Blake Lively sued for $7 million by crisis PR firm amid ‘It Ends With Us’ legal battle
In the latest development in the legal situation between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, Lively is being sued for defamation by a crisis management firm that allegedly played a key role in the initial stand-off between the actors.
In December 2024, Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment. As part of that initial suit, she shared alleged texts between Baldoni and a PR team who appeared to be planning a purposeful smear campaign against her.
Since then, the situation between the two actors has only become more complex and expensive as further lawsuits have been filed on both sides. Notably, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times and a $400 million notion against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Additionally, both sides have leaked footage or voice memos from the accused time frame. Recently, the courts warned them against this. As a result, the judge has stated that if this continues, he will have no choice but to move the trial date forward to prevent a jury from becoming prejudiced by the media.
Now, the PR team Lively initially accused of working alongside Baldoni for his smear campaign have taken action against her. Jed Wallace of Street Relations accused Lively of defamation for involving him in the situation, claiming he created artificial content on social media platforms that appeared to attack her and defend Baldoni.
He’s seeking at least $7 million and a court order saying that he didn’t harass the actress.
In an earlier petition filed to depose Wallace, which has recently been dropped by Lively, she accused him of creating a digital army to weaponise online content against her. The petition claimed that Wallace and Street Relations manufactured content purposefully to “influence public opinion and thereby cause an organic pile-on,”
Lively’s legal team, led by Michael Gottlieb, responded by saying, “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation.”
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