Justin Baldoni’s Attorney Plans To Sue Blake Lively & Release Texts

In a recent interview, Freedman shared plans to release receipts of text messages between his client and Lively amid the latter’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni.

Freedman’s comments come three days after Baldoni filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, which published a report about Lively’s allegations against her costar.

During the interview, Freedman was asked if there was a coordinated smear campaign to bring down Lively, and he responded, “100% No.”

When asked if he had plans to sue the actress, Freedman replied, “Absolutely.”

The lawyer also revealed plans to reveal text messages between Lively and Baldoni.

He said, “We plan to release every single text message between the two of them. We want the truth to be out there. We want the documents to be out there. We want people to make their determination based on receipts.”

Freedman told E! News in a statement that the tabloid “cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative.”

In Baldoni’s lawsuit against the New York Times, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, he stated that the outlet did not “truly review the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained.”

Baldoni argued that if the tabloid had reviewed the communications correctly, “its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.”

The “It Ends with Us” director also argued that the newspaper made “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” allegations when it published Lively’s complaint.

Part of Baldoni’s lawsuit, which E! News obtained, reads, “This lawsuit seeks to hold the Times accountable for its role in this defamation campaign, but plaintiffs are not done. There are other bad actors involved, and make no mistake—this will not be the last lawsuit.”

On January 1, The New York Times responded to Baldoni’s lawsuit against them.

The outlet revealed plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

It added, “The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported.”

The publication also said its story was “based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents including text messages and emails,” which were quoted “accurately and at length in the article.”

When Lively filed her initial lawsuit against Baldoni, she did so with the California Civil Rights Department.

The lawsuit listed the defendants as Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer, publicist Jennifer Abel, colleague Jamey Heath, and “crisis management specialist” Melissa Nathan, among others.

On December 31, Lively filed a formal lawsuit against the listed defendants in the Southern District of New York.

The actress’s attorneys also spoke to E! News in response to Baldoni’s lawsuit against the New York Times.

Their statement reads, “Nothing in this [Baldoni’s] lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today.”

The statement continued, “While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and everyone of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”

Lively filed her original complaint against Baldoni earlier in December, claiming that he sexually harassed her on set.

Lively also claimed that Baldoni hired a PR team to damage her public reputation.

However, Baldoni, through his attorney, Freedman, denied Lively’s allegations and described her lawsuit as “false, outrageous and intentionally salacious,” and aimed at fixing “her negative reputation.”