Los Angeles, California - Blake Lively's legal team has issued a scathing response to the $400 million lawsuit filed against her by her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni.

The 37-year-old Gossip Girl star, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloan were hit with the lawsuit on Thursday.

The lengthy filing accuses the trio of extortion and defamation, with Baldoni – who also directed It Ends With Us – claiming Lively took over control of the movie.

But Lively's team bashed the new lawsuit as an attempt to continue manipulating her in the wake of her allegations of sexual harassment against Baldoni, which she revealed in a lawsuit filed in December.

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"This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook," Lively's attorneys said in a statement. "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 legal team further denied Baldoni's claim that Lively "seized creative control" and said that the extended cast voluntarily distanced themselves from him due to their own poor experiences with him, not at Lively's request.

"In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim," the statement continued. "The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail."

Baldoni has also filed a lawsuit against The New York Times alleging fraud and breach of an implied contract over their article detailing Lively's accusations against him.

After coming forward with initial allegations, Lively received public support from her It End With Us co-star Brandon Sklenar and author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the novel the movie is based on.