Justin Baldoni Suit Claims Ryan Reynolds ‘Aggressively Berated’ Him In ‘Traumatic’ Confrontation Over Blake Lively

On Tuesday, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times for their coverage of Lively’s legal complaint, in which she accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, as well as claiming he and others orchestrated a smear campaign against her. She subsequently filed a federal lawsuit repeating those claims on Tuesday.

In his lawsuit, Baldoni and the other plaintiffs — including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel — accuse the publication of libel, invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract, claiming they “deliberately” mislead readers. The suit also accuses the paper of relying on Lively’s “unverified and self-serving narrative,” which they say is full of “blatant falsehoods and egregious misrepresentations.”

Reynolds is mentioned throughout the new lawsuit, starting with claims he and Lively blindsided the director with changes to the film’s script. Per Lively herself in an interview, Reynolds “wrote” one of the movie’s key scenes, something the plaintiffs said they weren’t aware of until she said it to a reporter at the premiere.

“This was also the first time Plaintiffs learned that Reynolds — who had no formal role in the Film’s production — made unauthorized changes to the script in secret,” reads the lawsuit.

“Furthermore, Lively herself began altering the script daily. The frequency of Lively’s revisions alarmed the producers, director, and studio, who anticipated that her interference would persist ‘every day of the shoot’ and disrupt the production schedule,” the suit continues. “Each shooting day was already intricately planned, and her constant changes introduced significant stress on the production crew and financial strain.”

“However, just weeks prior, Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, had aggressively berated Baldoni during a meeting at their penthouse in New York, accusing him of ‘fat shaming’ Lively,” the lawsuit claims. “Baldoni, in an effort to avoid further confrontation with Lively and Reynolds and rebuild rapport with his co-star, continued to bend to her will.”

Per Lively’s lawsuit, an all-hands-on-deck meeting to address her claims of a hostile work environment occurred before production began again earlier this year, following industry guild strikes. Reynolds was one of the attendees at the meeting.

“[Plaintiffs] arrived eager to discuss plans for the next day’s filming, prepared with their production materials. Instead, they were blindsided by Lively and Reynolds, who presented a list of grievances that were both unanticipated and troubling,” reads Baldoni’s suit. “Reynolds launched into a tirade, berating Baldoni in what Baldoni later described as a ‘traumatic’ encounter, stating he had ‘never been spoken to like that in his life.'”

While Lively accused Baldoni of “shaming her for her body and weight” during filming — and, in one alleged instance, “humiliated” her by “secretly [calling] her fitness trainer, without her knowledge or permission, and implied that he wanted her to lose weight in two weeks” — Baldoni’s suit claims his actions were “mischaracterized.”

“When Baldoni resisted apologizing for what he had not done, Reynolds became further enraged. Everyone, including the producer Lively had asked production to engage and a representative of Sony that was in attendance, left that ‘meeting’ in shock,” claims Baldoni’s suit. “The producer offered that in his 40-year career he had never seen anyone speak to someone like that in a meeting, The Sony representative mentioned that she would often think of that meeting and her one regret is that she didn’t stop Reynolds’ berating of Baldoni.”

His suit also claims that the couple’s “inappropriate and humiliating berating” was “delivered, perhaps intentionally, as other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse.”

The lawsuit then gives Baldoni’s side of the story, saying he had a “reasonable inquiry into crucial information needed to ensure safety and avoid injury in a scene” where he had to pick up Lively. The suit says Baldoni asked Lively’s trainer — who also trained Lively — how much she weighed because he “suffers from back issues and has multiple bulging discs” and wanted to “ensure he could safely perform the lift without injury.”

“Unfortunately, the trainer relayed this information to Lively, who then informed Reynolds,” reads the suit. “The confrontation that followed was so aggressive that Baldoni felt compelled to offer repeated apologies, despite his question being entirely reasonable and made in good faith. Following this incident, Lively refused to perform the lift scene, even though it had already been rehearsed with a stunt double.”

The suit claims Baldoni “left the meeting deeply unsettled by the implications of Lively and Reynolds’ behavior and the power dynamics at play.” It also alleges Reynolds “demanded” Baldoni’s agent “drop” the actor; Baldoni was dropped by William Morris Endeavor, but only after the New York Times article was published.

“The wielding of power and influence became undeniable. Baldoni and Wayfarer grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life,” add the docs.

In a statement to TMZ, a New York Times spokesperson said … “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman also told TMZ, “In this vicious smear campaign fully orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, the New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative. In doing so, they pre-determined the outcome of their story, and aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalize Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public. The irony is rich. Make no mistake however, as we all unite to take down The NY Times by no longer allowing them to deceive the public, we will continue this campaign of authenticity by also suing those individuals who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients. While their side embraces partial truths, we embrace the full truth – and have all of the communications to back it. The public will decide for themselves as they did when this first began.”

Reps for Lively and Reynolds have not yet addressed Baldoni’s suit.

Of her lawsuit filed Tuesday, attorneys for Lively told TMZ, “Earlier today, Ms. Lively filed a federal complaint against Wayfarer Studios and others in the Southern District of New York. Ms. Lively previously sent her California Civil Rights Department Complaint in response to the retaliatory campaign Wayfarer launched against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Unfortunately, Ms. Lively’s decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks. As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law.”