Blake Lively says her kids are 'traumatized' by ongoing drama with Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively claimed that her ongoing legal drama with Justin Baldoni has been affecting her family emotionally, saying that her four children have been “traumatized” by it.
In new court documents obtained by international outlets like Page Six and US Weekly, the 37-year-old actress detailed how her feud with Baldoni has been taking a toll on her family.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” her lawyers claim, adding that there were days that the Gossip Girl actress “struggled to get out of bed, and she frequently chooses not to venture outside in public.”
The documents also stated that her children, James, 10, Inez, 8, Betty, 5, and Olin, 2, have been “traumatized and emotionally uprooted in ways that have substantially impacted their well-being.”
Her camp also claimed that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, has been affected “mentally, physically, and professionally by his wife’s and children’s pain.”
Lively has “fought to maintain her personal life and business interests” amid the feud, it said.
“Behind closed doors, she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety. She also has been experiencing repeated and painful physical symptoms as a result of this experience,” the documents claim.
Prior to this, Lively said in her amended complaint that she “was not alone” in experiencing on-set misconduct, saying two other actresses had their "own uncomfortable experiences" with Baldoni or Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios.
Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's legal counsel, slammed the new claims, saying the amended complaint is “filled with unsubstantial hearsay” and “lack of actual evidence,” according to a report by PEOPLE Magazine.
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 (PhP14.5 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.
