Justin Baldoni Drags ‘Aggressive’ Vengeful Ryan Reynolds Into Blake Lively Feud

The Director claims in a $250 millions suit that the ‘Deadpool’ star tried to have his agent drop him as a client. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Feud

Ryan Reynolds is caught up in a Hollywood legal battle involving Justin Baldoni and his wife, Blake Lively.

In an 87-page lawsuit submitted to the New York Times on New Year’s Eve, Baldoni claims that Reynolds “berated” him after he supposedly inquired about Lively’s weight before lifting her in a scene for the film It Ends With Us.

Baldoni’s lawsuit does not name Lively and Reynolds as defendants.

In the suit, Baldoni, who directed and produced the drama, claims that Reynolds later confronted him “aggressively,” accusing him of “fat shaming” his wife.

The lawsuit states, “Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, had aggressively berated Baldoni during a meeting at their penthouse in New York.”

The legal filing states, “The confrontation that followed was so aggressive that Baldoni felt compelled to offer repeated apologies,” and it also mentions that a producer from the movie, who was present at the meeting, remarked later that “in his 40-year career, he had never seen anyone speak to someone like that.”

Baldoni, along with nine other plaintiffs, including publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, has filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Times in response to a shocking story published on December 21, which alleged that a smear campaign was initiated to discredit Lively.

 

The newspaper is facing accusations of libel and invasion of privacy through false light.

The lawsuit challenges the Times’ assertion that Baldoni “repeatedly” entered Lively’s makeup trailer “uninvited while she was undressed, including during breastfeeding.”

It references a text exchange between Baldoni and Lively, suggesting the actress said: “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.”

Baldoni also claims that Reynolds spoke with his agent at a movie premiere and “demanded” that he be fired as a client. After the Times’ article was published, Baldoni was let go by the Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor, which also represents both Lively and Reynolds.

The Times defends its reporting, stating: “The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article, and their representatives have not pointed to a single error.”

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, stated to the Daily Beast that the Times “bowed to the demands of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood figures, ignoring journalistic standards and ethics that once defined the esteemed publication by using altered and manipulated texts and deliberately leaving out texts that contradict their preferred PR narrative. In doing so, they predetermined the outcome of their story and facilitated their own damaging PR smear campaign aimed at rehabilitating Lively’s self-inflicted struggling public image.”

On Tuesday, Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.

In a statement to the Daily Beast regarding the New York Times lawsuit, Blake Lively’s attorneys said: “This lawsuit does not alter the claims made in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint or her federal complaint, which was filed earlier today. The lawsuit is based on the clearly incorrect assumption that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was merely a tactic stemming from a decision “not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,” and that “litigation was never her ultimate goal.”

“As shown by the federal complaint submitted by Ms. Lively earlier today, that perspective on the Wayfarer lawsuit is inaccurate. While we will refrain from discussing this matter publicly, we encourage everyone to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in full. We are eager to address all of Wayfarer’s claims in court.”