The drama surrounding Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively shows no signs of slowing down. The 40-year-old is now facing legal action from his former publicist, Steph Jones, who runs the public relations firm Jonesworks. According to reports from Variety, Jones is suing Baldoni for breaching their contract, which stipulated a monthly payment of $25,000 for her services.
Justin Baldoni sued by his former publicist
In August, the actor parted ways with Jonesworks following his publicist Jennifer Abel left the firm to start one of her own. Jones has accused her and publicist Melissa Nathan in her lawsuit as well where she has claimed that they deployed a “smear campaign” against Lively without her knowledge, as reported by The New York Post.
The lawsuit stated, “To this day, Abel and Nathan continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light, and to defame and attack Jones in the industry.”
On Sunday, the Gossip Girl filed a lawsuit against Baldoni where she accused the actor of sexually harassing her on the sets of their recent film, It Ends With Us. She also accused him of carrying out “a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation” following the movie’s release. In the legal paperwork, she mentioned that the alleged smear campaign caused severe damage to her business and brought “severe emotional distress” to her family.
Also Read: Justin Baldoni’s career is ‘dead’ as Blake Lively’s filing is ‘just the start’ of legal war: Report
Baldon’s response to Lively’s lawsuit
Once the lawsuit was publicised, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman revealed to The Post, “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”
Lively alleged in the suit that her co-star who was also the director of It Ends With Us made the set untenable. In the document she alleged that “things got so bad during filming, there was an all-hands-on-deck meeting to address what she claims was a hostile work environment.” As evidence of Baldoni and his allies’ smear campaign, she shared texts from her publicist in the documents which said the actor “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried.”
Freedman responded with: “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
