Less than a day after it was revealed that actor Blake Lively is suing It End’s With Us co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, a new report details an alleged personal altercation between Baldoni and his publicist. Text messages have been published. The messages filed as part of Blake Lively’s lawsuit reveal how Baldoni conducted a PR-driven smear campaign against Blake after she accused him of inappropriate behavior on the set of the film. ,Also read: Justin Baldoni kicked out by talent agency after Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit,
Alleged plan to ‘bury’ Blake Lively
new York Times reported how Justin Baldoni contacted Jennifer Abel, head of public relations for his studio, Wayfarer, and together, they brought in crisis management expert Melissa Nathan for the job. The NYT reports that in May 2024, a few months after filming ended, Baldoni realized that Blake’s husband Ryan Reynolds had blocked her on Instagram. “We should make a plan for whether she’ll do the same when the movie comes out,” he wrote of Lively in a text exchange that also included Jennifer Abel. “Plans make me feel more comfortable.”
Abel wrote to Melissa Nathan, telling him, “I think you guys need to be tough and show your strength in what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel as if he can be buried. Nathan replied cautiously, “We can’t write that we will destroy him.” However, a few moments later, he added, “Imagine that a document that says everything it wants falls into the wrong hands. You know we can bury anybody.
A few days later, Baldoni allegedly sent Abel a social media post about a celebrity’s bullying behavior, saying that this was what he needed. According to the report, Melissa Nathan proposed hiring contractors to dominate social media through a “complete social account take down” by starting a “thread of theories”. He added, “All of this will most importantly be unworkable.”
Blake Lively’s lawsuit
On Saturday, TMZ reported that Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni, with whom she starred on It End’s With Us. The lawsuit discussed a hostile work environment on the film set, which included sexual harassment, and a coordinated effort on Baldoni’s part to destroy Blake’s reputation.
The lawsuit also addressed the following demands due to Justin’s alleged conduct, including “not showing Blake nude videos or pictures of women, making no mention of Baldoni’s alleged past “addiction to pornography”, sexual conquests in front of Blake. And others, no more mention of the cast and crew’s genitals, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no more mention of Blake’s dead father.”
