‘Lively’s team was responsible for smears against Baldoni, not the other way round’: Justin Baldoni prepares his own counter-suit to start 2025

The professional-turned-legal friction between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively wears on, with Baldoni reportedly preparing to file a countersuit to welcome the new year.

To catch everyone up — for those just starting to follow this escalating debacle as it gains momentum both in pop culture discourse and courtroom halls — it all began when Baldoni directed and co-starred with Lively in the 2024 hit It Ends With Us, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s book about breaking the cycle of gender-based abuse. The book’s themes were already relevant during a fraught election period where women’s rights were a major issue, but completely blew up during the film’s promotional tour.

Fans began noticing Lively and the rest of the cast were avoiding Baldoni on red carpets and interviews, immediately setting off the rumor mill as everyone began to pick sides. Later, after a Cold War between the two, Lively’s lawyers filed a bombshell complaint alleging Baldoni’s sexual harassment on set and a subsequent PR smear campaign against her.

The lawsuit led to the near-instant collapse of Baldoni’s well-crafted reputation as an ally for women’s causes. Since Lively went public with her allegations, her co-stars — both past and present — have voiced their support, WME has dropped Baldoni as a client, and he has even been stripped of the Voices of Solidarity award he had previously received for his supposed “courage and compassion in advocating for women.” Now, according to the Daily Mail, Baldoni is planning his own countersuit to reveal what his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, is calling “the true story.”

Baldoni’s camp claims Lively “started it”

Baldoni’s planned countersuit promises to bring forth “real evidence” that it was, in fact, Lively and her Vision PR team who initiated a smear campaign against him, not the other way around. His legal team alleges that the WhatsApp messages presented, in which Baldoni’s team appeared to discuss how they could “bury anyone,” were taken out of context. Additionally, they argue that Lively’s primary goal was to rehabilitate her public image, and she was willing to cast Baldoni in a negative light to achieve that.

Despite these claims, the countersuit reportedly does not directly deny the most pressing concern for the public: the egregious sexual harassment allegations Lively has made against Baldoni.

The Daily Mail source questioned how someone as powerful as Blake Lively, with a well-connected husband like Ryan Reynolds, could have been sexually harassed on set and waited months to file a complaint. In Lively’s lawsuit, she claims to have made several complaints throughout the filming of It Ends With Us against Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath for violating physical boundaries and making inappropriate comments. She also recounts having expressed concerns even prior to production due to certain sex scenes the director wanted to include in the film. Still, it is true she only went the civil law route after all else allegedly failed.

The source further alleged that Baldoni’s unusual personality — namely claims that he could communicate with the dead, including Lively’s late father — might have rubbed her the wrong way but assured that no harassment occurred. Instead, they claim Lively “weaponized” Baldoni’s spiritual nature in her legal complaint.

It is also worth noting that Deadline reported Blake Lively’s 80-page legal complaint mentions the Daily Mail numerous times as a venue where parties have attempted to settle their scores through the press. 

From the public’s perspective, it’s nearly impossible to grasp just how powerful PR teams in Hollywood are or to fully understand the ethics governing their use. This particular case seems poised to expose those inner workings, potentially prompting the establishment of new rules. This case is clearly still developing, and updates will undoubtedly continue to emerge as the year progresses.