Justin Baldoni 'texts' published as actor reportedly dropped by management
Justin Baldoni has reportedly been dropped by his management, following Blake Lively's legal complaint accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of their 2024 film, It Ends With Us. The Hollywood Reporter stated the 40-year-old was previously represented by WME agency - the same firm Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds belong to.
The legal complaint claims Baldoni, who also directed the film adaptation, created a hostile environment, and co-ordinated a smear campaign to destroy Lively's reputation. The New York Times has since published a legal document containing alleged text messages exchanged between Baldoni, Jennifer Abel, of PR firm RWA Communications and Melissa Nathan, of The Agency Group PR, which reportedly document the "multi-tiered" plan. It was reported Lively obtained these texts and emails through a subpoena.
Some of these messages are alleged to include:
A publicist and Baldoni wrote to crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan: "He wants to feel like she can be buried." To which Nathan replied, "You know we can bury anyone."
Baldoni asked Abel: "What is the TikTok strategy? I'd like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestic violence and clips and why this movie is so important."
Abel told Nathan she was "having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with."
Baldoni flagged a viral social media thread to Abel that accused a different celebrity of bullying. He wrote alongside: "This is what we would need."
Nathan proposed hiring contractors to orchestrate "full social account takedowns," by launching "threads of theories" to change the narrative. Nathan added that "all of this will be most importantly untraceable."
Following the initial lawsuit, Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, denied the accusations. Calling the claims "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious," he accused Lively of having intentions to "publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."
Freedman also said: "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real-time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions."
Cosmopolitan UK has contacted respective representatives for Baldoni and lively for comment.
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