Nearly a week after Blake Lively accused her co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment and launched a public smear campaign against her, Baldoni’s lawyer says the actor/director has his own answers. Intend to give.
NBC News In an interview that aired Thursday, Jan. 2, attorney Brian Friedman was asked if his client plans to sue Lively, and he said, “Absolutely … yes.”
“We intend to release every single text message between the two of them,” Friedman told NBC News. “We want the truth to come out. We want the documents to be out there. We want people to make their own decisions based on the receipts.”
Although Friedman did not specify when Baldoni’s countersuit would be filed, a person familiar with the suit said it would be filed “soon.”
It will address Lively’s complaints from Dec. 20, in which she said she suffered “grief, fear, shock and extreme anxiety” as a result of Baldoni’s alleged actions during recording and promotion. It ends with us..
According to Lively’s complaint, he asked her questions about her personal sex life, showed her sexual photos and videos, and tried to include intimate moments in the film that she did not initially consent to. was given
Additionally, she asserted that Baldoni, her publicist Jennifer Abel, and Melissa Nathan of crisis agency TAG PR attempted to “destroy” her reputation by working with the media and manipulating social media.
Baldoni sued for defamation. The New York Times on Tuesday, December 31, after publishing an article titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside the Hollywood Smear Machine” on December 21.
According to the lawsuit, the newspaper piece about Lively’s lawsuit and behind-the-scenes issues It ends with us. “Contains “cherry-picked” and altered communications out of necessary context and intentionally set aside to mislead.”
The New York Times defended its article in response to Baldoni’s lawsuit, calling it “carefully and responsibly reported.”
shared with Lively in a statement The New York Timesshe said, “I hope my legal action will help expose these nefarious retaliatory tactics to harm those who speak out about abuse and help protect those who are targeted.” can be made.”
In an exclusive interview with the outlet on Dec. 29, Friedman said Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively would constitute a “deliberate pursuit of the truth.”
“This lawsuit will expose and debunk the false and destructive narrative that was deliberately created by a credible media publication that relied on dubious sources and facts to confirm the authenticity of these texts. had bypassed the full vetting process,” he said at the time.