“Grateful to be with family”

Justin Baldoni was photographed for the first time since he sued Blake Lively, Ryan Reynoldsactress Leslie Sloane’s publicist and the couple’s advertising company Vision PR for $400 million. TMZ caught up with Baldoni at LAX on Friday and asked him how he was “holding up” in the middle of his It ends with us legal problems.

“I’m grateful to be with the family, man,” Baldoni responded.

The TMZ photographer then asked how he’s getting through this “difficult time.” Baldoni replied, “Oh man, we have great friends and family. And faith. Faith.”

Lively sued Baldoni two weeks ago for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation and more.

Attorney Bryan Freedman filed the lawsuit Jan. 16 in New York on behalf of Baldoni, of his company Wayfarer Studios, It ends with us co-producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan. All parties were named in Lively’s lawsuit, in which she accused Baldoni and Heath of misconduct on the set of the film and alleged that her publicists launched a smear campaign that ruined her reputation. They have denied all allegations and Freedman has been hinting at Thursday’s trial for weeks.

Lively’s legal team fired back in a statement Thursday evening and accused Baldoni of victim blaming.

According to the lawsuit obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, Lively ‘stole’ the Baldoni-directed film It ends with usand without her “self-inflicted media catastrophe she faced in August 2024, the public would likely have moved on and never known the truth about her.”

Some of the anecdotes included in the 179-page document will likely make headlines, including one high-profile name. Baldoni he alleged that he felt pressured by letting Lively rewrite a scene because of Taylor Swift and Reynolds. (Swift’s representative did not respond to Yahoo’s request for comment.)

The lawsuit claimed that Lively had never read Colleen Hoover’s best-seller. It ends with us and that she Googled the color of her character Lily’s hair. Lively reportedly didn’t want to meet with the film’s partner organization against domestic violence and embarked on a “tone-deaf” press tour. The lawsuit claimed Lively served the Los Angeles-based defendants “as they evacuated their homes amid devastating fires ravaging their city.”

Baldoni also responded to Lively’s claim in her complaint that he initiated “unchoreographed kissing scenes” and alleged that she was the initiator.

“While Lively now disputes any innocuous improvisation that Baldoni, like Ryle, might have engaged in while in character, Baldoni treated their on-camera relationship as professional; each playing their role, each doing their job,” can – we read in the trial. “If no one was supposed to improvise, Baldoni would have no way of knowing based on Lively’s own actions. Lively demonstrated, time and time again, that this was a normal and acceptable part of filming romantic scenes .”

This appears to be something that Lively’s legal team directly hit back at when they released the following statement to Yahoo on Thursday evening:

This latest lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and his associates is another chapter in the abusers’ playbook. This is an old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the attacker attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Refuse. Attack. Reverse delinquent victim.

Wayfarer has chosen to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch baseless lawsuits, and threaten legal action in order to prevent the public from understanding that what it is doing constitutes retaliation against allegations of sexual harassment.

They are attempting to shift the narrative toward Ms. Lively by falsely claiming she took creative control and steered the casting away from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the actors and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also demonstrate that Sony asked Ms. Lively to supervise Sony’s editing of the film, which they then selected for distribution and which was a resounding success.

Their response to the sexual harassment allegations: She wanted it, it’s her fault. Their rationale for why this happened to her: Look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.

Freedman released a statement on behalf of his clients after filing the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of unfalsified evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s disingenuous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team, and their respective companies by releasing grossly altered, unsubstantiated information to the media , new and falsified.” the lawyer told Yahoo on Thursday. “It is clear, given our complete willingness to provide all text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and that she will certainly regret it.

Freedman continued: “Blake Lively was either seriously misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth. Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit real victims of real harassment solely to improve her personal reputation, at the expense of those who have none. Let us not forget that Ms. Lively and her team attempted to destroy reputations and livelihoods for heinous and selfish reasons, by dangerously manipulating the media themselves, before even initiating actual legal action. truth, and now the public too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, the documents don’t lie.”

The group is suing Lively, Reynolds and Sloane for:

• false light invasion of privacy

• violation of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing

• intentional interference in contractual relations

• intentional interference with a potential economic advantage

• negligent interference with a potential economic advantage

Baldoni’s lawsuit claimed “this is not a case of celebrities sniping at each other in the press.”

“This is a case where two of the most powerful stars in the world wield their enormous power to steal an entire film from the hands of its director and production studio,” the complaint states.

Text messages were provided in an attempt to show that Lively and Baldoni had a “close” working relationship before filming.

Baldoni and Lively shared stories and photos from their lives, complained about family illnesses, and exchanged jokes and memes. Baldoni offered concern and support when Lively faced family health issues. They texted almost daily and friendly banter established a comfortable dynamic that under typical circumstances would have made it easier to work together,” the lawsuit states.

Baldoni argued that Lively attempted to assert creative control almost immediately and pointed out her wardrobe requirements that were not included in her contract.

“At one point, Lively insisted that his character ‘had money’ and could afford $5,000 shoes – despite being a young small business owner,” she said. he asserted.

“Baldoni and the studio reluctantly ceded full control to Lively over her wardrobe. This concession quickly proved regrettable,” the document states, noting to online reviews of paparazzi photos capturing Lively on set “wearing her hand-picked wardrobe”.

The document cited Lively’s “grossly distorted” version of the wardrobe conversation in her complaint. Baldoni denied her allegation that he had a “long outburst” but admitted that he “became briefly emotional during the conversation, but only in response to what he believed to be a genuine compliment from Lively, praising his work as a director and actor.

The lawsuit provided details of alleged pressure from Reynolds and a “megacelebrity friend” of the couple, believed to be Taylor Swift. (Text included in the document mentions “Taylor.”) Baldoni said he felt he had to “comply” and accept a rewritten scene from Lively. The scene in question it was the scene on the roofwhat Lively later said in a the interview was written by Reynolds.

Baldoni also hit back at Lively, who was allegedly fat-shaming. He admitted to texting his trainer, who he was introduced to through the actress, about his weight. However, he said it was for training purposes. Baldoni said he was then “summoned” to Lively and Reynolds’ penthouse in New York and that the Deadpool and Wolverine The star “swore at Baldoni.”

“How dare you ask about my wife’s weight? What’s wrong with you?” Reynolds allegedly said, according to the lawsuit.

“The confrontation between Reynolds and Lively was so aggressive that Baldoni felt he had no choice but to issue repeated (and completely unwarranted) apologies for what was a reasonable and good faith question to ask of his coach,” the lawsuit states. “Reynolds asked Baldoni to remove the scene entirely. Lively ultimately refused to perform the elevator scene, even after it was rehearsed with a body double.”

Baldoni said Lively was “outright lying about not having this scene” in her complaint.

“The only reason the scene wasn’t in the movie is because Lively and Reynolds made sure it was taken out of the movie. To accommodate Lively, Baldoni rewrote the scene with Lively, despite the fact that for creative reasons, this scene was important to him as a storyteller and director,” the lawsuit states.

“Lively had previously expressed concern about her postpartum figure, and Baldoni went out of his way to truly reassure her,” he adds. A text message from this exchange is included in the document.

The lawsuit also goes into detail about Sloane’s alleged attempt to defame Baldoni.

Updated January 16, 2025: This story was originally published on January 16, 2025 at 1:08 p.m. ET and has been updated to include new information from the trial.