Federal action comes hours after film’s director sued New York Times for libel over story about Lively’s accusations
The actor Blake Lively has sued the director of It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni, and several others associated with the film, alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation for coming forward about her treatment on the set.
The federal lawsuit was filed in New York on Tuesday, hours after Baldoni and many of the other defendants in Lively’s suit sued the New York Times for libel for its story on her allegations, saying the newspaper and the star were the ones conducting a coordinated smear campaign.
Lively’s suit alleges that Baldoni, the film’s production company Wayfarer Studios and others engaged in “a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out”. She accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation after a meeting in which she and her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni and a producer, Jamey Heath, who is also named in both lawsuits.
The plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively, the suit alleges.
The alleged mistreatment on set included comments from Baldoni on the bodies of Lively and other women on the set. The suit also alleges Baldoni and Heath “discussed their personal sexual experiences and previous porn addiction, and tried to pressure Ms Lively to reveal details about her intimate life”.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lively’s lawsuit, but he has previously called the same allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious”.
Lively’s lawsuit comes on the same day that Baldoni and others filed their libel lawsuit against the New York Times in Los Angeles superior court seeking at least $250m (£200m) in damages. The paper said it stood by its reporting and planned to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit.
Others who are defendants in Lively’s suit and plaintiffs in the libel suit include the Wayfarer and crisis communications expert Melissa Nathan, whose alleged text message was quoted in the headline of the 21 December story which read: “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
