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Justin Baldoni is reportedly preparing to file an “explosive” counter-complaint against Blake Lively after she accused him of sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends With Us” last week.
According to the Daily Mail, the actor and director is preparing to submit legal documents when the courts reopen after New Year’s Day.
“I am not going to speak to when or how many lawsuits we are filing but when we file our first lawsuit, it is going to shock everyone who has been manipulated into believing a demonstrably false narrative,” Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told Deadline Saturday.
“It will be supported by real evidence and tell the true story. In over 30 years of practicing, I have never seen this level of unethical behavior intentionally fueled through media manipulation.”
“It reminds me of what NBC tried to do to Megyn Kelly and Gabrielle Union and we all know how that ended up. Standby.”
Page Six reached out to Freedman for our own comment.
According to the Mail, the lawsuit will completely flip Lively’s narrative that Baldoni and his crisis PR team allegedly planted a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation. Instead, the complaint will accuse Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane of doing so to Baldoni.
Sloane commented on the report to Deadline Saturday and said, “It’s clear that Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer Associates are suggesting that I originated press stories about HR complaints on set, which is false.”
“Please read Ms. Lively’s Complaint and the Complaint filed by Jonesworks LLC and Stephanie Jones, which provides the details of the campaign against my client.”
Furthermore, the complaint will claim that texts obtained by Lively via a subpoena that seem to implicate his team discussing how to bury the star have been misrepresented.
His team also reportedly plans to claim that Lively only submitted the filing to help rebuild her reputation after she received negative press while promoting “It Ends With Us” over the summer.
The battle between the stars comes after rumors of a feud swirled all summer long as the pair separately promoted their movie. The gossip only became louder when Lively and Baldoni avoided each other at the film’s New York City premiere.
Lively has been publicly supported by those involved in “It Ends With Us,” including the novel’s writer, Colleen Hoover, and her co-star, Jenny Slate.
Meanwhile, Baldoni was reportedly dropped by his talent agency, WME, and sued by his former publicist following Lively’s legal complaint.
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