Los Angeles, California - Shortly after Blake Lively sued her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, the latter has now filed a lawsuit of his own.

Baldoni (40) is accusing The New York Times of fraud and breach of an implied contract and is demanding $250 million in damages, as reported by Variety.

An article published by The New York Times on December 22 detailed Lively's (37) accusations of sexual harassment by Baldoni and revealed an alleged smear campaign conducted by his team to destroy her reputation after she voiced her concerns.

In his 87-page statement of claim, Baldoni accused the newspaper of deliberately defaming him and blamed it for his subsequent firing from the WME talent agency just hours after the article was published.

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The Times article featured a number of disturbing claims about Baldoni's behavior, including an accusation that he entered Lively's trailer on set without warning when she was undressed.

The Jane the Virgin star now claims that Lively had known about his visit and had asked him to come over to work on texts together.

Baldoni's lawsuit also states that Lively was the one to conduct a "strategic and manipulative" smear campaign by sharing her accusations of sexual harassment.

Lively's husband, actor Ryan Reynolds (48), was also named in the lawsuit, as Baldoni accuses him of pressuring WME to drop Baldoni as early as last June.

However, a representative for the agency denied these allegations, stating that neither Lively nor Reynolds exerted any pressure on them.

A spokesperson for the New York Times has also defended the reporting, stating that it was the job of an independent news organization to "follow facts where they lead" and that the story had been "meticulously and responsibly" researched.

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"To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article, and their representatives have not pointed to a single error," the spokesperson added.

The Times announced that it would "vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit.