The two US actors are locked in a battle over happened on the set of their film, It Ends With Us.
Justin Baldoni ramps up Blake Lively feud with new website
BBC/GettyJustin Baldoni has published a website amid a battle over allegations of what happened on the set of his and Blake Lively’s film, It Ends With Us.
The website contains Baldoni’s amended complaint and a timeline of events related to the case.
The two stars played a couple in the hit film, which came out last year, but have since become embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal dispute.
Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 41, in December, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign. Baldoni is counter-suing Lively and her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, on claims of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.
Baldoni is also suing the New York Times for libel. Both parties strongly deny the claims.
A trial date has been set for the hearing of the claims between the stars.
The website was published on Saturday, and is called Lawsuit Info.
It contains two legal documents related to the case: Baldoni’s latest court filings against Lively and Reynolds, and a 168-page document entitled “timeline of relevant events” related to the dispute and the production of the film.
The latter includes alleged text message exchanges between him and Lively.
It comes after Baldoni amended his lawsuit, accusing Lively of giving the New York Times advance access to her civil rights complaint.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, told BBC News that Baldoni amended his lawsuit due “to the overwhelming amount of new proof that has come to light”.
“This fresh evidence corroborates what we knew all along, that due to purely egotistical reasons Ms Lively and her entire team colluded for months to destroy reputations through a complex web of lies, false accusations and the manipulation of illicitly received communications,” Freedman continued.
A New York Times spokesperson told BBC News that Baldoni’s legal filings were “rife with inaccuracies” about the newspaper, “including, for example, the bogus claim that The Times had early access to Ms Lively’s state civil rights complaint”.
They added that Baldoni’s lawyers were “[basing] their erroneous claim on postings by amateur internet sleuths, who, not surprisingly, are wrong”.
BBC News has reached out to Lively’s representatives for comment.
Last month, Baldoni released out-takes from a romantic scene in It Ends With Us, which he says is evidence that Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment are unfounded.
However, she responded by saying the footage of the pair filming a slow dance is “damning” and corroborates her claims.
It Ends With Us was released last summer, and became a TikTok sensation.
The film is based on a best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover. In it, Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Baldoni.
The 45-year-old author has said her inspiration was the domestic abuse endured by her mother.