Justin Baldoni's lawyer to reveal Blake Lively's alleged 'pattern of bullying'

In a shocking statement, the lawyer promised to release damning evidence of the actress' alleged “pattern of bullying” against Baldoni.

This comes after Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory “smear campaign” to tarnish her reputation.

The ongoing dispute between Lively and her “It Ends With Us” costar Baldoni has taken a dramatic turn as the actor's attorney, Brian Friedman, claims they have “evidence” of a “pattern of bullying” by the actress.

According to People magazineFriedman released a statement on Tuesday, Jan. 7, in which he claimed that Lively and her team were the instigators of a “vicious attack” against his client and that he would release evidence to that effect.

“It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of using media weapons when her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending heavily redacted documents to The New York Times before even filing a complaint,” Friedman said.

“We are releasing all the evidence that shows the intimidation and threats to take over the film,” he continued. “None of this will come as a surprise because, consistent with her past behavior, Blake Lively used other people to make these threats and bully her way into getting whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more.”

Friedman's announcement comes after Lively filed a 10-count lawsuit against Baldoni, alleging he sexually harassed her on the set of an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel and planned a “coordinated effort to destroy her reputation.”

She said in the filing that Baldoni “frequently” called women in the workplace “sexy” and recounted a specific instance in which he “forced” her to take off her coat to reveal her panties, even though they were partially undone and pulling at her bra.

The filing also showed that the “Gossip Girl” star claimed that Baldoni told her in one incident that he thought she looked “sexy” in a tone that made her feel “bewitched and exposed.”

She noted that Baldoni “generally degraded” her, “finding behind-the-scenes ways to criticize her body and weight,” recounting an instance when he called her trainer behind her back just 4 months after giving birth to her fourth child. that he “wanted her to lose weight in two weeks.”

According to People magazineLively's legal team said on Monday, January 6, that her “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation” are “substantiated by specific facts.”

“This is not a 'hate' stemming from 'creative differences' or a 'he said/she said' situation,” her lawyers said in a statement.

It continued: “As alleged in Ms. Lively's complaint, and as we will prove at trial, Wayfarer (Studios) and its associates have engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on set.”

Lively's attorneys noted that Baldoni's “response to the lawsuit has been to launch multiple attacks against Ms. Lively since she filed it,” adding that “sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry.

In a statement, Lively's lawyers listed two manipulative tactics used by the perpetrators, claiming that Baldoni and his team are trying to distract attention from the charges against him.

They said: “A classic tactic to deflect attention from allegations of this type of wrongdoing is to 'blame the victim', suggesting that they invited the behaviour, caused it themselves, misunderstood the intentions or even lied.”

“Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and the offender and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious wrongdoing,” the lawyers added.

“Most importantly, the media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively's legal claims,” ​​Lively's legal team said. “We will continue to pursue her claims in federal court, where the rule of law dictates who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”

Baldoni has since retaliated by filing a $250 million defamation suit The New York Times for its report on Lively's allegations. The claim states that times insisted the actress' “unverified and self-serving narrative.”

In an earlier report, the news site claimed the actor hired a crisis PR team to “bury” Lively and tarnish her reputation.

Meanwhile, Baldoni's lawyer previously slammed Lively's lawsuit, calling it an attempt by her to “correct her negative reputation” and saying the claims are “false, cruel, and intentionally inflammatory with the intent to publicly offend.”

He went on to accuse the actress of causing trouble on set by “threatening not to come on set, threatening not to promote the film, which ultimately led to its demise on release”.