‘I Had Repeated, Negative Interactions’

As Blake Lively works to recover millions in attorneys’ fees and costs after successfully beating back Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against her, lawyers for the It Ends With Us actress have revealed the existence of a new witness who claims Baldoni was “verbally abusive” and purportedly banned from another project’s set.

“This person also had concerns with Mr. Baldoni, who they found to be verbally abusive, which resulted in him not being allowed on the set of the other project or involved in its marketing or publicity,” Lively’s lawyers wrote in a new court filing obtained by Rolling Stone. The lawyers did not identify the other accuser or the project, but they attached a highly redacted declaration from the individual.

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“I had repeated, negative interactions with Mr. Baldoni and his associates, including verbal abuse by Mr. Baldoni,” the person wrote in the declaration signed last week and filed Monday. They claimed a request was made that “Mr. Baldoni not be permitted on set during the majority of production as a result of those experiences.”

The new declaration appears to corroborate Lively’s still-pending harassment claims against Baldoni. Lively, 38, previously sued Baldoni, 41, and Wayfarer Studios with claims she suffered “disturbing” sexual harassment during production of It Ends With Us and was later subjected to a vicious smear campaign designed to “silence” her. A trial on Lively’s claims is set for March in Manhattan federal court. (Baldoni’s dueling defamation complaint against Lively was dismissed in June.)

A source tells Rolling Stone the declarant behind the new declaration likely will testify at trial. Under penalty of perjury, the individual claims they personally requested that Baldoni not be involved in marketing or public relations for the other project. They also claim an assistant to Steve Sarowitz, the co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, invited them to a meeting with Sarowitz. That portion of the declaration is almost entirely redacted. But according to the accompanying motion, the individual met with Sarowitz in August 2024 and had a dramatic interaction. Lively’s lawyers claim Sarowitz made a threatening comment about their client to the individual. They cite the alleged comment as evidence that the Wayfarer parties intended to retaliate and should not only be on the hook for legal fees related to their failed defamation lawsuit, but triple and punitive damages too, as a deterrent.

Specifically, they claim Sarowitz “confessed” during the August 2024 meeting that if Lively and her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, “ever cross the line, ever, then I will go after them.” He purportedly declared: “I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I’m done. Minimum. Not dead, but ‘you’re dead to me.’ So that kind of dead. But dead to a lot of people. If they ever get me to that point. Then I’ll make it worth their while. Because I’m gonna spend a lot of money to make sure the studio is protected.”

The motion argues that Lively suffered as a result of the alleged retaliation, and the Wayfarer parties deserve “severe penalties.”

“In unsealed portions of her deposition transcript filed with the court, Ms. Lively testified that she not only felt that the lawsuit … was retaliatory, but that Mr. Sarowitz’s ‘dead bodies’ threat, on the heels of his pledge to spend $100 million to ruin her life, left her concerned for her physical safety and, as a mother, for that of her family,” the new motion for triple and punitive damages states.

Though Lively’s legal war with Baldoni, Sarowitz, and Wayfarer is playing out in New York, the defamation claims originally were filed in California. In a statement, Lively’s spokesperson cited a relatively new California law that protects alleged survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination from retaliatory defamation lawsuits. The spokesperson said Lively is legally entitled to seek the triple and punitive damages for the “frivolous” complaint.

“The Wayfarer Parties’ failed plan to sue Blake Lively ‘into oblivion’ has only created greater liability for them, and rightly so. Sadly, Ms. Lively is not alone in facing a retaliatory defamation suit after speaking out about harassment at work,” the spokesperson said in an email to Rolling Stone.

Bryan Freedman, one of the lead lawyers representing Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his failed defamation lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, Baldoni claimed he was the one subjected to false allegations aimed at destroying his career. He claimed Lively used “falsified stories” of his alleged misconduct to “execute a hostile takeover” of It Ends With Us, which Baldoni co-starred in as well as directed. He claimed Lively and Reynolds later turned him into a “scapegoat” after Lively faced a “self-inflicted press catastrophe” when the movie premiered in August 2024.

In his own filings in the case, Reynolds argued Baldoni shouldn’t be allowed to sue him over “hurt feelings” because Reynolds called him a predator. “Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to hold Mr. Baldoni — or any man who Mr. Reynolds believes sexually harassed his wife — in ‘deep disdain,’” one of the actor’s filings read.

Lively’s battle with Baldoni spilled into the public court system a week after The New York Times published a Dec. 21 story titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” that revealed Lively had filed a precursor complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department.

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‘I Had Repeated, Negative Interactions’

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