{"id":176140,"date":"2025-12-05T07:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/176140\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:36:12","slug":"blake-lively-accuses-justin-baldoni-of-trying-to-avoid-accountability-as-he-seeks-to-dismiss-it-ends-with-us-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/176140\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni of trying to \u2018avoid accountability\u2019 as he seeks to dismiss It Ends with Us lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Blake Lively has hit back at Justin Baldoni\u2019s motion to dismiss her $161 million sexual harassment lawsuit in a new filing<\/a>, arguing that her It Ends with Us director and co-star is trying to \u201cavoid accountability\u201d for the \u201chostile environment\u201d he allegedly created on set. <\/p>\n

Baldoni, 41, is being sued by Lively, 38<\/a>, over claims that he and his public relations team orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to undermine her reputation in retaliation for speaking out about alleged on-set misconduct.<\/a> The Jane the Virgin alum later countersued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for allegedly attempting to \u201cdestroy\u201d his reputation and career. His lawsuit was officially tossed out<\/a> last month after he failed to submit an amended complaint by an October deadline. <\/p>\n

As Lively\u2019s lawsuit against him rages on, with a court date set for March 9, 2026, Baldoni recently asked the court to block the case from going to trial. Last month, in a filing submitted by his legal team and seen by Rolling Stone<\/a>, they argued that Lively \u201ccannot prove any actionable sexual harassment,\u201d adding that \u201cno reasonable jury\u201d would find him guilty.<\/p>\n

However, Thursday morning, Lively\u2019s lawyers submitted an opposing filing, saying that the Gossip Girl <\/a>star deserves her \u201cday in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn their latest effort to avoid accountability for the hostile environment they created during the production and marketing of It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, and their co-defendants ask this Court to shield them from trial, and deny Blake Lively her day in court, by throwing the kitchen sink at Lively\u2019s sexual harassment and retaliation claims,\u201d read a heavily redacted 72-page filing, according to Deadline<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Blake<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been locked in a bitter legal battle over sexual harassment allegations and accusations that he fostered a \u2018hostile environment\u2019 on set of \u2018It Ends with Us\u2019 (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)\"Lively<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Lively and Baldoni starred as lovers in the 2024 romance drama, adapted from Colleen Hoover\u2019s bestselling novel (Sony Pictures)<\/p>\n

It further alleged that \u201cwhen confronted with complaints, [the Defendants] abandoned Wayfarer\u2019s policies by refusing to investigate the concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants\u2019 campaign to transform Lively \u2014 a mother of four with decades of experience in the industry who simply sought a safe and respectful workplace \u2014 into a \u2018bully\u2019 who \u2018took over\u2019 Baldoni\u2019s Film is not a defense to harassment, retaliation, defamation, or any claim Lively has advanced,\u201d it added. <\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Baldoni\u2019s lawyer for comment.<\/p>\n

Baldoni directed and co-starred alongside Lively in the 2024 romance drama It Ends With Us, based on Colleen Hoover\u2019s bestselling novel. The story follows a flower shop owner (Lively) who falls in love with a charming yet abusive neurosurgeon (Baldoni).<\/p>\n

\"It<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

It Ends with Us author Colleen Hoover says Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal saga is ‘disappointing’ (Getty)<\/p>\n

Author Hoover, who served as an executive producer on the film, recently spoke out against the \u201cugliness\u201d of the ongoing legal drama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a circus,\u201d she told Elle last month. \u201cWhen there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions. This actually truly has impacted some of the actors\u2019 careers in huge ways. And I just find it all around sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing that her book was inspired by her mother\u2019s own story of abuse, Hoover said it \u201cnow gives us PTSD to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel awful because I almost feel like she\u2019s gone through more with the aftermath of this film, more pain than she went through with my dad, just seeing the ugliness of it,\u201d the Verity author said. \u201cI can\u2019t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-176140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}