“This is what we would need”– Justin Baldoni accused of smear campaign against Blake Lively, reportedly citing Hailey Bieber’s bullying allegations.

Justin Baldoni has found himself in trouble after he allegedly worked with his PR team to launch a smear campaign against popular actress Blake Lively. The latter has now filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, and the duo is mainly known for sharing the screen in the film It Ends with Us, which was also helmed by Baldoni.

People magazine acquired the legal documents of Lively's lawsuit on December 21, 2024. It featured Baldoni's alleged private conversations with PR executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, where they discussed the smear campaign.

Justin Baldoni had reportedly sent a glimpse of a post on X (formerly Twitter), which addressed Hailey Bieber's alleged reputation for bullying women. Baldoni started the conversation by writing:

"This is what we would need."

Abel reportedly responded by saying that she already had a word with Melissa about it and that their main focus would be on platforms such as Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram. Abel additionally sent another message to Melissa, describing the work experience with Blake Lively as "horrible." Notably, the latter agreed to the same in reply.

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Blake Lively's lawsuit against Justin Baldoni explained in detail

The Gossip Girl star sued Justin Baldoni on December 21, 2024, accusing him of involvement in a smear campaign and alleged sexual harassment. The legal documents addressed a meeting with some popular faces, including Lively's husband and actor Ryan Reynolds, to discuss Baldoni's alleged actions during filming that left a bad impact on the production process of It Ends with Us.

A few demands were made during the meeting, and the film's entire team reportedly agreed to do the same. Certain restrictions were requested, including not to add extra intimate sequences "outside the scope of the script." The other demands also featured complete restriction on a discussion related to Baldoni's alleged addiction to porn in the past.

The complaint claimed that despite the meeting, Justin Baldoni reportedly launched a social media campaign to damage Blake Lively's reputation among the public. The campaign reportedly featured various strategies to target Lively, including the launch of certain threads related to different theories.

The lawsuit stated that Baldoni's alleged actions left an "emotional impact" on Lively's family members. However, Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, denied the accusations against his client in a statement shared with People magazine.

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Reports of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's alleged feud emerged a few months ago

Back in August this year, a report by the Daily Mail claimed that Lively and Baldoni reportedly began having problems with each other after the latter allegedly did not prioritize the perspective of Lively while filming the abuse sequences in It Ends with Us.

Insiders for the outlet stated that Justin Baldoni reportedly emphasized the "abusive male viewpoint," leading to a "chauvinistic" and "tense atmosphere" while the film's shooting was in progress. The source also mentioned:

"Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic."

The source claimed that Baldoni started having problems when Blake Lively and Colleen Hoover approached him to rewrite the script for certain reasons. The latter is a writer of the book of the same name based on which the romantic drama was made.

On the other hand, Baldoni reportedly felt that the women on set were starting to gang up on him, and he started losing his empathy at one point.

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While Lively has now filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, the duo's representatives are yet to disclose more details on the matter.