Justin Baldoni shared a new website with a timeline of relevant events related to the case. Photo / Getty Images
Justin Baldoni shared a new website with a timeline of relevant events related to the case. Photo / Getty Images
Justin Baldoni has launched his own website to defend himself against Blake Lively’s accusations.
The 41-year-old actor and director is locked in a legal battle with Lively, 37, his co-star in It Ends With Us who has accused him of sexual harassment, and he shared anew website with a timeline of relevant events related to the case.
This comes after he amended his US$400 million ($718.78m) suit to accuse Lively of giving The New York Times, which published a detailed article on her claims, advance access to her sexual harassment complaint.
His attorney, Bryan Freedman, told DailyMail.com: “This fresh evidence corroborates what we knew all along, that due to purely egotistical reasons Ms Lively and her entire team colluded for months to destroy reputations through a complex web of lies, false accusations and the manipulation of illicitly received communications.
“The ongoing public interest in this case online has ironically shed light on the undeniable facts pertaining to The New York Times and how heavily Ms Lively and her representatives were not only deeply involved in the attempted takedown and smear campaign of Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and their teams but that they themselves initiated it.”
Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment last December. Photos / Getty Images
Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, had tried to block the launch of the website, with their attorney, Michael Gottlieb, claiming it was part of a campaign to “influence proceedings and the public perception” of the case with “inflammatory content”.
He said: “He further has made it clear that his priority is to ‘torpedo Blake Lively’s career for good’ by, among other things, creating a website to release strategically selected documents and communications between Ms Lively and Mr Baldoni.
“The planned website will release what Mr Freedman self-servingly proclaims will be ‘full unedited WhatsApp, text and email exchanges between Lively and Baldoni’, although neither the media nor public will have any way of knowing which communications Mr Freedman has selectively omitted from disclosure, including communications that Mr Freedman and his clients may have deleted.”
In December, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, after months of speculation about a falling out with him.
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on her legal filing that accused Baldoni of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her.
However, he hit back, suing the Times for defamation and accusing Lively and Reynolds of using their celebrity power to hijack his film.
