Justin Baldoni’s Mom Urges Him to ‘Keep Your Integrity’ Amid Blake Lively Legal Battle

On Friday, Baldoni’s mother, Sharon, shared a touching message on Instagram to her son on his 41st birthday, in which she encouraged him to “keep your integrity” and to remember that “justice and truth will shine.”

In her post, Sharon included photos of herself and Baldoni from the set of the 2019 series finale of Jane the Virgin, in which he played Rafael Solano.

“Happy Birthday Justin ~ remembering a wonderful moment after the final ending of Jane The Virgin – a moment where joy and love permeated the set, where friendships and family were born and kindness and integrity permeated the hearts of all the actors and crew, where sadness only entered because it was the final scene of a wonderful journey~ and the beginning of the rest of our lives,” she wrote in the caption. “A happy loving and generous memory with hearts exploding with possibilities.”

“Life has its moments and also its surprises- as you keep your integrity through it all,” she continued, “Justice and truth will shine today and into eternity. I love you more than you will ever know! Happy Birthday my beautiful boy! May God continue to bless you in truth.”

Baldoni’s wife, Emily Baldoni, also posted a sweet birthday message for her husband on his special day. The mom of two shared a photo of herself and Baldoni kissing on the beach alongside their kids: Maiya, 9, and Maxwell, 7.

“Happy birthday my love,” Emily captioned her post. “Celebrating the man, husband, and father that you are. I’d choose you again and again.”

Baldoni’s birthday comes as his legal drama with Lively rages on. See a breakdown of the battle with the It Ends With Us costars below:

The Legal Battle

On December 31, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for its 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. Lively later filed a federal lawsuit of her own, in which she reiterated the claims she alleged in the complaint.

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” misled 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.”

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.”

In a statement to The New York Post, Lively’s attorneys addressed Baldoni’s lawsuit.

“Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today,” the statement read. “This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.'”

“As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false,” they added. “While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”

The battle reached a new level on January 16 when Baldoni filed a massive defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane. In it, the plaintiffs “set the record straight,” following allegations from Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and his team of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her in the media.

In the filing, Baldoni’s team argues any backlash Lively received in the lead-up to the release of It Ends with Us were her own doing — saying, “The suggestion that Wayfarer caused the online backlash against her is absurd given the evidence of her own insensitivity.” They also accuse Lively of having Baldoni — who directed the movie — iced out of his own film, saying she took over both scripts and editing duties.

The suit is seeking no less than $400 million in damages.

Lively’s lawyers responded to the lawsuit in a statement shared with Us Weekly.

“This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender,” Lively’s lawyers said. “Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.”

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Lively and Reynolds filed a letter asking the court to issue a gag order from Baldoni’s legal team, which is led by Freedman, whom the couple claims has been engaging in “improper conduct,” per TMZ.

Freedman hit back, telling TMZ on Saturday that Baldoni won’t be “bullied” by Lively and Reynolds.