Justin Baldoni's lawyer blasts Blake Lively's response to the actor's lawsuit

Legal showdown between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively continues to heat up, with the actor's lawyer issuing a scathing rebuke of Lively's “abuser manual” statement.

Baldoni and his publicists had sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynoldsfor allegedly hatching a scheme to discredit them and destroy their careers. However, the actress' lawyer called her lawsuit “another chapter in the abuser's playbook.”

Now Justin Baldoni's lawyer has hit back, calling Blake Lively and her team's response a “terrible mark” they've left.

According to DeadlineBaldoni's attorney, Brian Friedman, called for Lively's response to his client's recent $400 million lawsuit in which he accused her of plotting to kill his career and discredit him by making false allegations of sexual harassment.

Friedman said: “After my clients filed a comprehensive lawsuit containing nearly 200 pages of irrefutable facts and documentary evidence that destroyed their false allegations of a smear campaign by providing scholarly communications to the New York Times, Blake and her legal team have only one awful.turn to the left and that is to double down on the shameful falsehoods against Mr. Baldoni sexual allegations.”

“The very fact that Ms. Lively feels she can publicly destroy Mr. Baldoni's reputation in an attempt to destroy his future career and then deny him or his team the ability to defend themselves against him is absurd,” he added.

The legal battle between the pair is set to get even more intense as Friedman suggested they will now “fight even harder for the voiceless” in the domestic violence community.

The whole debacle stems from the Gossip Girl star's lawsuit before Christmas, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the film's set and orchestrating a “smear campaign” to tarnish her image.

In his new statement, Friedman says Baldoni never tried to publicly accuse Lively of “her own wrongdoing on set” and that he “graciously disagreed on set, graciously addressed all of her concerns.”

The attorney also states that Baldoni “was determined to do things differently and keep the peace, as she specifically acknowledged in her lawsuit.”

He added: “Not only will we continue to defend our clients against Blake's power, privilege and pervasive lies, but now we will fight even harder for the voiceless in the DV community who suffer unfairly while she continues to impose her own self-serving and selfish vendetta in the media.”

Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit Thursday, alleging multiple allegations. In the filing, the 40-year-old actor-director accused her of trying to deprive him of a part in the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover bestselling novel he directed, and of using her and her husband's star power and influence to coerce him into taking part. accepting one of her rewrites for the film.

He claimed that Lively was controversial on set because she wanted to change many parts of the script, even though she hadn't read the book until filming.

In his filing, Baldoni also noted that when the film entered pre-production, Lively allegedly asked to “take a pass” to the rooftop scene where her character Lily Bloom first meets his character Ryle Kincaid. time.

Baldoni claimed that Lively “kept quiet for days” and later said in a text message that his response to her rewriting her “didn't feel great” to her, her husband, and what Baldoni describes as “another mega-celebrity friend” who was identified as Taylor Swift .

Lively's attorneys responded to Baldoni's lawsuit, claiming he was using “DARVO” tactics against his colleague.

The actress' lawyers released a statement accusing Baldoni of using an “abuser playbook” in her new filing.

“This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its associates is another chapter in the abuser's playbook,” Lively's attorneys said. Daily mail.

They added: “This is the age-old story: a woman comes forward with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser tries to turn on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Assault. Reverse Victim Offender.”

Elsewhere in a statement, Lively's attorneys said Baldoni's lawsuit is “retaliation” for her earlier lawsuit, in which she accused him of sexual harassment and fostering a toxic work environment on the set of “It Ends With Us.”

The statement claimed that Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, “chose to use the resources of their billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch frivolous lawsuits and threaten legal action to overwhelm the public's ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against the allegations for sexual harassment”.

Lively's lawyers continued: “They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the actors and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and The Traveler.”