Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman alleges in a statement obtained by PEOPLE that Lively also made ‘threats to take over’ their movie ‘It Ends with Us’
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Justin Baldoni’s lawyer is doubling down on his legal battle with Blake Lively.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Tuesday, Jan. 7, the It Ends with Us director’s attorney Bryan Freedman says, “It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when,” he claims, “her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending The New York Times grossly edited documents prior to even filing the complaint.”
“We are releasing all of the evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie,” Freedman adds, alleging, “None of this will come as a surprise because consistent with her past behavior Blake Lively used other people to communicate those threats and bully her way to get whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more.”
Freedman’s statement comes as Lively — who starred alongside Baldoni, 40, in It Ends with Us — filed a lawsuit against the star and others, including Baldoni’s producing partners and publicists, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.
On Monday, Jan. 6, Lively’s legal team told PEOPLE that her “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation,” first lodged in a California complaint on Dec. 20, 2024, are “backed by concrete facts.”
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“This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” her lawyers’ statement read. “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.”
The attorneys’ statement continued, “Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry.”
“A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied,” they wrote. “Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.”
“Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively’s legal claims,” Lively’s legal team added. “We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”
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In her initial filing, Lively, 37, claimed Baldoni — who directed, produced and starred in It Ends with Us — exhibited “disturbing” and “unprofessional” behavior that led to a “hostile work environment.”
The actress’s complaint includes accusations that Baldoni and another producer entered her trailer “uninvited” while she was undressed or “vulnerable,” alleges Baldoni “suddenly” pressured her to “simulate full nudity” in a birth scene and “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved.”
On Dec. 31, Baldoni also filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times over the newspaper’s Dec. 21 article about Lively’s complaint, alleging it was the actress “who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”
In a previous statement to PEOPLE, Freedman alleged that Lively’s complaint was filed to “fix her negative reputation.” The attorney has also called her claims “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.”
