“Blake Lively Faces Controversy as Old Video Surfaces and Legal Issues Arise with Justin Baldoni”

In an unexpected turn of events, Blake Lively has declared a sense of vindication following a New York judge’s decision to dismiss the defamation aspect of Justin Baldoni’s $400m countersuit against her and Ryan Reynolds.

But the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal the ‘total victory’ that Lively’s legal team claimed is not as clear cut as it may seem.

While the defamation claim has been thrown out, Lively is not in the clear yet as she still faces accusations of breaching a contract and invading privacy in Baldoni’s revised legal action. Moreover, she is anticipated to encounter challenges in substantiating the allegations in her own lawsuit.

Similar to the unresolved non-defamation components of Baldoni’s countersuit, Lively’s $250m lawsuit is currently undergoing litigation, along with her efforts to seek reimbursement for expenses incurred.

As a result, the pressure is now on Lively’s team to prove her claims against her It Ends With Us costar and director.

And she has already hit a succession of snags – the most recent coming last week, when the same New York judge tossed the actress’s emotional distress claim after she refused to release her medical records to Baldoni’s team.

Blake Lively had a major victory today against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni as the judge threw out his $400M defamation suit, but that doesn’t mean its smooth sailing to victory for the actress

Lively will now have to back up her claims in her own $250million lawsuit against Baldoni. Meanwhile, his legal team is expected to appeal Judge Lewis Liman’s dismissal of the $400 million countersuit, signaling that the legal battle is far from over 

Other claims – including her bombshell accusation of sex harassment during the filming of a dancing scene – have also come under scrutiny. 

Lively, 37, had claimed Baldoni, 41, was able to nuzzle her neck and comment on the way she smelled without anyone else on set hearing because their microphones were switched off.

But footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail in January seemed to prove the opposite: not only were the microphones on, but the pair had spent most of the scene happily chatting about their respective spouses.

Worse still, the clearly audible conversation also revealed that the smell comment was actually about the scent of Lively’s fake tan – and that the conversation prompted laughter from both.

On top of that, the audio also revealed that the nuzzling was prompted by Lively herself, who is heard saying ‘heads together’ – with both actors then leaning their foreheads against each other.

Lively’s claims of a toxic work environment on set have also been called into question thanks to a voicemail note, also exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail.

In that, a groveling Baldoni was heard apologizing for not immediately making the changes she had asked for in a scene – and heaping praise on the actress and their work together. 

He went on: ‘I’m just excited to spend time with you, to be in your sphere, your presence and for us to share creative juices together, although that sounds terrible.

‘You and I have been trying to build a relationship which I think we’ve done successfully… I love being with people and being in somebody’s space and being face-to-face and I think that’s where I excel.

‘But I’ve definitely fallen short at times in our texts and voicemail exchanges because there’s so much to communicate and so much happening.

‘All I have to say is I’m really looking forward to spending time together and I believe that’s going to go a long way for our chemistry, which I believe is there. 

‘It’s been there from the start, so I was so damn excited when you agreed to do this film. I believe it comes from us both being so hard working and having a vision.

‘I’m excited to have a creative partner in that with you.’

Then comes the fact Lively’s claims Baldoni orchestrated a negative media campaign against her have also been called into question – thanks to her reliance on what his team have described as ‘doctored’ texts.

The exchanges between publicists who work for Baldoni, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, were taken proffered as evidence of a smear campaign.

But legal documents filed by Baldoni claim that they had been edited to remove context and were incomplete records of the conversation.