BLAKE Lively could win an eight-figure sum and save her reputation after filing a ‘strong’ lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, an expert has claimed.
The actress, 37, is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment, aiding and abetting harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.
Lively played the lead role of Lily Bloom in the movie, released this year, and was also a producer, while Baldoni directed and portrayed her love interest, Ryle Kincaid.
The movie focused on domestic violence and featured sexual scenes.
Lively alleges in her lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, that Baldoni, 40, showed her naked videos and images of other women and discussed his alleged previous porn addiction, among a litany of complaints.
She claims after she raised her concerns about a “hostile work environment,” Baldoni and others set out to destroy her reputation and hired a crisis management team.
The complaint already features leaked text messages allegedly between Baldoni’s publicist and a crisis management expert.
After filing the lawsuit, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman branded it “shameful” and claimed it was “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious, with an intent to publicly hurt.”
The U.S. Sun spoke to attorney Camron Dowlatshahi, partner at MSD Lawyers, who feels Lively has a very strong case against her former employer, and could walk away with millions of dollars.
He said, “It’s absolutely reputation-related. She has, between her and her husband, all the money in the world.
It’s rare to have this much evidence from a third party pre-filing.”
Attorney Camron Dowlatshahi from MS Lawyers
“I don’t think this is a money issue. I think this was her needing to change the narrative, and already it has.
“Already it’s had positive effects for her reputation, and I expect that it will continue for her.
It Ends With Us star Justin Balboni acted ‘chauvonistic’ & ‘dismissed’ Blake Lively’s input in ‘tense atmosphere’ on set
“You know, 99 percent of cases settle in advance of trial.
“These type of cases, though, I will say are the outliers.
“So with Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard, because there’s so many emotions, and there’s money on both sides … they’re willing to really litigate it to the fullest. So I wouldn’t be shocked if that happened here.
“In terms of settlement, I mean, obviously you’re looking in the seven figures into the eight figures potentially.”
He predicted, “This is just the start. We haven’t even gone through the discovery process. I’m sure there’s more text messages to be had.”
Asked how Lively’s team managed to get hold of the texts so quickly in the court process, Dowlatshahi said, “It’s absolutely skilled lawyering.
“Blake Lively’s attorneys came up with a very targeted strategy of subpoenaing records through a kind of not very commonly used statute, is likely how they went about it.”
He added that it’s rare to have this much evidence from a third party pre-filing, and doesn’t look good for Baldoni, who has already been dropped by his talent agency, WME.
“It’s already having pretty serious consequences on his career. Having WME drop you is obviously a huge issue.
“They did so because obviously Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are huge clients and they have to take care of their bigger clients, but the allegations are very serious and the evidence is strong.
“So he’s going to have to come up with a strong, targeted campaign and with legal defenses to back it up, to essentially revive his career because it’s looking like it’s dead.”
‘ALL-HANDS MEETING’
The complaint claims Lively attended an “all-hands” meeting with Baldoni and others in January 2024 to discuss the “hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the film.”
Her husband, Reynolds, was also in attendance.
Lively alleges to have asked for “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing outside the scope of the script approved when signing onto the project.”
The lawsuit names six other defendants, including Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath and its cofounder Steve Sarowitz.
“Ms. Lively never sought out conflict with Wayfarer, Ms. Baldoni, or Mr. Heath, but instead consistently attempted to speak up for a safe and respectful workplace privately in the hopes of protecting herself, as well as the cast and crew, without jeopardizing a film that she believed could make a difference in people’s lives,” the complaint alleges.
“In response, Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, and those working for them, sought to destroy Ms. Lively and anyone else who knew the truth.”
Inside Blake and Justin’s fued
Rumors about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni not seeing eye-to-eye began earlier this year during the promotional tour for their movie, It Ends With Us.
The film had a budget of around $25 million and was a box office hit, grossing a worldwide total of $351 million.
But despite its success, Lively and Baldoni were hardly seen together during the promo tour.
Internet sleuths noticed the pair didn’t follow each other on social media, and many of the cast only followed Lively.
TMZ then alleged that they fell out over “fat-shaming”, and Baldoni supposedly kissing for too long during scenes.
Baldoni hired a crisis management firm before reports began to emerge of Lively not being nice to interviewers and she was slammed for ‘tone-deaf’ comments about the movie.
The film was released on Netflix days before Lively filed her lawsuit, which includes texts between Baldoni’s publicist and a crisis management expert.
Lively’s team claims they were obtained through a subpoena, and one alleges Baldoni wanted the actress’s career to “be buried.”
Asked what he feels the next steps will be for the lawsuit, Dowlatshahi said, “I would certainly expect him [Baldoni] and his team to circle up and think about potential claims, absolutely, to go on the offensive, and to release some evidence that could be potentially helpful for him in order to change the narrative because so much of this is about the PR.”
Colleen Hoover, the author behind the best-selling book ”It Ends With Us” has also spoken out following the claims.
In a post shared online, Hoover said Lively had been “nothing but honest, kind, supportive, and patient since the day we met.”
The author added: ‘”Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
Dowlatshahi went on, “I’m sure it was very difficult for her [Lively] to bring on this lawsuit.
“This is not something that I think she took on lightly. This is her personal life on paper. What she experienced for many many months on paper documented.
“There’s going to be discovery. She’s going to be deposed. She had to have known that by filing.
“So this is a lot of work for her, taking attention away from her other endeavors.
“So she had to have taken this very, very seriously. She had to have been very, very harmed.”
