Blake Lively is responding to her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni’s US$400mil (RM1.8bil) lawsuit against her and Ryan Reynolds, saying the action is an example of a tactic abuse experts have given the initialism “DARVO.”
Baldoni, 40, and Wayfarer Studios, the production company he co-owns, have filed the federal suit against Lively, Reynolds and the Gossip Girl alum’s publicist Leslie Sloane for multiple alleged offenses including civil extortion, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy.
Lively’s lawyers described the suit – which accuses her and Sloane of masterminding a smear campaign against Baldoni to gain control of It Ends With Us – as “another chapter in the abuser playbook,” according to a statement sent to People.
“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,” reads the statement. “This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.”
In Baldoni’s suit, he says 37-year-old Lively’s complaint – in which she accused Baldoni of on-set sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign – was Lively’s attempt to rehabilitate her image.
She faced a great deal of backlash over the summer for promoting It Ends With Us, which is about domestic violence, alongside her beverage and hair care lines.
Baldoni also claims Lively used the influence of her “dragons” Reynolds and best pal Taylor Swift to pressure him.
Lively’s team denies those allegations, saying Baldoni’s account is an example of “trying to shift the narrative” and that “attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”
Her lawyers said Baldoni and company are retaliating “against sexual harassment allegations” by using “the resources of (Wayfarer’s) billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand” the playing field.
Wayfarer is co-owned by Paylocity co-founder Steve Sarowitz, whose net worth is US$2.5bil (RM11.2bil) according to Forbes.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, insists the lawsuit is “based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence.”
Baldoni and Lively both filed lawsuits on New Year’s Eve. Baldoni accused The New York Times of libel when he sued for US$250mil (RM1.1bil) over their article about Lively’s allegations, in which he says they “cherry-picked” communications as evidence.
Lively, meanwhile, sued Baldoni and his associates for the alleged harassment and smear campaign.
Earlier this week, Freedman also demanded Disney hold onto communications about Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine character, Nicepool, which Baldoni says was a mockery of and attempt to “bully” him.
The crisis PR team hired by Baldoni, and also named in Lively’s complaint, reportedly worked with Johnny Depp.
Lively’s publicist, Sloane, started her firm Vision PR in 2014, at which time it was backed by Harvey Weinstein, three years before his downfall. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
