Justin Baldoni hits Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds with $400 million defamation lawsuit!
New York, New York - Justin Baldoni has sued his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, following the heated fallout over Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit!
On Thursday, the 40-year-old director's attorney filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, plus their publicist Leslie Sloane, in the Southern District of New York.
According to People, Baldoni's team is accusing Lively of manipulation in order to gain control of It Ends With Us, which Baldoni directed along with starring as male lead Ryle.
His suit has claims of "civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing."
Additionally, the Five Feet Apart director blames Lively and Reynolds – who had no official involvement in It Ends With Us – for "intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage."
Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, accused Lively and her team of working to "destroy" the actor "by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media."
Justin Baldoni's claims Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds attempted to "destroy" him
Freedman noted, "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."
"Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth," he added.
Baldoni previously sued The New York Times for their article detailing Lively's claims of sexual harassment against him, with the investigation including numerous text messages, emails, and other forms of communication between his team.
The outlet quickly fired back to defend its reporting, with a spokesperson stating, "To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article, and their representatives have not pointed to a single error."
Baldoni has also accused Reynolds of "bullying" him through the character of Nicepool in the Marvel film Deadpool & Wolverine in response to Lively's sexual harassment filing and smear campaign allegations.
Cover photo: Collage: Cindy Ord / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & IMAGO / Everett Collection