Justin Baldoni’s company is suing Blake Lively for $400,000,000 as bizarre claims about her apparent on-set behavior have been revealed.

Blakely’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm, Vision PR, are also being sued by Baldoni’s team.

Baldoni is suing on on claims of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, as well as prospective economic advantage, negligent interference with prospective economic advantage and intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.

Justin Baldoni’s company is suing Blake Lively (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Vital Voices Global Partnership)

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, told UNILAD: “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.

“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.

“Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power.

“Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”

Lively filed her own lawsuit last month (Katie Jones/Beauty Inc via Getty Images)

Speculation mounted surrounding Baldoni and Lively’s alleged ‘friction’ on the set of 2024 movie It Ends With Us, while Lively also found herself being slammed online during the film’s press tour.

And last month, the Gossip Girl actor filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and ‘trying to destroy her reputation’ – accusations of which Baldoni’s team has branded ‘categorically false’.

Freedman has previously slammed the New York Times, saying: “It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to ‘uncover’ an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context – the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing.”

While the publication defended its story as ‘meticulously and responsibly reported’.

UNILAD has reached out to representatives for Wayfarer Studios, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for comment.

A voice message recorded by Justin Baldoni has been leaked amid the ongoing tensions between him and Blake Lively.

Baldoni and Lively starred in It Ends With Us together, and played on-screen couple Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid.

But ahead of the movie’s release last year, there were rumors that the two leads didn’t see eye-to-eye on set and that they’d fallen out with one another.

Justin Baldoni pictured on the set of It Ends With Us (Gotham/GC Images)

Fast forward to the It Ends With Us press tour, and Baldoni – who also directed the film – and Lively were seldom seen together, further sparking speculation that they weren’t on good terms.

Then, just days before Christmas, Gossip Girl alum Lively filed a bombshell lawsuit against her former co-star for sexual harassment.

She also claimed that he and his team launched a smear campaign against her.

Baldoni’s legal presentative, Bryan Freedman, has since branded her accusations as ‘completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media’.

It’s thought that Baldoni is poised to countersue Lively, which Freedman has insisted will ‘expose the truth’.

Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her co-star in the days leading up to Christmas (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

While he’s yet to file anything official against the actress, Baldoni is now suing The New York Times for $250 million, who broke the story about Lively’s suit against her It Ends With Us co-star.

The article featured claims about Baldoni, one allegation being that he had ‘repeatedly entered [Lively’s] makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding’.

Part of the Baldoni’s suit says: “The Times story relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”

The newspaper has expressed its intentions of defending itself against Baldoni’s allegations.

Now, as the actor – who shot to fame on Jane the Virgin – tries to rebuild is reputation, a voicenote that details the way he claims he was treated during the It Ends With Us premiere have been released.

Shared with The Megyn Kelly Show, Baldoni’s heard saying in the voice message: “On what could have been one of the most beautiful nights of my life career wise, I literally was sent to the basement with all my friends and family for over an hour because I wasn’t allowed to be seen, she didn’t want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast.”

It’s unclear who the ‘she’ Baldoni is referring to.

He further claimed: “We start laughing because of the ridiculousness of this whole thing.

“I was in the basement with the people that love me the most and we were all joyful and laughing cos none of that sh*t matters, none of it.”

UNILAD have approached representatives of Baldoni and Lively for comment.

A Simply Favor director Paul Feig has taken to social media to urge people to call out ‘total BS’ following claims the sequel was ‘shelved indefinitely’.

Last month, Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against co-star and director of It Ends with Us Justin Baldoni accusing him of sexual harassment and of allegedly being involved in a smear campaign against her.

And amid the controversy, it would appear another film has been dragged into the mix – 2018 release A Simple Favor starring Lively and Anna Kendrick.

A Twitter user called Eric B took to the platform yesterday (January 10) claiming: “BREAKING: Amazon shelves A Simple Favor 2 indefinitely.

“Despite glowing test screenings, Blake Lively’s refusal to promote – amid her messy legal battle with Justin Baldoni – and growing tensions with Anna Kendrick have derailed the sequel.

“Anna is furious. Paul Feig is disappointed. Hollywood is in shock. This isn’t just a movie – it’s an implosion.

“[…] Disclaimer: This thread is based on publicly available information, insider accounts, and research. If you share or reference any part of this, please provide proper credit. Acknowledgment is appreciated and expected.”

And Feig has since responded, not disappointed with any apparent shelving but more so with the rumors, tweeting: “This is total BS. Sorry.

“The movie is finished and coming out soon. Don’t believe anything you read on social media these days.”

Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni last month (Lionsgate)

Eric B continued: “Hi Paul, if my story is ‘false,’ could you clarify why Amazon hasn’t set a release date for a film that wrapped in April 2024? Why are there no promo plans yet? Saying ‘coming out soon’ doesn’t really address the delays or the concerns. Would love to hear more!”

To which the director hit back: “My friend, it’s called post production, which generally takes over half a year at least when you factor in editing, scoring, special effects, sound mixing, close captioning and all the technical quality control that has to be done.

“Our post schedule always had us finishing everything by mid-January. Movies don’t come out the second they’re finished because the studio spends the previous year deciding the best date to release it. We’ve always planned on something in the spring/summer of this year.

“That’s how movies work. I hope this helps.”

Paul Feig looking at the social media user’s claims (Lionsgate)

As another Twitter user resolved: “You said that with a lot more patience, grace and dignity than I would have mustered.”

Indeed, back in May 2024, Feig took to Twitter to celebrate A Simple Favor reaching the top spot on Netflix alongside announcing the production had just wrapped on the sequel in Italy for Prime Video, with the sequel anticipated for release in 2025.

UNILAD has contacted representatives for Paul Feig, Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick for comment.

Blake Lively’s legal team has emphasized the lawsuit against Justin Baldoni is not simply a ‘”feud” arising from “creative differences”‘.

Last month, Lively filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing It Ends with Us co-star and director Baldoni of sexual harassment and ‘trying to destroy her reputation’ – accusations of which Baldoni’s team has branded ‘categorically false’.

Since then, a voice message allegedly recorded by Baldoni has been leaked claiming he was ‘sent to the basement’ during the movie’s premiere.

The leaked recording

Shared with The Megyn Kelly Show, a voice – allegedly that of Baldoni – can be heard saying: “On what could have been one of the most beautiful nights of my life career wise, I literally was sent to the basement with all my friends and family for over an hour because I wasn’t allowed to be seen, she didn’t want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast.”

The voice does not name the person who referred to as ‘she’ in the recording, but continues: “We start laughing because of the ridiculousness of this whole thing.

“I was in the basement with the people that love me the most and we were all joyful and laughing cos none of that s**t matters, none of it.”

Amid the recording being shared publicly, Lively’s legal team issued a new statement.

A voice recording allegedly recorded by Justin Baldoni has been shared publicly (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)

Lively’s legal team’s response

In a statement shared with People, Lively’s legal team accuses Baldoni, his production studio Wayfarer Studios and associates of engaging in ‘unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing’ against Lively ‘for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set,’ adding ‘their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Lively since her filing’.

The statement emphasizes Lively’s ‘serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation’ are ‘backed by concrete facts’ and ‘this is not a “feud” arising from “creative differences” or a “he said/she said” situation’ and Lively’s team will ‘prove [this] in litigation’.

“Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry,” the statement continues. “A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied.”

Blake Lively’s team has released a new statement (ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)

Lively’s team note ‘another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender and suggest that the offender is actually the victim’.

The team warns: “These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.”

The statement resolves: “Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively’s legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”

UNILAD has contacted representatives for Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively for comment.