What have Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni accused each other of? Their legal battle so far

Another lawsuit has been filed in connection with the ongoing legal battle between actress Blake Lively and her co-star Justin Baldoni. Crisis communications specialist Jed Wallace filed a $7m (£5.6m) defamation suit against Lively after he was named in court papers, as part of her legal fight against an alleged smear campaign to harm her reputation. It is the latest in a series of developments after both actors filed lawsuits against each other following an initial legal complaint from Lively, after the pair worked together on the film It Ends With Us.

The dispute between them has been ongoing since December last year - and is pretty complicated. So here is everything you need to know about Hollywood's latest legal off-screen drama, and how it has unfolded so far. Film's release overshadowed by speculation. The release of It Ends With Us in August 2024 was somewhat overshadowed by speculation about discord between its two main actors. The film is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel and follows Lively's character, Lily Bloom, as she navigates an abusive relationship with Baldoni's character, Ryle Kincaid.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film, even though he also directed and produced the project, while Lively took centre stage along with husband Ryan Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time. Baldoni also did not pose for photos with other actors at the premiere and fans noticed that he was not followed by Lively or co-star Jenny Slate on Instagram. Lively appeared to take the brunt of negative media attention around the same time the film was released, with some also criticising her for promoting her own businesses - beverage company Betty Buzz and hair care brand Blake Brown - at the same time.

In an interview with NBC News' Today programme, Baldoni touched on the online speculation by broadly saying making a movie involves "navigating complex personalities" to get on the same page. He added at the time: "And mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them.". Lively's legal complaint. On 21 December, The New York Times published an article called 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, which revealed Lively had filed a legal complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department.

In the complaint, Lively, 37, accused Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment and alleged that he, along with the studio behind It Ends With Us, embarked on a subsequent "multi-tiered plan" to damage her reputation. Concerns raised in the filing included Baldoni showing pictures of nude women to Lively, mentioning his previous porn addiction, and making comments about Lively's weight. Baldoni has denied all the allegations.

Tension between the two actors was addressed in a meeting in January 2024, where a new code of conduct for the set of the film was put in place, according to the complaint. Alleged smear campaign. As part of the sexual harassment complaint, lawyers representing Lively demanded the release of any messages relating to what they referred to as an attempt to damage the actor's reputation. The complaint claims Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios - the production company behind It Ends With Us - hired a crisis communications firm in order to carry out a "sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" meant to "bury" and "destroy" Lively, if she went public with her on-set concerns.

She alleges the plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of her. It also claimed Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away from" the film's marketing plan and "used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image". In messages that were later made public, exchanges between Jennifer Abel, of PR firm RWA Communications, Melissa Nathan, of The Agency Group PR, and Baldoni, appear to discuss the plan.

In one exchange Ms Nathan apparently tells Ms Abel: "We can't write it down to him… We can't write 'we will destroy her'... You know we can bury anyone. But I can't write that to him.". Lively told The New York Times that she hoped the complaint would help to "pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted".

These allegations were also strenuously denied by Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives. Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing all three, called the claims by Lively "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media". He said the studio had "proactively" hired a crisis manager "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Lively during production".