Behind the $400M Lawsuit: What Sparked Justin Baldoni's Legal Battle

It's Us Who End It In a recent lawsuit, the director accuses a Hollywood power couple of attempting to "destroy" him by making false allegations.
 

In his lawsuit, Justin Baldoni accuses Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively of sabotaging the development of his successful summer 2024 film It Ends With Us and attempting to "destroy" him by using unfounded claims of sexual harassment.

The lawsuit was filed in the southern district of New York, and Baldoni and his publicists are suing the couple for $400 million in damages, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.

The 179-page complaint is the most recent in a bitter legal battle between the co-stars over the film's production and marketing, which is based on Colleen Hoover's best-selling book. The battle started when Lively complained to the California Civil Rights Commission about alleged sexual harassment by Baldoni during production and subsequent attempts to damage Lively's reputation through fake social media posts and false information.

Hollywood was rocked by the accusation and a later New York Times piece that included multiple text messages between Baldoni and his staff. Baldoni and his producing partner, Jamey Heath, vigorously denied the allegations.

Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni, Heath, and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel on December 31. She claimed that the group planned a covert slander operation to "bury" her reputation. A day later, Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, claiming that the publication had collaborated with Lively's team and had "cherry-picked" his text conversations out of context in order to disparage him. Bryan Freedman, his attorney, warned more lawsuits would come.

Baldoni's lawsuit against Lively states, "At bottom, this is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press." This case involves two of the world's most influential celebrities using their immense influence to snatch a whole movie from its director and production studio."

Additionally, the lawsuit asserts that "the jury will recognize that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will when Plaintiffs have their day in court."

With the argument that the complete text message and other communication record would demonstrate how Lively and her team distorted messages to present a distorted account of events, the new lawsuit essentially mirrors the defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.