The New York Times is suing actor Justin Baldoni’s production company for legal costs over a dropped $400 million defamation suit – piling on to a complex web of legal action between “It Ends With Us” co-stars Baldoni and Blake Lively.
The paper is seeking unspecified damages from Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios to cover the costs of a lawsuit he filed – that was later dismissed – alleging the New York Times, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds falsely accused him of a smear campaign and sexual harassment.
“The District Court’s opinion makes clear that Wayfarer and its affiliates both commenced and continued the lawsuit against The Times without a substantial basis in fact and law,” the Times said in a complaint filed Tuesday in New York state Supreme Court.
Bryan Freedman, an entertainment lawyer representing Baldoni and Wayfarer, told The Post: “Win, lose, or draw, we refuse to cave to power brokers even in the face of seemingly impossible odds.”
“If the current laws protect legacy media in this manner, perhaps it’s up to us to ignite that change,” he added.
It’s just the latest development in a dramatic legal battle between Baldoni and Lively.
The “Gossip Girl” star has accused him of sexual harassment – including sharing unwanted details of his sex life and porn addiction – during the filming of their romantic drama, which premiered in August 2024. She alleged Baldoni then orchestrated a smear campaign against her.
In its lawsuit this week, the New York Times – which last year published a detailed investigative report on Lively’s claims, as well as her full legal complaint – argued that its reporting is protected by New York’s fair report privilege.
The law protects news outlets from defamation cases over accurate reports on legal proceedings.
Statements made in those articles “were not plausibly made with actual malice,” the Times said.
Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer – which optioned the rights to adapt Colleen Hoover’s book “It Ends With Us” – initially filed a $250 million lawsuit accusing the New York Times of defamation.
It later wrapped the newspaper into a $400 million suit against Lively, Reynolds and Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane.
His lawsuits took aim at the Times’ reporting, as well as Lively’s claims, which she first reported to California’s Civil Rights Department in late 2024 and later filed in a New York lawsuit.
In Baldoni’s countersuit, he denied ever acting inappropriately during the filming of “It Ends With Us,” and claimed Lively engaged in much of the behavior she mentioned in her lawsuits.
US District Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s suit in June, arguing that the Times’ reporting on Lively’s legal complaint is protected by fair report privileges, and that Lively’s sexual harassment accusations are also legally protected.
A trial date for Lively’s lawsuit is tentatively set for March 9, 2026.
“It is clear from the district court’s opinion that the claims against The Times lacked any basis in fact or law,” the Times said in its lawsuit this week.
It argued that New York’s anti-SLAPP law – which is designed to block lawsuits stifling free speech – “requires that The Times be awarded its costs and attorney’s fees and such other compensatory damages as the court deems just and proper.”
