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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have filed competing lawsuits that have fueled controversy over what happened on the set of their movie, It Ends With Us.
Lively filed a lawsuit in New York against the actor and his publicity team on Tuesday, alleging harassment on the film’s set and a conspiracy to “damage” her reputation.
Baldoni, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against The New York Times, which first reported Lively’s complaint, accusing the press of working with the actress to destroy her reputation and ignoring evidence that contradicts her claims.
The newspaper has denied the claims and said their original story was “considered carefully and objectively”.
Lively’s lawsuit includes many of the charges that appeared in her civil rights complaints, many of which stem from a lawsuit filed in California in December.
They are asking for damages, including “lost wages” and “mental and emotional pain and suffering” costs. He did not mention the money.
In his case against the New York Times, first reported by Variety, Baldoni accuses himself of lies and fraud, He accuses the press of working with the artist to “damage” his reputation, and of not giving his team the right time to respond to the “bomb issue”.
Mr. Baloni’s lawsuit alleges that the Times relied on “‘cherry picking’ and changed messages that were “nonsensical and intentionally designed to mislead”.
In a statement, the New York Times told BBC News his report “was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in this article”.
“We printed them [Baldoni and his team’s] all words in response to the content of this article.”
Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency after the allegations were published in the newspaper. His lawsuit calls for a jury trial and damages of $250m (£199m).
The actor’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told CBS News that the newspaper “aided and abetted” a “vicious campaign designed to revive Lively’s public image”.
Baldoni’s lawsuit includes the same text messages and messages posted by Lively, who accuses her group of creating a campaign to change people’s views.
In her lawsuit, Lively accuses Baldoni and his team of attacking her in public after a meeting about “repeated rape and other disturbing behavior”.
During the meeting, he reportedly made 30 requests regarding the flaws he says he needs to ensure they continue to make the film, including not revealing nudity on set and not adding more intimate scenes than Lively had previously agreed to.
Lively’s legal team also accused Baldoni and her movie studio Wayfarer of leading a “multi-level strategy” to destroy her reputation, which included social media manipulation and the use of friendly journalists to promote other stories.
Baldoni’s lawyers told the BBC that Lively’s claims were false and said he had hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to disrupt the film unless he got what he wanted.
BBC News has contacted representatives for Lively, Baldoni and The New York Times for comment.
It Ends With Us was released last summer, and sees Lively playing a woman in a relationship with a beautiful but abusive boyfriend, played by Baldoni.
The movie is based on the best-selling book by Colleen Hoover. The 45-year-old author said what inspired her was the domestic abuse her mother endured.
