Blake Lively‘s legal team obtained the bombshell text messages between members of Justin Baldoni‘s public relations team that they allege prove he engineered a ‘smear campaign’ against her through a ‘legal subpoena’, it has emerged.
Lively’s lawyers have been cautious about stating the origin of the texts, which they allege demonstrate how Baldoni’s crisis management team launched a ‘multi-tiered plan’ to ‘destroy’ her reputation after she raised concerns about conditions on set of their film It Ends With Us.
Her attorneys have claimed the series of messages, which were in included as an exhibit in her lawsuit against Baldoni, came through ‘legal process, including a civil subpoena’.
But a member of Lively’s team has now confirmed to The Los Angeles Times that the messages were sourced from a phone belonging to Baldoni’s former publicist Jennifer Abel, who reportedly quit working with her past employer due to ‘bullying’.
It remains unclear when and where the subpoena was issued, with some legal experts suspecting the court order ‘most likely’ issued in another case and ‘then used’ in Lively’s complaint.
The Gossip Girl star’s attorneys have said that further details about ‘Ms. Lively’s investigation, including the lawful subpoena, will be produced during discovery’.
Lively is suing Baldoni over allegations of sexual harassment and fostering a toxic work environment – accusations he has furiously denied.
Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios, his crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan, and Abel are also all being sued by Abel’s former boss Stephanie Jones, the head of Jonesworks PR, who alleges defamation and breach of contract.
Blake Lively’s legal team obtained the bombshell text messages between members of Justin Baldoni’s public relations team that they allege prove he engineered a ‘smear campaign’ against her through a ‘legal subpoena’. Lively is pictured attending the 2024 LACMA Art + Film Gala presented by Gucci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 2, 2024
Her attorneys have claimed the series of messages, which were in included as an exhibit in her lawsuit against Baldoni, (pictured speaking during Variety Faith And Spirituality In Entertainment Honors presented by CFAM at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on December 4, 2024) came through ‘legal process, including a civil subpoena’
But a member of Lively’s team has now confirmed to The Los Angeles Times that the messages were sourced from a phone belonging to Baldoni’s former publicist. Lively and Baldoni are pictured sharing a kiss in a scene from their film It Ends with Us
The bombshell text messages were included as part of Lively’s legal complaint reveal.
Her team claims they demonstrate ‘a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as ‘social manipulation’ designed to ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively’s reputation’.
Legal experts have pondered how her team managed to get ahold of the texts in absence of a lawsuit. They suspect the state civil rights complaint she filed could be a ‘precursor to a lawsuit’.
Some have suggested that the subpoena cited by her team was a so-called ‘friendly subpoena’, which refers to the instance where one party seeks records from another, but allows the records owner – who may want to volunteer the information – to say they were forced to comply under court order.
But West Los Angeles litigator and former federal prosecutor James Spertus told the LA Times that the subpoena cited in Lively’s complaint was ‘most likely’ issued in another case and ‘then used in this one’.
Spertus suggested the subpoena may have even been ‘issued during a closed-door arbitration proceeding’.
Lively sued Baldoni earlier this month, accusing him of sexually harassing her and fostering a toxic work environment on the set of their movie It Ends With Us, in which he both directed her and acted with her. He staunchly denies the allegations.
His former publicist has also filed a lawsuit against him, along with his company, Nathan and Abel, for breach of contract.
Abel represented Baldoni while working for Jonesworks, but was allegedly fired last summer after Jones discovered she was ‘stealing documents and client information’ from the firm in aid of a plot to start a rival company, according to a copy of Jones’ lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com.
Jones accuses Abel of conniving with Nathan ‘to steal Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients from Jonesworks, and to smear Jones and Jonesworks in the press’ – such as by blaming Jones for the alleged PR takedown of Lively.
‘For months, this group has gaslit and disparaged Stephanie Jones and her company for financial gain, to settle personal scores and most recently to distract from their disgraceful smearing of Blake Lively,’ Jones’ attorney Kristin Tahler said in a statement provided to DailyMail.com.
‘This lawsuit is a necessary step to stop defendants’ continuing misconduct and for Steph to recover the reputation she has worked decades to establish and which the defendants disparaged for their own nefarious purposes.’
Echoing Lively’s suit, Jones claims in her own legal filing that Nathan and Abel orchestrated ‘a smear campaign against Lively to benefit Baldoni and Wayfarer.’
She further claimed that Nathan and Abel schemed ‘to publicly pin blame for this smear campaign on Jones – when Jones had no knowledge or involvement in it.’
Lively’s legal complaint included purported screen-grabs of text messages, many of them between Nathan and Abel, allegedly showing the PR takedown being planned.
In her own legal suit, Jones includes several alleged screen grabs of texts between Abel and Nathan, said to be from Abel’s Jonesworks company phone.
The messages show Abel and Nathan conspiring to poach Baldoni and Wayfarer from Jonesworks – as well as Abel contemptuously mocking Baldoni.
Lively sued Baldoni earlier this month, accusing him of sexually harassing her and fostering a toxic work environment on the set of their movie It Ends With Us
In her complaint, Lively claimed Baldoni worked to tarnish her reputation with a team that included his publicist Jennifer Abel (pictured) and crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan
Now Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios, Nathan and Abel are all being sued by Abel’s former boss Stephanie Jones (pictured), the head of Jonesworks PR
The texts included in Lively’s complaint appear to show the moment-to-moment breakdown of how Baldoni and his PR team discussed her.
His publicity team, according to a strategy document for Baldoni that Lively filed with her complaint, identified ‘several potential scenarios at play here which we should be prepared for, should [Lively] and her team make her grievances public’.
Many of the text messages are between the women, including one exchange in which Nathan states that she can ‘bury anyone’. The message was sent in reply to Abel’s text which says that Baldoni, ‘wants to feel like she [Lively] can be buried’.
‘Of course – but you know when we send over documents we can’t send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble,’ Nathan responds, adding, ‘We can’t write we will destroy her’.
She followed up the message with another which reads, ‘Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.
‘You know we can bury anyone but I can’t write that to him. I will be very tough.’
Another back and forth on August 2 appears to show Nathan joking about murdering Lively.
‘I also sent you a present. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her and send her in a box to your house. It’s a congratulations present,’ the message from Nathan reads, to which Abel responds: ‘DAMNIT’.
Later that same day, Abel wrote that she is, ‘having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with’.
Meanwhile, Baldoni appears to have suggested that it would be beneficial if they could orchestrate a targeted social media campaign.
He sent a message showing a screenshot of a Twitter thread about allegations of bullying against Hailey Bieber with the caption: ‘This is what we would need’.
When reports began to emerge of tensions between Lively and Baldoni, it was suggested that the differences were merely creative.
Many of the messages included in the complaint show exchanges between publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan
She claims that she was subjected to a smear campaign after she raised her concerns with Baldoni and his studio. This exchange appears to show Abel and Nathan joking about killing Lively
Baldoni wanted to market the movie by spotlighting the domestic abuse which forms the heart of the story, while Lively felt it should be more hopeful and uplifting.
Lively was subsequently criticized for the ‘tone deaf’ way she promoted the film after she failed to mention domestic abuse in several interviews.
It is unclear if this reaction was engineered, but Baldoni’s messages appear to show he was at least ready to capitalize on the negative press.
‘What is the TikTok strategy?’ Baldoni writes in one message. ‘I’d like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestic violence and clips and why this movie is so important’.
But as the controversy around the film raged on, some of the more nefarious allegations Lively had privately levelled at Baldoni began to appear in the press.
They included that he made inappropriate comments about her weight and ‘lingered’ too long during kissing scenes.
The texts show how the crisis management team scrambled to try and ‘shift the narrative’ by reverting coverage back onto Lively.
On August 11, Abel sent Baldoni a message reassuring him that the stories were not a threat.
‘Very little pick up. Fans remain supportive of you and believe the issue of the ‘feud’ is because she took control of the movie,’ she wrote.
The day before, Nathan remarked to Abel that: ‘The majority of socials are pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol’. In another, Nathan revels in the ‘genius’ strategy.
‘Jen this went so well I am f***king dying. I have to call you in a bit bit and tel you how this went. It was genius.’
Baldoni also appears to wade in at times and suggest his own tactics to discredit Lively
The messages show the publicists celebrating after they manage to minimize reports about Lively’s allegations in the press
The Gossip Girl star claims Baldoni, pictured at the world premiere of It Ends With Us in NYC on August 6 this year, fostered a toxic workplace environment during filming which included sexual harassment
In her lawsuit, Lively claims Baldoni showed her nude images and videos of women, talked about an alleged previous porn addiction and made sexual comments about the cast and crew. The pair are pictured on the set of It Ends With Us in January this year
Further allegations about Baldoni’s alleged unwelcome behavior are included in Lively’s legal complaint.
They include claims that Baldoni showed Lively an explicit video of his wife, barged into the star’s trailer while she was nude or breastfeeding, openly discussed his alleged porn addiction and made her and other female staffers uncomfortable with overtly sexual comments.
The issues were dealt with during a January meeting between Lively, Baldoni and several studio representatives where several changes were agreed including the addition of an intimacy coordinator on set.
‘Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount,’ Wayfarer acknowledges, according to the legal complaint.
However, a media strategy document apparently from the crisis management team also included in the legal complaint outlines how the team plans to protect Baldoni’s reputation, along with that of lead producer Jamey Heath and fwayfWayfarer.
The document outlines several possible talking points to boost Baldoni, but also discredit Lively.
They include her, ‘less than favorable reputation in the industry’, how she involved her husband Ryan Reynolds to ‘create an imbalance of power’.
In post-production, Lively brought in her own editor to recut a version of the film which was the one ultimately chosen for distribution.
In another message, Baldoni appears to suggest capitalizing on Reynolds’ involvement as another means of targeting Lively.
‘My partner asked about flipping the narrative from this leak this AM about Ryan saying script was a disaster and he saved the movie,’ the message reads before suggesting, ‘using their own words against them’.
The messages show Baldoni suggesting how they might ‘flip the narrative’ as more stories emerge about the controversy surrounding the film
Others show the publicists celebrating when their efforts pay off
The document also suggests some crew members allegedly lost their jobs due to Lively’s insistence on creative control.
Baldoni has refuted the claims through his lawyer Brian Freedman.
‘It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film,’ he said.
‘Interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.
‘These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.
‘Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.
‘It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.
‘The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity.
‘What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals,’ Freedman added.
Lively denied planting false or negative stories about her co-star or his company.
‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,’ she said.
