Blake Lively hits back at Justin Baldoni in new war over leaked It Ends With Us footage
BLAKE Lively has broken her silence on the unedited footage Justin Baldoni released from It Ends With Us.
Blake filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star before Christmas after a bitter feud began on set, with her accusing him of sexual harassment.
The 37-year-old star, who is married to Ryan Reynolds, has said that the newly-shared footage proves that she was uncomfortable around Justin, 40, as they danced during the closing scene of the flick.
Justin’s team released 10 minutes of raw unedited footage, which his team believes completely refutes Blake’s sexual harassment claim, as per TMZ.
But despite the footage being released and Justin’s team believing it refutes her claims, Blake’s team has spoken out saying the video is “damning”.
Reacting to the footage, Blake’s legal team said: “Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning.”
Her team went on to tell MailOnline that the video shows Justin “repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively”.
They added that while leaning in, he kept “attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck”.
They also claim that Justin was “flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character”.
They added that every frame “corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint”.
Blake’s team went on to claim how “every moment” of the footage was improvised by Justin “with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present”.
They also said that when Blake leaned away from Justin during the footage, she was not acting with the clip showing her repeatedly “asking for the characters to just talk”.
In the footage, the pair can be seen and heard discussing their noses as they get close, with them laughing when Justin spoke of how big his nose is.
NEW FOOTAGE REVEALED
Justin can also be seen and heard telling Blake that he’s probably getting his beard on her, to which she says that she’s probably getting her spray tan on him.
He tells her that her spray tan “smells good” before they laugh and she says the smell is from her body makeup.
Alongside claims of sexual harassment, Blake has also accused Justin of fat-shaming her, showing her nude videos and pictures, and claimed he and his team orchestrated a smear campaign to ruin her reputation.
Statement from Justin Baldoni's lawyer
Bryan Freedman, who represents Justin Baldoni, shared the following statement about the new lawsuit with The U.S. Sun.
“This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media,” Freedman claimed.
“It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret.
“Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth.
“Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power.
“Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action.
“We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”
In response to Blake’s lawsuit, Justin has filed a federal suit against the actress, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and two publicists.
JUSTIN COUNTERSUES
Documents seen by The U.S. Sun earlier this month claim Blake set out to make him the “real-life villain in her story,” and schemed against him to deflect from the actress being seen as “tone-deaf” during the press tour.
He is asking for $400 million in damages after being dropped by his agency, WME, which also represents Blake and her husband.
Justin is also suing The New York Times in a separate suit, in which he claimed they conspired with Blake’s PR team to push an “unverified and self-serving narrative” while ignoring evidence from him.
Spokeswoman for the publication, Danielle Rhoades said in a statement: “The allegations against The New York Times in this new lawsuit are meritless and recycled from the equally baseless claims in the suit that was filed against The Times in California.”