The 'Gossip Girl' alum, 37, (left) filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni in December. Photo: TNS
Blake Lively’s camp is claiming Justin Baldoni is “afraid to produce” the two years of phone records her team subpoenaed earlier last week as they search for more evidence of a smear campaign amid their never-ending legal battle.
The Gossip Girl alum, 37, filed a lawsuit against Baldoni in December, accusing her director and co-star of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us, followed by a campaign meant to ruin her public image.
Weeks later, Baldoni countersued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane for US$400mil, alleging civil extortion and defamation.
On Feb 12, attorneys for Lively subpoenaed Baldoni’s “complete call and text history,” location data and web browser records, as well as those of his associates, to prove the existence of the alleged astroturfing.
The move was slammed by Baldoni’s team in a memo sent Feb 14 to US District Judge Lewis J. Liman.
“It is hard to overstate how broad, invasive and atypical these subpoenas truly are,” attorney Mitchell Schuster reportedly wrote in the memo, according to People. “This is civil litigation, not a criminal prosecution, and the Lively Parties are not the FBI.”
Schuster added that the “media ploy” of such an extensive request is “wildly disproportionate to the needs of the case and unnecessarily invades the privacy of ... any other person with whom any of the targets have communicated with over a period of years.”
But according to Lively’s camp, Baldoni should have no problem handing over the records if he’s innocent of what he’s been accused of doing.
“If they have so many receipts, why are they so afraid to produce them?” a rep for the actress said in a statement, referring to Baldoni’s lawyers previously promising to release evidence that would show Lively’s “pattern of bullying.”
“Mr Baldoni and the Wayfarer (Studio) parties have already admitted that Ms. Lively raised concerns multiple times. They have admitted that they created a plan in case she ‘made her grievances public,’ in which they planned to plant stories suggesting Ms. Lively was a ‘bully’ and ‘weaponising feminism.’... Now they want to block the very discovery that would expose them,” the spokesperson told People. “If they didn’t do it, they would have nothing to hide.”
A trial for the duelling lawsuits is currently scheduled to begin March 9, 2026. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
