Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us saga has thickened with the latest 163-page amended complaint from the camp of Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. This is in reply to Baldoni’s amended complaint, filed earlier, alleging The New York Times’ collusion with Lively to vilify his reputation, citing the metadata.
Lively’s complaint, though expansive, presents more of the same case with a few exceptions. The filings also place publicist Jade Wallace as another defendant, adding him next to Baldoni, Jamie Heath, Jennifer Abel, Melissa Nathan, and Steve Sarowitz. Notably, though Wallace was left out of the Gossip Girl alum’s original lawsuit, he was named in her CRD complaint, for which he sued her for defamation.
The second major revelation addressed in the Lively/Reynolds party raises the intensity of alleged sexual misconduct on the part of Baldoni. It explicitly alleges that more women — names or quantity withheld — were on the receiving end of the Jane the Virgin filmmaker’s behavior. It claims that the alleged victims “have given Ms. Lively permission to share their communications” to help corroborate their claims.
The lawsuit further alleges that Sony, the powerhouse studio that funded Wayfarer Studio’s production, even confronted Baldoni following hers and others’ complaints, ensuing Baldoni to reach out to “one of the other women” to assure he would “make adjustments.” It then alleges that Baldoni instead recruited the services of a “crisis management team, digital manipulation experts, litigators” to silence the victims. The complaint continues to remind of the “smear campaign.” It even cites it as a reason other women Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath made uncomfortable on set “confided in Blake” out of fear of public hatred.
The alleged campaign to traduce the A Simple Favor actress’ reputation by retaliating in a public manner has been the focal point of Lively’s lawsuit — even overshadowing the supposed sexual misconduct — pertaining the online admonishing she has received ever since her story became public.
Referring to the actor-director’s counter-case, it argues, “Mr. Baldoni’s social combat plan has resulted in the viral spread of hateful, threatening, and derogatory harassment.” It also frivolously suggests that Baldoni’s actions are “all apparently in service of protecting Wayfarer’s image.”
Additionally, Lively’s amended claim states her attorneys are documenting “how much of his billions” Steve Sarowitz, the co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, has spent. Regarding the intimacy coordinator, Lively says her denying a meeting with one should not make one unavailable during shooting. As for Baldoni’s claims of Lively taking over ‘It Ends With Us,’ it retaliates, noting Wayfarer had “no shame in reveling in a movie,” citing its box office success.
The complaint also takes shots at Baldoni’s image as a male feminist, calling him out for not supporting women of sexual harassment — including Lively herself. While Blake Lively’s allegations remain to be addressed, it’s only natural that Justin Baldoni — or any defendant — will not simply jeopardize his chance of salvation by supporting his own accuser.
