Hailey Bieber was mentioned in Justin Baldoni’s alleged plot to take down his “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively.
On Friday, Lively, 37, filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, 40, and accused him of sexual harassment and creating a smear campaign meant to “destroy” her reputation.
The legal filing included a series of private text messages as evidence of Lively’s claims against Baldoni.
One message from August 4 showed that Baldoni allegedly texted a screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter) titled “Hailey Bieber’s history of bullying many women.”
“This is what we would need,” Baldoni wrote in the text about Hailey, 28.
He allegedly sent the message to PR executive Jennifer Abel, who responded, “Yes I literally just spoke to Melissa [Nathan] about this on the break about what we discussed last night for social and digital. Focus on Reddit, TikTok, IG [Instagram].”
Melissa Nathan is a crisis PR manager who was hired by Baldoni over the summer when the movie came out. At the time, rumors swirled of a feud between Lively and Baldoni, who refused to appear together to promote the flick.
Nathan previously worked with Johnny Depp after he was accused of abuse by Amber Heard.
Lively’s legal papers claimed that Baldoni’s use of the social media post about Hailey was an example of his and his allies’ “astroturfing” plan against the “Gossip Girl” alum.
Astroturfing is defined as ”the practice of publishing opinions or comments on the internet, in the media, etc. that appear to come from ordinary members of the public but actually come from a particular company or political group.”
For years, Hailey and her husband Justin Bieber’s ex, Selena Gomez, have been pitted against each other on social media. The drama reached new heights last year when Gomez, 32, revealed that Hailey reached out to her about receiving death threats. In response, Gomez asked her fans to stop the online hate.
The Post has reached out to Hailey’s rep for comment.
Lively’s filing provided more messages exchanged between Abel and Nathan, where they seemingly celebrated the negative press about Lively amid the feud rumors.
Nathan said in one message, “ALL press is so overwhelming we’ve confused people so much mixed messaging. it’s actually really funny if you think about it.”
Abel wrote to Nathan, “The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin. I see this as a total success, as does Justin. You did such amazing work.”
“Narrative is CRAZY good so did you,” Nathan responded, adding, “The majority of socials are so pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol.”
When “It Ends With Us” came out in August, Lively suffered a barrage of bad publicity as reports claimed that she and Baldoni — who directed the movie — clashed on set.
The mom of four was criticized for how she promoted the domestic violence theme of the film. She was even dubbed a “mean girl” after a journalist’s old interview with the actress went viral on social media.
The new legal filing claimed that Lively has “suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety” as a result of Baldoni’s alleged actions.
Lively claimed there was an emergency meeting held during production in January 2024 to address the “hostile work environment.”
As part of the tense sit-down, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, who attended the meeting, demanded there would be “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Lively, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ and no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Lively.”
Lively also demanded there be “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing” outside the scope of the script she approved when signing onto the project.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” Lively’s lawsuit read.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, lashed out at Lively’s lawsuit.
He told The Post, “It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”
Baldoni has been dropped by his talent agency in the wake of Lively’s complaint.
In a statement to the New York Times, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps 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.”
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