Blake Lively's legal team has responded to Justin Baldoni's new lawsuit against the actress, calling it another chapter in the abuser's playbook.

"It's an age-old story: A woman presents concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser tries to turn the tables. This is what experts call DARVO. Denial. Assault. Reverse Victim Offender," according to a statement from Lively's attorneys wrote.

Lively is represented by Manat, Phelps and Phillips.

Baldoni's response came just hours after Baldoni filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and two publicists, alleging extortion, defamation and breach of contract related to production and distribution. Claim. It all ends with us.

The film was directed by Baldoni and co-starred with Lively. Both are credited as PGA producers on the film, which may have been a box office hit but has been the subject of a series of legal actions, starting with Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her. in retaliation for her outspoken remarks. Misbehavior on set. She filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights in late December and filed a formal lawsuit in New York federal court earlier this month.

Baldoni also claimed he was the subject of a smear campaign and denied any sexual harassment. His film studio Wayfarer and its chief executive Jamey Heath are also joined in the lawsuit, along with their public relations representatives Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. . They are seeking at least $400 million in damages. Wayfarer is backed by billionaire Steve Sarowitz.

Bryan Freedman, a Los Angeles attorney representing Baldoni's side, said the lawsuit filed earlier Thursday "is based on a substantial amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively's and her team trying to destroy Justin Baldoni’s duplicity.” His team and their respective companies disseminated heavily redacted, unverified, new and altered information to the media. "

He added: "It's clear that we are fully willing to provide all the full text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence shared in real time by both parties, that this is a battle that she is not going to win and that she will win." Definitely regret it. "

Lively named Baldoni, Walker, Baldoni's publicist Jennifer Abell and veteran crisis communications executive Melissa Nathan in her lawsuit. The latter was hired by Baldoni during the film's premiere, when nearly the entire cast asked the director to back Lively, who refused to walk red carpets with him or appear at junkets with him.

Baldoni's account is that he was "under duress" when he and Heath agreed to sign a list of demands if Lively returned to the set after the SAG and ABC strikes were over. The document calls for an end to certain behavior, such as entering her trailer unannounced, and for Baldoni to stop talking about his porn addiction. There was also a kiss scene in which Baldoni allegedly went off-script and licked her neck.

The document was signed in early November 2023. In early January 2024, before production resumed following the actors' strike, Lively and Reynolds held a meeting in a New York City loft. Baldoni claims things got heated, with Reynolds accusing him of fat-shaming his wife (Lively gave birth to her fourth child, a son, in early 2023, just before filming began).

"Wayfarer was caught off guard when Lively refused to resume production after the industry strike ended without the company agreeing to her non-negotiable 'resumption protections' ('resumption requirements'), suggesting wrongdoing had occurred. During filming (evidence suggests otherwise), Travelers was equally caught off guard when Lively took advantage of the document, which was essentially signed under duress., to seize control of the film," Baldoni's lawsuit filed Thursday states.

Lively's attorneys countered, "They attempted to shift the narrative toward Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that Ms. Lively usurped creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the actor and others had negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarers. The evidence also showed that Ms. Lively was asked by Sony to oversee Sony's edit of the film, which they then chose to release with great success. success.

Sony did approve Lively's edit of the film and publicly supported her following her feud with Baldoni.

Describing how Lively slowly and deliberately took over the film, Baldoni said she even referenced Taylor Swift's name when she didn't respond to her suggestions for changes to the opening scene. and said Swift thought the rewrite was fine (Baldoni eventually acquiesced). Talking about other ways she tried to take over the film, he said she took control of her wardrobe early on, including demanding expensive shoes.

Lively's attorneys say Baldoni's response to the sexual harassment allegations was "she wanted this and it's her fault." Their reasoning for why this happened: Look what she was wearing. In short "While the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser's strategy to attack this woman is desperate, it cannot refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and it will fail."

They also said, “Wayfarer has chosen to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch baseless lawsuits, and threaten lawsuits in an effort to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is sexual harassment. Accused retaliation.”

Baldoni filed the lawsuit the same day Lively filed legal action in federal court last month new york times She allegedly conspired with Lively's PR team to advance an "unsubstantiated and self-serving narrative" while ignoring evidence that contradicted her claims.

In another twist, Baldoni and Friedman also took aim at Disney and Marvel Studios over Reynolds' use of the Nispool character in the film. deadpool and wolverine to laugh at him.