Justin Baldoni Allegedly Sought to Smear Blake Lively Online, Citing Hailey Bieber as a Model: Lawsuit Claims|
Actor and director Justin Baldoni allegedly proposed using a negative social media post about Hailey Bieber as a model for a retaliatory smear campaign against his co-star from the movie It Ends with Us, actress Blake Lively, a recently filed lawsuit claims.
Legal documents included in Lively’s sexual harassment complaint claim Baldoni exchanged private messages with PR executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, allegedly plotting a campaign intended to tarnish Lively’s reputation.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has firmly denied these accusations, calling them “false, outrageous, and intentionally inflammatory,” in a statement to PEOPLE on December 21.
According to one text quoted on August 4, Baldoni shared a screenshot of a social media post titled, “Hailey Bieber’s history of bullying many women,” and typed, “This is what we would need.” Abel reportedly replied with, *”Yes, I literally just spoke to Melissa about this. Focus on Reddit, TikTok, [Instagram].
The complaint also alleges Abel texted Nathan saying she was “tempted to \”plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with… Just to get ahead of it.\” Nathan allegedly agreed, saying she had a journalist contact *\”ready when we are.
The complaint states the following as Lively’s claims of severe emotional distress due to Baldoni’s behavior: “grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety,” affecting not only her but also her family.
It also shows measures that were discussed on set regarding safeguarding Lively, including no kissing scenes unless they were scripted, no touching unless scripted, and other sex scenes that were not in the original script.
Sony Pictures and Wayfarer Studios, for which Baldoni serves as co-chairman, are also named as defendants in the case.
According to the suit, the PR team Baldoni oversees “brainstormed and planned to: shift attention to Lively’s past worklife controversies and alleged misdeeds in the workplace by making news of figures like Leighton Meester, Anna Kendrick, and Ben Affleck.”.
In a statement to The New York Times, Lively said that she hoped her lawsuit would open up retaliatory tactics aimed at silencing whistleblowers who speak out against wrongdoing and protect others from suffering the same fate.
His lawyer declared that the claims are not true, and Wayfarer Studios only responded to media inquiries without initiating any smear tactics. He referred to the messages in the complaint as part of the standard public relations discussions, rather than evidence of malice.
