Just after the news broke that Blake Lively had filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment, a new report revealed private text messages, allegedly between Baldoni and his publicists.
The messages, included in Blake Lively's legal filing, seem to show Baldoni coordinating a PR campaign aimed at tarnishing Blake's reputation after she accused him of inappropriate behavior on set. The texts provide further insight into the tactics employed to discredit her, adding another layer of controversy to the ongoing legal battle.
The New York Times has revealed that Justin Baldoni reached out to Jennifer Abel, the head of public relations at his studio, Wayfarer, and together they enlisted crisis management expert Melissa Nathan to handle the situation. According to the NYT report, in May 2024, several months after filming had wrapped, Baldoni discovered that Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively's husband, had blocked him on Instagram.
In a text exchange with Abel, Baldoni said, "We should have a plan for IF she does the same when movie comes out. Plans make me feel more at ease." This exchange sheds light on Baldoni’s concerns about how the situation might unfold and his efforts to prepare for potential backlash once the film was released.
Abel forwarded this to Melissa Nathan, and wrote, "I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel like she can be buried."
To which Nathan replied, "We can’t write we will destroy her." Moments later, she continued, "Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone."
Days later, Baldoni reportedly sent Jennifer Abel a social media post highlighting a celebrity’s bullying behavior, stating that this was the approach he needed. According to the report, crisis manager Melissa Nathan then proposed plans to hire contractors who would manipulate social media by orchestrating "full social account take downs" and starting "threads of theories."
Nathan further suggested that "All of this will be most importantly untraceable " indicating a strategy designed to create a smear campaign while keeping the orchestrators' involvement hidden. This strategy emphasizes how the team intended to handle the PR crisis discreetly.
LAWSUIT AGAINST JUSTIN BALDONI
On December 21st, TMZ reported that Blake Lively had filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, her co-star from It Ends With Us. The lawsuit alleges a hostile work environment on set, including claims of sexual harassment and a coordinated attempt by Baldoni to damage Blake's reputation.
The lawsuit also outlined several demands due to Justin's alleged behavior, including prohibiting him from showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, refraining from discussing his supposed "pornography addiction," avoiding conversations about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, stopping any further mentions of cast and crew's genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake's weight, and halting any comments about Blake's late father.
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