Justin Baldoni Sues NYT for $250M Over Blake Lively Harassment Claims
In his $250 million counter-lawsuit filed against the New York Times, for backing Blake Lively’s sexual harassment allegations story, Justin Baldoni reportedly exposed the alleged text messages from the former, to dispute her claims.
According to the details, the alleged chat between Lively and Baldoni, obtained by a foreign publication, shows her involvement in the creative process of designing her character’s wardrobe for their film, where she reportedly asked for ‘sexier’ clothing.
“When Baldoni later used the word ‘sexy,’ he was just responding to her creative input, not objectifying her personally. Lively set the tone that Baldoni heeded during the creative process,” his lawsuit stated.
Blake Lively publicly ‘humiliated’ Justin Baldoni, family
Baldoni’s legal team also contested Lively’s claims of unscripted and unplanned intimate scenes, with the text messages confirming the presence of an intimacy coordinator on the set, adding that the ‘Gossip Girl’ alum delayed meeting them until the filming began.
“Both [producer Jamey] Heath and Baldoni have children and are comfortable around breastfeeding mothers, and Lively seemed equally comfortable,” his lawyers stated further. “As revealed in a text message exchange between Baldoni and Lively, less than two weeks into filming, Lively invited Baldoni to her trailer to rehearse lines while she was pumping breast milk.”
It is worth noting here that Blake Lively first sued ‘It Ends With Us’ director Baldoni in the California Civil Rights Commission, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign. She alleged that her co-star attempted to tarnish her image after he called up a meeting in which she brought along her actor husband, Reynolds, to address ‘repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior’ by the director and a producer on the set of the Box Office hit.
In her second lawsuit with the New York federal court, Lively leveled allegations of ‘severe emotional distress and pain, humiliation, embarrassment, belittlement, frustration, and mental anguish’ against Baldoni, and demanded he pay punitive and compensatory damages.
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