Blake Lively is pushing back against her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, claiming in new court filings that a targeted smear campaign has cost her $40 million in career damage.
With their trial set to begin May 18, the actor's legal team has submitted detailed evidence regarding the alleged financial fallout resulting from their rift.
According to a memorandum filed on April 17, Lively's expert witness, Dr. Ashlee Humphreys, a marketing communications professor at Northwestern University, identified a massive spike in negative public perception, E! News reported.
Humphreys alleged that Baldoni's use of "the retaliatory phrases 'tone deaf,' 'bully,' and 'mean girl'" resulted in 176,738,781 impressions, an impact she valued at approximately "$36.5 to $40.5 million."
The legal team for the "Gossip Girl" alum also targeted statements made by Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman.
The filing alleges that Freedman's comments during the legal battle contributed an additional 116,959,530 impressions, valued at "$24,375,267" in damages.
To arrive at these figures, Dr. Humphreys reportedly quantified the reach of specific phrases and statements, identifying "the number of impressions providing the basis for each" to calculate "particular dollar damages" for the reputational harm Lively claims she endured.
However, Baldoni and his legal team at Wayfarer Studios are presenting a very different version of events.
In an opposition filed April 20, Baldoni argued that Lively's reputation was already struggling before their legal battle began.
The filing claims that being called a "'mean girl,' 'bully,' difficult to work with or 'tone deaf'" during the alleged campaign "did not cause further harm to her existing reputation" because those narratives "were widely circulated before Lively encountered" the director.
While Lively plans to ask a jury for tens of millions of dollars based on the claim that her "previously 'sterling' reputation" was tarnished, Baldoni's team asserts that evidence will show she actually "soured her own reputation" through her actions prior to the conflict.
Earlier this month, a New York judge dismissed 10 of Lively's 13 allegations against Baldoni and his associates.
Among those dismissed were sexual harassment claims, which Lively's attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said were dropped due to a legal technicality regarding Lively's status.
McCawley noted the claims were removed "not because the defendants did nothing wrong but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee," according to The Guardian.
Despite these dismissals, the judge said enough evidence exists to proceed to trial on claims of retaliation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting retaliation.
The judge's order noted that there is "some direct evidence that the plan to destroy Lively and her career was put into action."
Ultimately, a jury will decide whether the viral backlash against Lively was "organic" or "artificial," and whether the actions taken by the defendants were intended to protect themselves or were designed to "destroy Lively personally and her career."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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