Blake Lively has amended her sexual harassment lawsuit against her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, now alleging defamation and claiming two other actresses were also made “uncomfortable” by him on the “toxic set.”
The amendment, filed late Tuesday, is an update to Lively’s Dec 31 lawsuit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer associates, publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and crisis consultant Jed Wallace, who earlier this month filed his own defamation lawsuit against the Gossip Girl star, 37.
Lively in December accused Baldoni and other defendants of orchestrating a retaliatory smear campaign after she made sexual harassment complaints against the Jane The Virgin alum, 41. Those claims were spotlit in a New York Times article, for which Baldoni accused the outlet of libel in a US$250mil lawsuit.
Baldoni last month filed a US$400mil lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane, accusing them of defamation and civil extortion. Baldoni claims Lively’s accusations stem from her alleged attempts to take over the film.
“The Defendants’ false narrative crumbles under the indisputable truth that Ms. Lively was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni and raised her concerns as they arose in 2023, not in connection with some imagined power play for control of the Film in 2024,” reads the amendment.
“Mr. Baldoni acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time,” the complaint continued. “He knew that women other than Ms. Lively also were uncomfortable and had complained about his behavior.”
The new filing says such “unwelcome behavior” was reported to one of the producers as well as Ange Giannetti, who works for the film’s distributor, Sony Pictures.
Baldoni responded “in writing” to one of the accusers, according to the filing, which says Baldoni acknowledged in his letter “that he was aware of her concerns, and that adjustments would be made.”
After Lively outlined a set of protections required before production resumed following the 2023 Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes, she assured a female cast member, “You don’t need to hug anyone. … He won’t touch you. Or shouldn’t. I don’t think or Jamey [Heath] will.”
The amendment also provides further detail on Baldoni’s alleged “pivot” from the previously agreed upon marketing plan and claims this was done “in an effort to explain why many of the Film’s cast and crew had unfollowed Mr. Baldoni on social media and were not appearing with him in public.”
Wayfarer co-founder and billionaire backer Steve Sarowitz allegedly told one individual that if Lively or Reynolds, 48, “ever cross the line, ever, then I will go after them.
“I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I’m done. … Not dead, but ‘you’re dead to me,'” Sarowitz allegedly said. “Dead to a lot of people. … I’m gonna spend a lot of money to make sure the studio is protected.”
A representative for Lively told People the new filing shows “other women confided in Blake about their discomfort and fear of coming forward, and their concern about the current public vitriol.”
The dueling lawsuits are currently slated to head to trial in March 2026. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
