Blake Lively says a “smear campaign” hurt her business in a new complaint

Blake Lively She has filed a new complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin BaldoniPointing out that the alleged “smear campaign” harmed her business.

The actress claims that Baldoni, her publicist and crisis public relations specialist, orchestrated a reputational attack that caused sales of her brands to drop by up to 78%.

Justin Baldoni has since denied the accusations, and his lawyer revealed plans to publish text messages between Blake Lively and the actor, to challenge her allegations of harassment.

As previously reported ExplosionLively sued Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and creating a toxic work environment on set.

According to Daily MailIn her latest legal action, Lively is seeking “punitive damages,” alleging that Baldoni orchestrated a smear campaign that severely impacted her business.

In her initial complaint, the 37-year-old actress claimed that Baldoni, who was working alongside his publicist Jennifer Appel and crisis public relations expert Melissa Nathan, intentionally tried to discredit her.

On New Year’s Eve, Lively intensified her legal battle by filing a more formal complaint and doubling down on her accusations.

While her first complaint was filed with the California Civil Rights Commission, her latest legal action was filed in federal court in New York.

Lively maintains that the alleged campaign to damage her image resulted in ongoing “financial damages.”

She specifically points to the backlash as a direct reason for a significant decline in sales of her hair care line, Blake Brown Beauty, and her beverage brands, Betty Buzz and Betty Booze.

In Lively’s lawsuit, she claims that sales of her hair care brand, Blake Brown, dropped by up to 78% after what she called a “social manipulation campaign.”

The filing states: “Based on internal sales forecasts, the sudden and unexpected negative media campaign launched against Ms. Lively decreased retail sales of Blake Brown products by 56-78 percent.”

The report also said: “This significant decline was in stark contrast to the high satisfaction scores Blake Brown products received in important pre-launch consumer testing or their initial post-launch success.”

Lively’s complaint also alleges that around the same time the “social manipulation campaign” occurred, Lively’s brands’ social media accounts were “inundated with hateful comments, which began to reverberate across other social and traditional media outlets.”

According to Daily MailIn the new lawsuit, Lively is seeking “punitive damages” and “a money judgment representing compensatory damages, lost wages, profits, and all other sums of money,” along with “interest” on the above “in an amount to be compensated.” Proven at trial.”

It also seeks “a monetary award for severe and serious mental anguish, pain and emotional distress, in an amount to be proven at trial.”

Lively’s latest complaint was filed on December 31, the same day Baldoni launched a $250 million defamation lawsuit against her. New York Times Because of her report covering the actress’s initial allegations.

In response, the newspaper issued a statement standing by its reporting and refuting the allegations in Baldoni’s lawsuit. The newspaper stated that it intends to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

Meanwhile, Baldoni’s lawyer, Brian Friedman, revealed that the actor plans to sue Lively directly.

talking to nbc“We plan to post every text message between them (sic). We want the truth to be out there,” Friedman stated.

“We want the documents to be available. We want people to make their decision based on the receipts,” he added.

Lively’s lawsuit included screenshots of text messages involving Baldoni, Appel and Nathan, which allegedly outline a coordinated public relations effort to undermine the actress.

However, Friedman criticized the release of the “leaked personal text exchanges”, arguing that they lacked “critical context”.

In a televised interview, he also stated that he and Baldoni intended to publish the entire history of text messages between Baldoni and Blake Lively.

One example cited in the case is a screenshot of an alleged conversation in which Lively informed Baldoni that she was pumping breast milk in her trailer and invited him to join her to practice their lines.

According to Daily MailIn the exchange, Lively reportedly texted, “I’m just pumping my trailer if you want to work our lines,” to which Baldoni responds, “Copy. Eat with the crew and I’ll head out that way.”

Friedman asserts that this interaction contradicts Lively’s claims that Baldoni entered her trailer “uninvited while she was naked, including while breastfeeding.”