Baldoni had previously accused his ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star, along with her publicist Leslie Sloane and husband Ryan Reynolds, of waging a crusade to smear his name and usurp control of the movie.
Lively’s legal representatives have now issued a rebuttal to these accusations.
In comments provided to The Mirror US, her attorneys stated: “This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook.
“This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.”
The team representing Lively has laid accusations at the doorstep of Wayfarer, co-founded by Baldoni, for purportedly shifting the blame onto M.S. Lively.
Her attorneys allege that Wayfarer has falsely charged Lively with hijacking creative direction and alienating the ensemble cast from Mr. Baldoni.
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They added: “Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In essence, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser concentrates on the victim. The tactic of attacking the woman is desperate, does not counter the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and is doomed to fail.”
According to documents obtained by The Mirror US, Baldoni’s lawsuit claims Lively is trying to paint him as the real-life antagonist to divert attention from her own “tone-deaf” actions during the film’s promotional activities.
This legal action follows Lively’s previous accusations of sexual harassment against Baldoni, where she also alleged he exhibited “disturbing behavior” and fostered a “hostile work environment” on set.
The court filings suggest that Lively believes Baldoni and his team initiated a smear campaign against her prior to her allegations.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, previously stated to The Mirror US: “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.
“It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret.”
Freedman added: “Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth. Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power. Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”
Daily Express US and The Mirror US has reached out to Baldoni’s attorney for additional comments as well as Sloane and Reynolds’ legal representatives.
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