Blake Lively has escalated her legal battle against It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, filing a legal demand to access his phone records.
The Gossip Girl actress, through her legal team, has issued subpoenas to major phone carriers—AT&T, T-Mobile,
and Verizon—in an effort to uncover what she believes to be evidence of a deliberate smear campaign against her.
Lively’s Attorneys Target Key Figures in Alleged Conspiracy
According to Variety, Lively’s attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, are not just targeting Baldoni’s phone records but are also seeking data from several key individuals.
These include publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, It Ends With Us producer Jamey Heath, crisis manager Jed Wallace, and Steve Sarowitz, the co-founder of Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios.
Lively’s legal team argues that these individuals played a role in what they describe as a concerted effort to “destroy” and “bury” her reputation. The lawsuit, which initially accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, now also alleges that he and his associates engaged in a retaliatory campaign designed to tarnish her public image and damage her career.
Subpoenas Aim to Expose Smear Campaign Communications
The legal action follows the emergence of text messages between Abel and Nathan, which were previously included in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni. These messages allegedly contain direct references to efforts to undermine Lively. Her attorneys now believe that additional records—including call logs, text messages, and other communications—will provide “critical and irrefutable evidence” about the coordination and execution of this alleged smear campaign.
In their statement, Lively’s legal representatives emphasized that the subpoenas are necessary to “expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to ‘destroy’ and ‘bury’ [Blake’s] reputation and family over the past year.” They argue that these phone records could offer definitive proof of the conspiracy they claim has been waged against the actress.
Baldoni’s Team Pushes Back, Calls It a ‘Fishing Expedition’
Justin Baldoni and his attorney, Bryan Freedman, are pushing back against Lively’s latest legal maneuver. In response to the subpoenas, Freedman downplayed their significance, arguing that subpoenas are “an ordinary part of the litigation process.” However, he took issue with the broad scope of Lively’s request, calling it an unjustified “fishing expedition.”
“They are asking for every single call, text, data log, and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient, or subject matter,” Freedman said in a statement to TMZ. “This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none.”
Baldoni’s camp maintains that Lively’s allegations are baseless and that her legal team is overreaching in an attempt to manufacture evidence to support their claims.
Lively’s Team Accuses Baldoni of Withholding Key Evidence
One of the key points of contention in this legal battle is transparency. Baldoni and his attorney previously launched thelawsuitinfo.com, a website that promised to publicly disclose all relevant documents related to the case. However, Lively’s attorneys argue that key pieces of evidence—particularly those that could substantiate her claims—are conveniently missing from the site.
“We will now receive all of the ‘receipts’ that, unsurprisingly, are nowhere to be found on Mr. Freedman’s website,” Lively’s attorneys stated. “And like Ms. Lively, those ‘receipts’ will have their day in court.”
The Bigger Picture: A Legal War with High Stakes
As this legal battle intensifies, both sides remain firmly entrenched in their positions. Lively’s legal team believes they are on the verge of uncovering concrete proof that Baldoni and his associates orchestrated a campaign against her. Meanwhile, Baldoni’s side continues to insist that Lively’s claims are unfounded and that her latest legal actions are merely an attempt to salvage a weak case.
The situation remains fluid, and if the subpoenas result in the release of key phone records, they could either validate Lively’s accusations or strengthen Baldoni’s argument that she is grasping at straws. Either way, this high-profile dispute is far from over, and the evidence uncovered in the coming weeks could prove to be a decisive turning point in the case.
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