It Ends With Us star Justin Baldoni sues New York Times for libel over Blake Lively harassment allegations

1 January 2025, 10:34 | Updated: 2 January 2025, 14:47

Actor and director Justin Baldoni has sued The New York Times newspaper for libel after it published allegations that he had sexually harassed and tried to smear the reputation of his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $250m (£199m) in damages, was the latest in a legal battle that has engulfed the two stars. Lively has filed a separate federal lawsuit against Baldoni and others alleging harassment.

The Baldoni lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday by the director, 40, and by other defendants named in the Lively lawsuit.

It accuses The New York Times of accepting a "self-serving narrative" by the actress, 37, who claimed Baldoni, production company Wayfarer Studios and others attempted to damage her reputation after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, addressed "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour" by the actor and a producer on the set of the film.

According to Lively's complaint, the plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories that are critical of her.

But Baldoni's libel lawsuit claims The Times article, which was called 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, "disregard[s] an abundance of evidence" that contradicts Lively's accusations.

The Times has defended its reporting and said it plans to "vigorously defend" against the lawsuit.

In a statement, it said: "The role of an independent news organisation is to follow the facts where they lead.

"Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article."

Baldoni was dropped by his agency, WME, immediately after Lively filed her complaint and The Times published its story. The agency represents both Lively and Reynolds.

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer who represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives, previously called the accusations "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media".

He said on Wednesday that The Times had "aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalise Lively's self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public".

Lively is not a defendant in the libel lawsuit against the paper.

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In a statement, lawyers representing the actress said: "Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today."

It Ends With Us, which is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel, was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair at the time of its release in August.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centre stage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.

(c) Sky News 2025: It Ends With Us star Justin Baldoni sues New York Times for libel over Blake Lively harassment allegations