{"id":44710,"date":"2025-08-05T03:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/44710\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T03:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:46:08","slug":"blake-lively-slams-justin-baldoni-lawyers-for-making-her-deposition-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/44710\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively Slams Justin Baldoni Lawyers For Making Her Deposition Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t(Updated with Lively\u2019s sanctions motion against Bryan Freedman<\/a>) Blake Lively<\/a> and Justin Baldoni<\/a> came face-to-face last week as the It Ends With Us<\/a> actress gave a deposition in the fierce fight over whether sexual harassment and retaliation occurred on the film and the online fallout around its premiere a year ago. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRegardless of what Lively did or did not say in response to questions by Wayfarer Studios co-founder Baldoni\u2019s lead lawyer Bryan Freedman and others, a letter from the Another Simple Favor star\u2019s own attorneys filed today in federal court<\/a> makes it pretty clear in hindsight the July 31 sit-down did not go well.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn rushing to file on the public docket the entirety of the 292-page transcript on the day they received it, with no plausible legal reason to do so, the Wayfarer Defendants and their counsel have proved Ms. Lively\u2019s point,\u201d the correspondence Monday from Esra Hudson to Judge Lewis Liman says slamming Team Baldoni\u2019s blunt move and wanting everything permanently sealed ASAP. \u201cThe transcript was ostensibly filed in support of their argument that there is no basis to assert that Bryan Freedman or his firm have participated in, fueled and advanced a smear campaign against Ms. Lively such that their conduct has \u2018amounted to public relations work rather than that of an attorney.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut, in fact, this tactic perfectly demonstrates the counsel-as-PR agent role because there is no conceivable legal purpose to file the whole transcript, particularly given that it has not been reviewed, corrected or finalized, and a mere two pages of it were cited in their argument,\u201d the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP partner adds, also pointing the finger at Baldoni\u2019s side for \u201cimmediately\u201d leaking \u201cdetails from the deposition to the tabloid media.\u201d Hudson adds: \u201cThe letter and attachment should be seen for what they are: a manufactured excuse to force the transcript into the public domain as fodder for the Wayfarer Defendants\u2019 media campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an August 1 letter from Baldoni\u2019s side,<\/a> which was filed the same day the depo transcript was under temporary seal, attorney Kevin Fritz certainly teases out what was said the day before. \u201cUpon questioning by Freedman at her recent deposition, Lively admitted that the only ongoing \u2018smear campaign\u2019 about which she has personal knowledge involves (redacted).\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the details that were dribbled out of the meeting at Lively\u2019s lawyers\u2019 Manhattan offices last Thursday was what Lively was wearing, what time the deposition started (10:13 am ET) how husband Ryan Reynolds was there with her, what her side did and said, and that Baldoni himself was in the room. \u201cConsistent with their goal of creating a media circus around Ms. Lively\u2019s deposition, it also appears that the Wayfarer Defendants immediately leaked details from the deposition to the tabloid media,\u201d Hudson\u2019s letter notes to Judge Liman, who has been short tempered about such actions in the past. Now, whether or not those leaks came from Team Baldoni or not, the fact is such info did quickly end up in the likes of the Daily Mail and TMZ, which have had a lot of Team Baldoni scoops over the past year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe narrative created was that Ms. Lively needed a large contingent of people with her to testify, while misleadingly suggesting that only Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Freedman were present for the deposition on their side,\u201d today\u2019s three-page letter said. \u201cThe reality is that Ms. Lively testified across the table from Mr. Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel, all of whom attended this deposition in person, as well as eight attorneys representing the Wayfarer and Wallace Parties, two of whom questioned her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Baldoni\u2019s $400 million countersuit tossed out<\/a> in June and Deadpool star Reynolds, the New York Times and others dropped from the matter altogether, Lively\u2019s trial against Baldoni is set to start on March 9, 2026. At the same time, a sideshow of sorts is playing out in federal and California state court with the billionaire Sarowitz-backed-Baldoni battling insurance companies over covering his legal fees.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd let\u2019s be honest, from the get-go, this whole case has been a media feeding feast with highs and lows, literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso, truth be told, very soon after Lively filed her initial complaint with California\u2019s Civil Rights department<\/a> last December, and saw it covered exclusively by the NYT, the actress accused Baldoni\u2019s legal team of playing to the media as much as the court docket in the clash between the duo and their inner circles. Both in and out of court, the often hard-nosed and media savvy (Hello Megyn Kelly) Freedman has become the magnet for most of this criticism with some bold moves and some ham-handed tactics (the Madison Square Garden crack as exhibit #1)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAttorney Bryan Freedman, representing the Menendez family, arrives to the Van Nuys Courthouse for Erik and Lyle Menendez hearing on November 25, 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tMonday Lively\u2019s team had no comment on her lawyer\u2019s letter to Judge Liman, and reps for Baldoni could not be reached for comment. A rare case of duel silence in this high volume and high profile case.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater in the day, not for the first time and clearly for public consumption, Lively\u2019s lawyers filed a motion for sanctions against Freedman, claiming the successful LA-based attorney has frequently let loose with \u201cbiased and inflammatory pre-trial indictments of Ms. Lively\u2019s character, credibility, and reputation\u201d and \u201cpublicly slandering\u201d the actress, as they said in a slightly redacted memorandum of law accompanying the motion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Updated with Lively\u2019s sanctions motion against Bryan Freedman) Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni came face-to-face last week as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[17860,25484,6491,96,25485,17859,25486,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-44710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-blake-lively","9":"tag-bryan-freedman","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-it-ends-with-us","13":"tag-justin-baldoni","14":"tag-lively-baldoni","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}