Trigger Warning: This article contains references to sexual harassment.
The legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively is unlikely to end anytime soon. Two weeks after the Green Lantern actress filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Baldoni’s lawyer revealed that they are “soon” planning to file a counter lawsuit.
The actor’s attorney Bryan Freedman was asked during his NBC News interview whether they plan to sue Lively and he responded by saying, “Absolutely, yes.” Although Freedman didn’t give specifics of their lawsuit, he said they’d file it “soon” “We plan to release every single text message between the two of them. We want the truth to be out there,” he added.
He revealed that they plan to put all documents out there for people to make judgments after looking at all the receipts. As reported by People magazine, apart from Baldoni the plaintiffs will also include his production company, Wayfarer Studios, and his publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan.
Baldoni and Lively’s rift was being discussed ever during the promotions of their film which the former was hardly a part of. Eagle-eyed fans also noticed that the Jane The Virgin actor didn’t walk the premiere red carpet which was graced by the rest of the cast.
The actor recently filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times in which he alleged that Lively tried to ban his and his family’s attendance at the premiere to “undermine” his role as director, executive producer, and actor in the film.
He also alleged that the actress reluctantly agreed after significant pressure but different arrangements were organized for him and his close ones. The Wayfarer team and their families, including Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath, were allegedly segregated from the main cast and were kept confined in a makeshift holding area in the basement.
This came after Lively filed a lawsuit claiming that Baldoni behaved inappropriately on the set of their film and allegedly passed lewd remarks about her post-partum weight. In retaliation, the Five Feet Apart director claimed that her husband Ryan Reynolds allegedly “aggressively berated” for fat-shaming Lively, in the middle of an in-home work meeting.
Disclaimer: If you need support or know someone who is struggling with domestic violence or assault or abuse, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist, NGO or speak to someone about it. There are several helplines available for the same.
