s effort to sue her “into oblivion” will backfire, noting that “Ms. Lively is not alone in facing a retaliatory defamation suit after speaking out about harassment at work”. PREACH!

The spokesperson continued: “That is precisely why California enacted AB 933: to make clear that survivors are protected when they speak up, and that those who weaponize the legal system to silence them will be held accountable, not just for attorneys’ fees, but for treble damages and punitive damages as well”.

In other words: Justin, you tried it, but Blake is coming for that bag!

Even His Insurance Company is Suing Him!

As if things couldn’t get worse for Baldoni, the company providing liability insurance to Justin Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios filed a lawsuit against them in federal court, saying that its policies don’t cover the claims asserted by Blake Lively in her sexual harassment lawsuit.

Wait, WHAT? Your own insurance company is suing you?! That’s like your lawyer firing you as a client. It’s BAD, y’all.

Harco National Insurance Company is seeking a declaration that its two policies issued to Wayfarer were signed after “Lively and others complained of sexual harassment during pre-production and production of the Film,” as early as May 2023, outside the time parameters of the policy.

So basically, the insurance company is saying, “You knew about these complaints BEFORE you got insurance from us, which means we don’t have to cover you now.” That’s like trying to buy car insurance after you’ve already crashed your car. It doesn’t work that way, Justin!

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