Justin Baldoni Files $250M Libel Lawsuit Against NYT Over Blake Lively Report

Justin Baldoni, director and star of the hit Hollywood drama “It Ends With Us,” is suing The New York Times for $250 million for an article he says is “rife with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and omissions.”

The actor has been engaged in a bitter legal battle with actress Blake Lively, his co-star in the movie, following the publication of a 4,000 word NYT article titled, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” which was published on December 21. The article details Lively’s complaints about Baldoni on set, ranging from sexual harassment to retaliation and attempting to “destroy” her reputation.

Lively sued Baldoni, who responded with a counter-lawsuit claiming he was the real victim. Now, the director is suing The New York Times for allegedly omitting details from the article to make him look guilty.

Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency, WME, following the publication of the article, per Variety. The same agency represents Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

“Lively’s cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative,” Baldoni’s lawsuit says. “Simultaneously, her public image suffered as a result of a series of high-profile blunders, which she tried to deflect by blaming Plaintiffs for the public’s prying interest into the foibles of an A-list celebrity. This is nothing but an excuse. Fame is a double-edged sword, but Lively’s tactics here are unconscionable.”

The suit accuses the NYT of failing to exhibit “journalistic integrity” because the article’s writers “relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”

One example is the widely reported story of Baldoni entering Lively’s trailer uninvited. The director’s lawsuit includes a full text exchange from June 2, 2023, in which Lively discusses new script pages she had not received from her assistant. She wrote to Baldoni, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.” 

Baldoni replied, “Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way.” 

The NYT wrote of that interaction, “[Baldoni] repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.”

A spokesperson for the outlet told CNN that they will “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in a statement Tuesday. 

“Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well.”