Blake Lively Slams Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit: ‘Another Chapter in the Abuser Playbook’

Blake Lively’s legal team is clapping back at Justin Baldoni’s $400 million “It Ends with Us” lawsuit.

Justin is suing Blake, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane, and the 179-page complaint, obtained by “Extra,” includes countless emails and texts between Blake and Justin. The docs accuse Blake and Ryan of extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy. Justin also alleges they tried to destroy his career with false allegations of sexual harassment.

Lively’s legal team responded with a statement obtained by “Extra” that says, “This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.

“Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.”

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The statement continues, “They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.

“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”

Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman also told “Extra” in a statement, “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media. It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret.”

The statement goes on, “Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth. Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power. Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”

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Justin’s lawsuit comes after Blake filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her on set. At the time, she stated, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

After The New York Times ran a story about the case and her claim that she was the victim of a smear campaign, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against the paper for libel.

The Times released a statement saying, “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

Blake responded by filing a lawsuit against Baldoni and his PR team for sexual harassment and “unconscionable” retaliation.