A Summary of Justin Baldoni’s $250M Lawsuit Against NY Times
It definitely didn’t end with them! The Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni feud continues with Baldoni filing a lawsuit against The New York Times for its “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” article posted on December 21, 2024.
As reported by People, the 87-page complaint filed by Baldoni, including his Wayfarer Studios and other plaintiffs, is suing the Times for “libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract.”
The lawsuit acknowledged several points in the article posted by the Times.
Intimacy Coordinator
Lively complained about Baldoni wanting to add sex scenes that “she considered gratuitous.” Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios seemed to counter this by stating they “agreed to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator” even before production started but Lively was allegedly not in a hurry to meet with her and sent a text saying, “I feel good. I can meet her when we start 🙂 thank you though!” per Variety.
Justin Baldoni’s Uninvited Visits to Blake Lively’s Trailer
Another complaint that Lively had with her It Ends With Us director and co-star is that he and his producing partnerJamey Heath, “entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.” Justin Baldoni set the record straight with text messages allegedly from Lively inviting him to her trailer, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines,” per CNN.
Non-pornographic Video of Heath’s Wife
Lively also alleged that Heath showed her a naked video of his wife. In Baldoni’s lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the plaintiffs argued that the video Heath showed was a “nonpornographic recording of his wife giving birth.” The video was shown to Lively “as part of a creative discussion in preparation for a birthing scene in the movie.”
Banned from His Own Film
Us Weekly reported that Lively supposedly prevented Baldoni from attending the movie’s premiere. According to the lawsuit, “Further undermining Baldoni’s role, Lively initially refused to permit his attendance at the Film’s premiere. Only after significant pressure did she reluctantly agree to allow Baldoni and the Wayfarer team to attend, but under humiliating conditions.”
The lawsuit continues, “The Wayfarer team and their families, including Baldoni and [producer Jamey] Heath, were segregated from the main cast, barred from the exclusive after-party, and forced to organize their own event at additional cost.”
Unauthorized Changes in the Script
In an interview with E! News (per USA Today), Lively mentioned that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrote the rooftop scene in the movie, and she mentioned, “Nobody knows that but you now … We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his. I mean, he’s all over this film.”
In his filing, Baldoni cited that “This was also the first time Plaintiffs learned that Reynolds – who had no formal role in the Film’s production – made unauthorized changes to the script in secret.”
Even the movie’s screenwriter, Christy Hall, told People she wasn’t aware of Reynolds’ participation.
