The Hollywood legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is intensifying as Lively fights back against what she calls a coordinated smear campaign. In her latest legal move, her attorneys have subpoenaed crisis PR consultant Jed Wallace and major telecom providers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, in an attempt to uncover critical evidence.
“Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to ‘destroy’ and ‘bury’ her reputation and family over the past year,” stated her attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson.
These subpoenas are expected to provide a digital trail of evidence, revealing the extent of the alleged smear campaign. A spokesperson for Lively confirmed, “Phone records belonging to all of the individual defendants will expose the full web of individuals who were involved. Such records will provide critical and irrefutable evidence not only about who, but also about when, where, and how their retaliation plan came together and operated.”
The Battle of Legal Narratives and Public Perception
The legal documents suggest that Baldoni’s team deliberately manipulated public perception against Lively.
“In their internal private messages that Baldoni’s team never expected anyone would see, they bragged that thanks to Jed’s work, they saw a shift in the narrative to putting a spotlight on Blake and laughed at how sad it was that people so easily want to hate on a woman,” said a spokesperson for Lively.
As Lively moves to amend her lawsuit, new names have surfaced, including Baldoni’s Wayfarer partner Jamey Heath and PR representatives Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan. These developments indicate that the case extends beyond a personal dispute, touching upon serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation.
A Legal and Media Chess Game
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, has dismissed Lively’s legal actions as excessive.
“Subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation process. What is extraordinary is what the Lively Parties are seeking. 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. This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none,” said Freedman.
Both Lively and Baldoni have filed lawsuits against each other, alleging defamation and reputational damage. The stakes are high, with legal battles touching on issues of privacy, media influence, and professional credibility.