Blake Lively is seeking millions of dollars in damages and attorneys’ fees from her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni, over his since-dismissed “baseless” $400 million defamation lawsuit.
The “Gossip Girl” alum claimed in late 2024 that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of their film and launched a retaliatory smear campaign, both of which he denies.
On Monday, Lively filed a motion seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages from Baldoni under a California statute that makes privileged any “communication … regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination [including retaliation],” and “remedy the substantial harm” incurred amid the legal battle, according to court documents obtained by Variety.
Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios, which produced the film, “stoked the flames of public sentiment, posting their retaliatory lawsuit on a public website … to flood the zone with vicious character attacks on Ms. Lively designed to damage her credibility and to conceal their own unlawful acts” and “sue Ms. Lively into oblivion,’” reads the filing.
When tossing Baldoni’s countersuit against Lively in June — along with his $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times — Judge Lewis Liman “did not rule on whether Ms. Lively’s alleged statements were privileged” under the statute “or whether Ms. Lively acted with actual malice,” as Baldoni’s camp has claimed.
Liman did, however, permit Lively to “renew” her motion for the fees and damages under the statute.
Lively’s lawsuit is heading to trial in March.
