"I saw this firsthand and up close": Amber Heard speaks up in support of Blake Lively as Melissa Nathan link comes to light

Following Blake Lively's lawsuit against Justin Baldoni on charges of s*xual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her, actor Amber Heard addressed her support to Lively while speaking to NBC News on December 23, 2024.

Reportedly Baldoni planned a smear campaign against Lively with crisis management expert Melissa Nathan. Nathan is the same PR expert hired by Johnny Depp when he had to appear for the defamation trial opposite Amber Heard in 2022. Speaking to NBC News, the Aquaman star said:

"Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying 'A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on. I saw this firsthand and up close. It's as horrifying as it is destructive."

Blake Lively sued Justin Baldoni on December 21, making severe accusations against the latter. The news of problems between the two began surfacing around August this year. Baldoni and Lively were not spotted together during the screening and promotions of their film It Ends with Us.

Lively played the lead roles in the romantic drama film alongside Baldoni, who additionally served as the film's director. Blake was also one of the film's producers. It Ends with Us was able to gross more than $300 million at the box office despite receiving mixed responses from critics.

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Justin Baldoni's talent agency reportedly fires him after Blake Lively's allegations

In her lawsuit against Baldoni, the Café Society star claimed that Justin's behavior was reportedly unprofessional while the shooting of It Ends with Us was in progress. The legal documents mentioned that Baldoni tried to cross boundaries on various occasions, including by allegedly entering Blake's trailer without her consent, as per People magazine.

Meanwhile, Deadline first reported on December 21, 2024, that Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency WME after Blake's allegations against him started trending on different platforms. However, the agency has yet to share a statement about the same.

While speaking to The New York Times, Blake Lively addressed her lawsuit by saying:

"I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."

Blake Lively is getting support from well-known faces after she filed the lawsuit. Author Collen Hoover, who wrote the novel It Ends with Us, shared a statement through her Instagram story on December 21 and wrote:

"@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."

Justin's lawyer Bryan Freedman had already shared a response to the lawsuit as he spoke to People magazine, saying that the claims in the legal documents were not true.

Bryan also stated that Lively was the one who created problems during the filming of It Ends with Us, which included issuing threats of not arriving on set or not participating in the promotions.