Blake Lively cites two other actresses to testify against Justin Baldoni
American actress Blake Lively said two other "prepared" actresses are prepared to testify against It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni amidst their legal drama.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lively filed an amended complaint on Tuesday night, citing the two other actresses who said they had their "own uncomfortable experiences" with Baldoni or Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios.
Although the suit does not name the two actresses due to cyberbullying and threats, Lively's spokesperson said they had given the actress permission to share their communications in the amended complaint.
Lively's lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb stated that Lively was not alone in raising allegations against Baldoni.
"Ms. Lively has filed an amended complaint today that provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims. That evidence includes previously undisclosed communications involving Ms. Lively, representatives of Sony and Wayfarer, and numerous other witnesses," they said.
They continued, "The complaint includes significant contemporaneous evidence that Ms. Lively was not alone in raising allegations of on-set misconduct more than a year before the film was edited; as well as evidence detailing the threats, harassment, and intimidation of not just Ms. Lively, but numerous innocent bystanders that have followed defendants' retaliatory campaign.
Last week, Lively filed a subpoena for Baldoni's phone records amid their legal drama.
As per her lawyer, Lively seeks to "expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to 'destroy' and 'bury' her reputation and family over the past year."
Subpoenas were sent to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for Baldoni, as well as to crisis public relations expert Melissa Nathan and publicist Jessica Abel to "expose the full web of lies" in the alleged smear campaign against her.
Lively's lawyers said the requested information could "provide critical and irrefutable evidence not only about who, but also about when, where, and how their retaliation plan came together and operated."
Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, told E! News that Lively is making an "extraordinary" request despite the parties reaching an "ordinary" point in the litigation process.
"They are asking for every single call, text, data log, and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient, or subject matter," Freedman is quoted as saying. "This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none."
Ongoing legal battle
The legal saga of Lively and Baldoni, who were co-stars in the movie adaptation of the novel It Ends With Us stemmed from her filing a sexual harassment complaint against him and Heath. She also accused them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction."
Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth.
Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child."
Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
The New York Times then published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. It used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails Lively obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
Baldoni's camp has called the accusations "categorically false."
Freedman said a crisis manager was hired ahead of the film's marketing campaign "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."
On Jan. 1, Baldoni filed a $250 million (P14.5 billion) lawsuit against the Times—plus 10 other plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel—for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract for its report.
The Times defended its article as "meticulously and responsibly reported."
Later, Baldoni's camp released a series of video takes during the production of It Ends with Us in an attempt to debunk Lively's sexual harassment allegations against him. It also announced plans to launch a website containing "all correspondence" with her and "relevant videos."
Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, in turn, requested a gag order.
On Feb. 3, Baldoni launched a website containing two documents: his $400 million (P23.4 billion) 224-page amended complaint against Lively and Reynolds and a 168-page "timeline of relevant events," which included a compilation of screenshots as an additional exhibit to his amended complaint.
It came two days before their first court hearing.
