Today, in shocking news that we're sure will shock us: Justin Baldoni's lawyer is claiming that a planned countersuit against Blake Lively will "shock everyone," a group that does, in fact, contain us. (Also: Everyone.) Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, was talking to Deadline about a recent Daily Mail article contending that a Baldoni counter-suit against Lively—who lodged a complaint against her It Ends With Us director and co-star a week ago, accusing him of both sexual harassment, and a post-harassment smear campaign in the press—will be arriving as a sort of post-New Year's legal hangover. Freedman refused to confirm the exact timing of any forthcoming litigation, but did say that, "When we file our first lawsuit, it is going to shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative."
Lively's team, meanwhile, has already made a pre-emptive move to address some of the claims expected to pop up in the suit, with Vision PR's Leslie Sloane issuing a statement denying any (as-yet-unmade, at least in a legal sense) allegations that she planted her own stories in the press about HR complaints on the film's set. Instead, Sloane says, "I was contacted on 8/11 by Sara Nathan (Melissa Nathan’s sister) forwarding an anonymous tip that Page Six received, regarding allegations of HR complaints on the set of It Ends With Us. After that, I was contacted by various press outlets asking about allegations of HR complaints. When contacted, I responded to press questions by referring them to Wayfarer or Sony for information regarding HR complaints." The bit about Sara Nathan feels especially pointed—the New York Post editor is, as noted, the sister of Melissa Nathan, one of the PR people named in Lively's complaint, and whose text messages (including implying she was able to get stories about Lively planted with friendly sources in the press) make up a large part of the complaint.
Baldoni has already felt a fair amount of heat in the aftermath of Lively's complaint, which was filed with the California Civil Rights department. He was dropped by his agency basically immediately after news of the filing broke, has had many members of the film's cast come out in strong support of Lively, is being sued by some of his former PR reps, and even had a women's solidarity award revoked, all in a single week.
