Justin Baldoni’s former publicist, Stephanie Jones, has filed a lawsuit against the actor, his company, and his current publicity team. The lawsuit alleges that Baldoni breached their contract, which required him to pay Jonesworks $25,000 per month. The contract was terminated prematurely in August after publicist Jennifer Abel left Jonesworks to start her own firm, the New York Post reported.
The lawsuit also accuses Abel and publicist Melissa Nathan of orchestrating a smear campaign against Blake Lively, Baldoni’s co-star in ‘It Ends With Us.’ Jones claims that she had no knowledge of or involvement in the alleged smear campaign and that Abel and Nathan are now attempting to shift the blame onto her.
When Abel returned her company phone to Jones, Jones claims she found text messages and emails concerning Abel’s collaboration with Baldoni and his studio, Wayfarer. It was then that Jones realized her employee had been part of a retaliation campaign against Lively.
“To this day, Abel and Nathan continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light, and to defame and attack Jones in the industry,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also claims that around the release of ‘It Ends With Us’ in August, Baldoni grew concerned that Lively might publicly accuse him of sexual harassment.
The suit alleges that Abel, Nathan, and Wayfarer’s Jamey Heath collaborated to devise a “no-holds-barred strategy to discredit and suppress any potential revelations about Baldoni’s on-set behaviour.” As part of this plan, they allegedly launched “a smear campaign against Lively.”
Jones claims she was unaware of these actions and asserts that Abel and Nathan “secretly conspired” to damage her reputation, poach her clients, and shift blame onto her for the campaign against Lively.
Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively recently filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, her co-star in the film ‘It Ends with Us,’ alleging sexual harassment, workplace misconduct, and a coordinated smear campaign. The lawsuit claims that Baldoni’s behaviour created a hostile work environment and that he retaliated against Lively after she raised concerns about his actions.
Specific allegations against Baldoni include unplanned physical intimacy, invasive behaviour, and graphic scene additions. Lively also accused Baldoni of making inappropriate remarks and discussing his past struggles with addiction in a way that made her uncomfortable. The actress claims there had to be an intervention to stop him from showing her nude videos/images of women and to stop mentioning his previous experiences with sex.
The 40-year-old actor was also instructed to refrain from making comments about the cast and crew’s genitalia, as well as remarks about Lively’s weight or her late father. Additionally, Baldoni was told to stop inserting extra sex scenes into the film that were not included in the approved script, some of which involved explicit content, such as orgasming on camera.
