Blake Lively's staggering final legal bill revealed in court battle with Justin Baldoni
The defamation trial between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively was cancelled at the final hurdle, with the pair agreeing to an out-of-court settlement, but that hasn’t stopped the ongoing legal battle between the pair.
Lively is now seeking a huge fee from Baldoni for her legal fees almost 18 months after she first sued her It Ends With us co-star and director for sexual harassment and a ‘retaliation campaign’.
The celebrity and actor claimed that Baldoni had improvised several intimate scenes during the film, which he also wrote the screenplay for, and that she confronted him over this in a 'return to work' meeting.
Lively alleged that the director then hired a 'crisis PR' team previously used by Johnny Depp who manipulated content online to turn fans against her.
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Baldoni however claimed that this was a lie, and that he hired the PR team after she tried to 'take over' the movie.
This led the director to publish a massive document of text messages and documents he claimed backed up his version of the story, alleging that several included in Lively's legal filing withheld vital context.
Lively filed a suit claiming $161 million in damages, whilst Baldoni filed a counter-suit for $400 million.
After numerous public hearings and the threat of a public trial looming in which both their dirty laundry would be aired for the world to see, the pair came to an agreement out of court to settle.
It has turned out that, during the public feud between the pair, Lively racked up a massive $8,035,040.88 in legal fees which she is now trying to make Baldoni pay.
A filing this morning, per Deadline, stated: "Lively respectfully requests the Court award her reasonable attorneys’ fees of $7,495,526.87 and costs in the amount of $539,514.01."
Directly addressing Baldoni's production company Wayfarer Studios, who Lively also sued, the filing continued: "The Wayfarer Parties employed scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources, including a near-daily press campaign promoting their sham lawsuit, propounding expansive and irrelevant discovery demands, obstructing discovery directed at them and affiliated third parties, and forcing Lively to seek frequent relief from the Court to reign in their abusive docket filings."
Lively's legal team told Deadline: "Thanks to this landmark decision, those considering using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation have been put on notice that there are consequences for doing so.
"The value of this ruling is in the precedent it creates, the accountability it imposes, and the protection it provides to those who may one day find themselves facing similar retaliation for speaking the truth."
What had Lively claimed happened on the set of the film?
Lively had accused the director of sexually harassing her on the set of the film, alleging that he made comments which made her uncomfortable as well as 'improvising' intimate moments in scenes that she said had not been discussed. She also accused Baldoni of adding 'improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film', including scenes in which she was expected to 'orgasm on-camera', after she had already signed onto the role.
She also accused Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath of a 'lack of boundaries', including claiming that Heath had shown her a fully nude video of his wife giving birth without her consent.
Lively also alleged that he had made comments about her weight, contacting her personal trainer to try and ask if she could lose weight for a scene in which she had to lift her just months after she gave birth. She also said that Baldoni had claimed to be able to 'communicate with the dead', namely her deceased father.
The pair clashed on the set of the film, taking their feud public after the fact (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Her legal filling suggested that, when she raised these complains against Baldoni and the wider productions, he engaged in an online smear campaign against her, hiring crisis PR management.
The filing, published by the New York Times, included text messages between Baldoni's team, PR veteran Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan.
This included Abel telling Nathan Baldoni 'wants to feel like she can be buried', and the teams celebrating when negative stories began cropping up about Lively.
What were Baldoni's claims to counter Lively's legal filing?
Baldoni denied these claims, himself releasing a massive online document of text messages and emails he claimed vindicated his side of the story and disproved her legal filing.
They suggested that the texts released in the filing by the New York Times were taken out of context.
The director suggested that the feud actually started due to a creative disagreement surrounding editing of the film, claiming that she had fallen out with him after trying to wrestle control of the movie.
Baldoni's legal team also released video footage he claimed vindicated him, though others suggested it showed Lively visibly uncomfortable.
He also alleged that Ryan Reynolds had confronted him at his and Lively's home, suggesting that the actor had confronted him, saying: "How dare you f***ing ask about my wife's weight? What's wrong with you?" Baldoni suggests this was aggressive, and also alleged that Reynolds parodied him in Deadpool and Wolverine with a character called 'Nicepool' who is a faux feminist with a manbun.
Baldoni claimed that Reynolds also attempted to have him fired by his agency, suggesting that he confronted an executive at WME and called the director a 'sexual predator'.
What did the joint statement released by Lively and Baldoni after their settlement say?
Baldoni and Lively's team released a joint statement after the lawsuit was settled, telling Variety: “The end product – the movie ‘It Ends With Us’ – is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors – and all survivors – is a goal that we stand behind.
"We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.
"We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
Topics: Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Celebrity, TV and Film, Money
Michael Slavin