The lawsuit was filed in New York shortly after Baldoni and other defendants named in Lively’s lawsuit countered with a libel lawsuit against “The New York Times.” They claimed that both the newspaper and Lively were engaged in a joint effort to smear their reputation.
These legal battles mark significant developments in a story that stemmed from the success of the movie, sparking discussions in Hollywood about the treatment of actresses, both on and off the set.
Blake Lively rose to prominence following her role in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and further solidified her fame through her portrayal in the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012.
She has since starred in films including The Town and The Shallows.
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy Jane the Virgin, directed the 2019 film Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity.
He responded to concerns that It Ends With Us romanticised domestic violence, telling the AP at the time that critics were “absolutely entitled to that opinion.”
He 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.
Baldoni’s attorney, Freedman, said in a statement on the libel suit that “the New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites.”
“In doing so, they pre-determined the outcome of their story, and 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,” he added.
