Ryan Reynolds defends himself against Justin Baldoni’s allegation claiming he “aggressively” berated in a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times.
A source who was allegedly present at the purported in-house meeting — where Baldoni alleged the incident took place — told TMZ that the Deadpool & Wolverine actor was “angry and stern” but never yelled at Baldoni.
According to the lawsuit filed by Jane The Virgin actor, Reynolds shouted at him for allegedly “fat-shaming” Blake Lively during It Ends With Us filming. This came in retaliation for Lively’s complaint that she filed with the California Civil Rights Department which alleged that Bladoni made comments about her postpartum weight.
TMZ further claimed that the Five Feet Apart director was not “blindsided” by the discussion that allegedly took place at the couple’s New York City penthouse. In the lawsuit, he claimed that he was invited to their home for a meeting about production but was shocked after the “traumatic encounter.”
The outlet also claimed that everyone present at the alleged meeting knew that Baldoni would be called out for his behavior. The source also denied his claim in the court docs that the “inappropriate and humiliating berating” occurred “as other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse.”
Baldoni sued the Times alongside his crisis manager, Melissa Nathan, his publicist, Jennifer Abel, and seven other plaintiffs in retaliation to Lively’s sexual harassment and smear campaign lawsuit against him and his production company Wayfarer Studios.
Some of the alleged charges were sexual harassment, loss of wages, emotional distress, breach of contract, and initiating a smear campaign against her. However, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman denied all allegations in a statement claiming that the lawsuit was made in an attempt to “fix” her tarnished reputation.
In a statement to the New York Times, Blake Lively revealed why she decided to file the lawsuit against Baldoni, saying that she hoped her action would pull back the curtain on “these sinister retaliatory tactics” used to harm people who speak up about workplace misconduct.
