Justin Baldoni accuses Ryan Reynolds of "aggressively berating" him over supposed fat-shaming comments about Blake Lively

While Justin Baldoni has yet to counter Blake Lively's complaint against him, the actor has filed a $250 million lawsuit against the newspaper, the New York Times, over its reporting on the allegations against Blake Lively.

Baldoni and his camp, including his publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, alleged libel and false-light invasion of privacy against the Times on December 31, 2024, for its December 21 article titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.

The suit also mentioned Lively's Hollywood actor husband, Ryan Reynolds, whom Baldoni claimed to have "aggressively berated" him over his supposed fat-shaming comments towards the actress. The doc claimed, per Independent UK, that Baldoni, who reportedly suffers from back problems, asked the Gossip Girl star how much she weighed to "ensure he could safely perform the lift without injury."

However, when he made those comments, Reynolds allegedly misinterpreted them, and he reportedly "aggressively berated" Baldoni, further accusing him of "fat-shaming" his wife. It all allegedly happened while they were having a meeting at Reynolds and Lively's penthouse in New York.

The confrontation was described in the suit as "so aggressive" that Baldoni had to "offer repeated apologies." Justin Baldoni further alleged in the lawsuit that he had to bend to Lively's to "avoid further confrontation with Lively and Reynolds" and to rebuild rapport with his co-star after the said incident.

The doc, per Independent UK, also mentioned that Blake Lively, despite already rehearsing the lift scene with a stunt double, "refused to perform" it for the movie.

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More about Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against the New York Times

In Justin Baldoni's, along with nine other complainants', lawsuit against the New York Times, they alleged that the newspaper "relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative" for their article, as reported by Independent UK.

The article, headlined 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, extensively covered Blake Lively's legal complaint against Baldoni. It included her s*xual harassment accusations against him as well as his supposed "smear campaign" to "destroy" her reputation after she came out to the public with her allegations.

Baldoni's suit, as stated by Independent UK, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, further alleged that the Times "'cherry-picked' and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."

However, shortly after Justin Baldoni filed the lawsuit, a Times spokesperson defended its reporting, saying that it was "meticulous and responsible" in terms of covering Lively's legal complaint against Baldoni, as quoted by Independent UK. The statement also reportedly mentioned that the newspaper will "vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

Moreover, on the same day that Justin Baldoni filed his suit against the Times, Blake Lively officially suited him for s*xual harassment and the subsequent "smear campaign." Baldoni is reportedly planning to file a counter-suit against his It Ends With Us co-star. His main attorney, Bryan Freedman, told the Daily Mail on December 28, 2024, that there is still no exact timeline for when they are going to file the counter-suit.

He also reportedly mentioned that the impending lawsuit would "tell the true story" and that it would come with "real evidence."

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This is a developing story. Stay tuned for more news and updates on Blake Lively's lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and his impending counter-suit.