Blake Lively is continuing her legal claims against Justin Baldoni, filing a federal lawsuit against the It Ends With Us star and director for “alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages,” per Us Weekly. He was not the only one named in the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Also named in the filing were Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. The lawsuit alleges the same claims as Lively’s legal complaint to the California Civil Rights Department that was filed on Dec. 20. In a statement to the media outlet, the actress’ legal team noted that they filed because “unfortunately, Ms. Lively’s decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks.”
“As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns,” the statement continued. “Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law.”
If you thought that was it for the last day of 2024, Baldoni also made legal moves to end the year. He is suing The New York Times for $250 million over their Dec. 21 story, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” per Variety. He, and nine other plaintiffs including Nathan, Abel, and producer Jamey Heath, are suing the media outlet for “libel and false light invasion of privacy.” They claim the article “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
The New York Times is defending its work, telling Variety that its “story was meticulously and responsibly reported” and 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.” The suit also drags in other players into the conversation, including Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds for allegedly reprimanding Baldoni at their Manhattan penthouse and accusing him “fat-shaming” Lively. High-powered talent agency WME was also named in the documents for allegedly caving into Reynolds’ pressure to drop Baldoni as a client over the summer. The agency dropped him on Dec. 21.
This legal battle will be a hotly contested Hollywood topic in 2025 and right now, both sides have drawn major lines in the sand.
Before you go, click here to see the most important celebrity lawsuits over the past 15 years.
