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Actor and director Justin Baldoni and his publicist, Jennifer Abel, filed a lawsuit against Baldoni's former publicist, Stephanie Jones, in New York federal court on March 21.
According to People, Stephanie Jones, the founder of the PR firm Jonesworks, is accused of allegedly leaking Baldoni's private text messages to Leslie Sloane, Blake Lively's publicist.
Jonesworks previously represented Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios. Jennifer Abel was a partner in the PR firm. The lawsuit stated that when Abel decided to leave and start her own company, Baldoni chose to follow. Subsequently, Jones allegedly seized Abel's personal laptop and phone days before she quit.
Abel claimed that after her phone was taken, she lost access to her iCloud, bank accounts, utilities, and other sensitive information. Jones then allegedly passed confidential texts regarding Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios to Lively's publicist.
Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement to People. He stated Jones violated privacy rights by allegedly leaking the text messages. He said:
"It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic of privacy rights, as well as any remaining trust her clients held."
Freedman further alleged that Jones had done similar things to her former clients, who exited her PR firm. He continued:
"No stranger to stirring up crisis scenarios for departing clients, Ms. Jones maliciously turned over communications from the phone she wrongfully took from her own partner to her cohort, [Lively’s personal publicist] Leslie Sloane, immediately after Jones was terminated for cause by Wayfarer due to her own wrongful behavior."
Last year Stephanie Jones sued Justin Baldoni
According to The Independent, Stephanie Jones sued Baldoni, alleging he orchestrated a smear campaign against Blake Lively. The lawsuit stated after the release of It Ends With Us in August 2024, the actor speculated that Lively would file a s*xual harassment lawsuit against him.
To discredit her, Baldoni reportedly conspired with Jennifer Abel, Wayfarer’s Jamey Heath, and Melissa Nathan, a crisis communications manager who worked with Johnny Depp during his trial with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The media outlet reported that Jones claimed she fired Abel after discovering that she allegedly stole company data to start her own PR firm. While checking Abel's company phone, she reportedly found evidence of a smear campaign against Lively.
The New York Times wrote an article quoting from the leaked text messages
On December 21, 2024, The New York Times published an article titled, ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. According to Variety, the article included screenshots of texts and emails between Justin Baldoni, Heath, Nathan, and Abel.
According to the media outlet, Justin Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times in Los Angeles Superior Court on December 31, 2024.
For the unversed, Blake Lively previously filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, accusing him of s*xual harassment, workplace harassment, and smear campaigning. According to The Economic Times, Baldoni countersued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, seeking $400 million in damages.
