Every Counterclaim About Blake Lively in Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit Against the ‘New York Times’

On Sunday, Justin Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, warned of forthcoming legal action levied at his former co-star, Blake Lively, and legacy media, that would “expose those who believe themselves untouchable.” By Tuesday (New Year's Eve), it arrived to the tune of a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times in response to the newspaper's Dec. 22 report, "We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine." The NYT's 4,000-word story alleged that Baldoni had not only sexually harassed his co-star during the production of It Ends With Us, but participated in the orchestration of a smear campaign against her along with his publicists, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel.

Baldoni's 87-page suit (in which Nathan and Abel are also listed as plaintiffs) was filed on the same day Lively filed a formal suit against him, Nathan and Abel, and his film studio, Wayfarer, for mental pain and anguish, severe emotional distress, and lost wages. In it, Lively accuses Baldoni of varying instances of misconduct that include initiating conversations with her about past sexual encounters in which consent wasn't ensured, fat-shaming, repeatedly violating her privacy, and attempting to "destroy" her career. "As a direct, foreseeable, and proximate result of this unlawful discriminatory conduct" by the defendants, Lively claims that she "suffered, and continues to suffer, substantial damages."

In his filing, Baldoni accuses the NYT of "quietly working in concert with Lively’s team for weeks or months. "The Times relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives," the filing reads. "Given the breadth of the Article and the coordinated 'drop,' it is readily apparent that the Times had been quietly working in concert with Lively’s team for weeks or months. The Times participated actively in the legal maneuvering at the heart of Lively’s strategy."

In the suit, Baldoni addresses many of Lively’s accusations and counters them with his version of events, alongside what he claims to be text messages that were either omitted or presented without context in the Times report.

Some of the most notable allegations include:

Text Exchanges Presented "As Purported Evidence"

Baldoni's lawsuit states that the NYT left out communications he had with Nathan and Abel that were presented as "purported evidence" of a smear campaign against Lively. Had they been published in full, the filing claims, they would've challenged the narrative that's been alleged. The suit includes the text exchanges that Baldoni's attorneys claim the NYT presented as incontrovertible proof that Nathan and Abel were planting negative stories about Lively.

In one noteworthy back-and-forth, Abel appears to congratulate Nathan on a story speculating about Lively being "canceled." However, the suit says the NYT didn't include the use of an upside-down smiley face and a line that preceded the text, which Baldoni's filing claims indicates that Nathan wasn't serious.

“Damn this is unfair because it’s also not me,” she appeared to write in the omitted message.

"Lively deliberately excluded not only the preceding screenshot of the text exchange disproving Nathan’s involvement in the story, but also the '????' emoji, which fundamentally alters the sarcastic tone of Abel’s message and misleads the reader into interpreting her response as serious," the filing reads. 

The suit also includes multiple text exchanges between Baldoni's PR team that appear as though they're making light of Lively's negative press, but not taking responsibility for it. With regard to one Daily Mail story about Lively's use of a slur for transgender people, Nathan allegedly wrote: "This just ran—obviously, none of us knew about this either. But once media goes in, they go in." In another exchange regarding a Perez Hilton article, it appears that Nathan replied: "It's organic she's blown herself up by her own actions." Another text exchange between the team shows one unidentified member sharing an article with the headline: "Blake Lively FEARING for her career amid It Ends with Us backlash." Another unidentified member allegedly replied: "God I'm so over this—am sure Leslie [Sloane, Lively's publicist] thinks we planted this one as well."

Lively Allegedly "Set The Tone" During Production

One of Lively's most shocking claims against Baldoni includes the director entering her trailer without her consent as she was breastfeeding. In his filing, a text exchange that appears to show Lively inviting him to her trailer to run lines is included in the refutation of her accusation.

“I'm just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines,” Lively allegedly wrote to Baldoni. He then appears to reply: "Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way." Baldoni's suit claims that this was one of the many examples of him following the "tone" set by Lively. Additionally, in Lively's filing, she alleged that Baldoni described her character’s clothes as “sexy.” However, Baldoni's complaint alleges that it was Lively who first used the word while referring to her character's clothes. In one text message that allegedly sees them discussing wardrobe options, Lively appeared to write: “Will show you both ways but beanie is much sexier."

“Lively set the tone, a tone that Baldoni respectfully heeded during the creative process,” his suit reads.

The Jamey Heath of It All

Jamey Heath, the CEO of Wayfarer, is repeatedly named in Lively's complaint. In it, she alleges she was subjected to an informal and inappropriate meeting with Heath when she tried to raise concerns about Baldoni's behavior. He’s alleged to have shown up unannounced at her hair and makeup trailer while she was “topless and having body makeup removed by makeup artists.” When Lively asked if they could meet when she was clothed, Heath “insisted that if she didn’t allow him into her trailer to speak to him at that moment, then there would be no meeting with the other producers.”

“A few minutes into the conversation, Ms. Lively noticed that Mr. Heath was staring directly at her while she was topless,” the filing claims. “When she called him out, Mr. Heath brushed it off as a habit of wanting to look at a person while speaking to them. Ms. Lively and her hair and makeup artists were all deeply disturbed by this interaction on just the second day of filming.”

Meanwhile, Baldoni's filing claims she wasn't topless, but rather "having makeup removed from her collar bone while fully-covered." When Heath allegedly asked if he, a female producer, and Baldoni should return later, Lively said no and offered to meet with them after the makeup was removed.

"Roughly two weeks later Lively announced that she thought she had seen Heath make eye contact with her," the filing reads. "Heath immediately apologized and said he hadn’t even realized he looked her way." Lively allegedly then remarked, “I know you weren’t trying to cop a look.”

Also alleged in Lively's filing was Heath's inappropriate disclosure of his wife's birthing video which she described as "pornographic." Baldoni's complaint insisted that it was shown to Lively as part of a creative discussion regarding the birthing scene.

"To distort this benign event into an act of sexual misconduct is outrageous and emblematic of the lengths to which Lively and her collaborators are willing to go to defame Plaintiffs," the filing reads.

Lively "Refused" To Meet With An Intimacy Coordinator

Another text message alleged to have been omitted by the Times is Lively's apparent claim that she didn't want to meet with the intimacy coordinator hired by Baldoni and Wayfarer. In her complaint, Lively allegedly objected to sex scenes she felt were "gratuitous." In Baldoni's, he claims that he and Wayfarer “agreed to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator,” but that she "refused" to meet with the intimacy coordinator prior to production.

“I feel good. I can meet her when we start :) thank you though!” Lively appeared to write in a text message.

"Baldoni, in turn, was forced to meet with the intimacy coordinator alone and relay any suggestions to Lively separately," his filing reads. "Not withstanding Baldoni’s reluctance, he and Lively would later sketch out the scenes together, absent the intimacy coordinator. As part of those creative discussions, Baldoni and Lively sought to personalize and develop their characters and, in doing so, engaged in conversation about their individual experiences."

Where Lively's complaint included the allegation that Baldoni discussed his sex life during production, Baldoni cited a conversation that included personal commentary but was prompted by “notes from the intimacy coordinator [that] included a suggestion that perhaps ‘Ryle’ [played by Baldoni] chooses not to orgasm after he satisfied Lily [played by Lively]” in a script. According to Baldoni, Lively left a note that said: "I’d be mortified if that happened to me." In an alleged attempt to "connect and develop their characters," Baldoni wrote back: "I’m not sure about you but those have been some of the most beautiful moments with [my wife] and I.’”

Ryan Reynolds Allegedly "Berated" Baldoni For "Fat-shaming" Lively

Within his complaint, Baldoni alleged that he and a group of the It Ends With Us producers were called to a meeting at Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds' New York City apartment in January 2024, one day prior to when production would resume after the industry guild strikes ended. Per Lively's complaint, the meeting was allegedly called to address the "hostile work environment." In Baldoni's suit, he claims Reynolds "berated" Baldoni for "fat-shaming" his wife, though any inquiry about her weight was a misunderstanding.

By Baldoni's account, he asked a trainer "how much Lively weighed" out of concern for his "back issues" and was concerned about injuring himself for a scene where his character lifts hers. The trainer "relayed this information to Lively," who then told Reynolds.

"Lively threatened to quit the production altogether, despite her contractual obligations. Lively gave Baldoni an ultimatum: to either cast someone else or work with her in the way she works. It was her way or the highway," Baldoni alleged in the filing. As for Reynolds, he allegedly "launched into a tirade, berating Baldoni in what Baldoni later described as a 'traumatic' encounter, stating he had 'never been spoken to like that in his life.'"

Also included in his suit is a text message that shows Baldoni in the hospital for an alleged spine infection post-production.

"Spine infection. Pretty serious. Great drs and caught it early," he wrote in a group text message with editors entitled "dream team."

Another allegation waged specifically at Reynolds is that he "demanded" Baldoni's agent at William Morris Endeavor (WME) to drop him as a client at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere in July 2024. Reynolds and Lively are both represented by WME.

Since Baldoni's filing has made news, representatives for Lively, the NYT, and WME, the talent agency that parted ways with him following Lively's claims, have all issued statements.

“In Baldoni’s filing, there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. This is not true,” WME said. "Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client."

A spokesperson for the Times responded to the claims of journalistic malpractice saying: "Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article."

Finally, Lively's attorneys addressed the action, saying—in part—that "nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint."

“While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety," their statement to Deadline read. "We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court."