One of the biggest stories to rock Hollywood in 2024 shows no signs of slowing down: Justin Baldoni has filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for her Dec. 20 story titled “‘We Can Bury Everyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” The article detailed Blake Lively’s allegations against Baldoni and others for alleged sexual harassment during filming It ends with us.

Attorney Bryan Freedman filed the lawsuit on behalf of 10 plaintiffs, including Baldoni. This came after Lively filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights on December 20, the same day the Times story was published, accusing Baldoni, the star and director of her hit film, of sexual harassment, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional violence Emergency and more in one bombastic 80-page document. She claims to have suffered damage to her reputation as a result of a smear campaign. On Tuesday, Lively officially filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, his PR team and his film studio.

In a statement, Freedman told Variety that the Times “gave in to the wishes and whims of two powerful, ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites and disregarded journalistic practices and ethics once appropriate to the prestigious publication by using manipulated and manipulated text and.” intentionally omitting texts that questioned their chosen PR narrative.”

This is the first of several lawsuits, including a possible one against Lively, which Freedman previously said will “expose those who think they are untouchable” and the details will “shock everyone.”

Before Tuesday’s news While the lawsuit fell through, a source told People that Lively is “in touch with her team” and “knows she’s going to have an explosive start to the new year.”

“She still believes she’s doing the right thing. She’s ready to take on whatever comes her way,” the insider said.

The details in Lively’s complaint were disturbing. She accused Baldoni of improvising intimate moments during filming, adding “gratuitous sexual content” to the script after she committed – and allegedly telling her he wasn’t attracted to her – and asking for details about her and her husband Ryan Reynolds’ sex life. Baldoni and his producing partner Jamey Heath, named in the lawsuit, are accused of attempting to see Lively naked while she was changing in her trailer.

Baldoni and Heath have denied these “false” claims and their lawsuit against the company Just provides text messages that purport to show Lively and Baldoni had a friendly correspondence in June, according to Variety.

Here are the main players in this dispute and the allegations made against them.

Blake Lively

The actress starred in It ends with us and was also a producer of the film. In the complaint, she says she raised concerns about Baldoni and Heath’s behavior on set last year. According to the complaint, a meeting was held on January 4, 2024, where she outlined her alleged inappropriate behavior and all parties agreed to implement protective measures on set.

Thirty rules were introduced, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women” for Lively; no more discussion of Baldoni and Heath’s former “pornography addiction”; “No more impromptu kissing”; and “No more trespassing” on Lively’s trailer while she’s naked. The rules also prohibited Baldoni from adding new “sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxes” outside of the previously approved script and required that an intimacy coordinator be on set for any scenes involving nudity.

The part of Lively’s complaint that particularly resonated in the entertainment industry, however, was the alleged smear campaign mounted against Lively by Baldoni’s publicists, which seemed to expose the brutal tactics of the crisis PR world.

Baldoni has accused Lively and her team of spreading negative stories to the press, which they have denied.

On December 31, Lively formally sued Baldoni and others, claiming she was subjected to “further retaliation and attacks” thereafter New York Times Report.

“Wayfarer and its employees violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns,” she said in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “Now the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where many of the relevant activities described in the lawsuit occurred, but we reserve the right to take further action in other locations and jurisdictions as required by law.”

Justin Baldoni

The Jane the Virgin The actor and director has not specifically addressed any of the allegations made by Lively; However, his lawyer promised “a conscious pursuit of the truth.”

Baldoni reportedly hired a crisis PR firm for himself and Wayfarer Studios after they believed Lively’s team was spreading unfavorable stories to the press around the film’s release in August. Baldoni’s attorney has alleged that a New York Times article that broke the news of Lively’s complaint appeared to have “manipulated or spliced ​​together out of context” damaging texts between him and his representative about the alleged smear campaign.

“This lawsuit will expose and debunk the false and destructive narrative that was intentionally constructed by a trusted media publication that relied on nefarious sources and neglected a thorough fact-checking process to confirm the validity of these texts,” Freedman said on Dec. 29 People. and added: “The truth will not only come to light – it will destroy the illusions fueled by those who believe themselves untouchable.”

Wayfarer Studios

The independent production studio behind it It ends with us was co-founded in 2019 by Baldoni and Steve Sarowitz. The studio also owns the rights to adapt the film’s sequel. It starts with us.

In a letter following the Jan. 4 meeting, the studio acknowledged: “While our perspectives differ in many ways, ensuring a safe environment for everyone is of the utmost importance, regardless of differing viewpoints. As for your expressed wishes, we consider most of them to be not only appropriate but also essential to the benefit of all concerned.”

Jamey Heath

Heath is CEO of Wayfarer Studios and lead producer of It ends with us.

He is accused of showing Lively inappropriate videos, including his wife giving birth, entering her makeup trailer uninvited and more. He signed an additional letter to Lively’s contract agreeing not to retaliate against the actress in implementing her requested protections. He hired Freedman and is expected to be part of the countersuit.

Steve Sarowitz

Sarowitz, an entrepreneur and billionaire philanthropist, is reported to have invested $125 million in Wayfarer in 2022. According to Lively’s complaint, Sarowitz claimed he was willing to spend $100 million to “ruin the lives” of the actress and her family. Sarowitz hired Freedman as his attorney.

Jennifer Abel

Abel is a publicist and represents Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios. She previously worked at the PR firm Jonesworks before starting her own firm, bringing both Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients. Many of her text messages were included in Lively’s complaint as evidence of the alleged smear campaign – but exactly how they were obtained has been the subject of much industry speculation. Freedman claims the texts were carefully selected and do not reveal the whole story.

Melissa Nathan

Nathan is a crisis PR expert hired by Wayfarer Studios and Baldoni in August. In a now-infamous text allegedly sent to Abel and revealed in Lively’s complaint, Nathan wrote, “We can bury anyone,” apparently referring to Lively.

Nathan’s previous celebrity clients include Drake and Johnny Depp, who hired Nathan during his successful libel trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Stephanie Jones

Jones, Baldoni’s ex-publicist and Abel’s former employer, claims that Abel and others initiated a secret smear campaign against Lively behind her back. She filed her own civil lawsuit against the same group named in Lively’s complaint.

“Behind Jones’ back, (Abel and Nathan) secretly coordinated with Baldoni and (his studio) Wayfarer to conduct an aggressive media smear campaign against Baldoni’s co-star in the film,” the lawsuit states.

Sony pictures

The studio was the distributor of It ends with us. After the January 4 meeting, Sony agreed to take an “active, day-to-day role in overseeing physical production” for the remainder of filming. Sony is not named as a defendant in Lively’s lawsuit.

After the film ended, Lively engaged in a creative battle with Baldoni and Heath. She created her own cut of the film with the support of Sony and hired her own editors and a composer. Sony eventually distributed Lively’s version of the film.

The studio publicly supported Lively in a statement after she filed the complaint.

Ryan Reynolds

Actor Ryan Reynolds, who is married to Lively, acted as his wife’s representative before production on the film resumed to ensure agreed upon safety precautions were in place.

Baldoni allegedly mentioned Reynolds while texting Abel and Nathan. According to messages included in the complaint, Baldoni wrote to them about how Sarowitz suggested “flipping the narrative” regarding Reynolds by, for example, discussing his involvement in the film’s script. Lively revealed at the premiere that Reynolds rewrote a key scene in the film.

According to the complaint, Baldoni and Sarowitz “suggested ways to manipulate these rumors to make Mr. Reynolds appear to be an anti-feminist.” Nathan allegedly wrote back: “It’s a simple trick” and said she was working on such a story.

In Baldoni’s claims, Reynolds insulted him during a meeting at the couple’s New York residence, and according to Tuesday’s lawsuit, Reynolds accused Baldoni of “fat-shaming” the actress. The lawsuit alleges that Reynolds pressured WME — home of Baldoni, Reynolds and Lively — to fire the director in July Deadpool and Wolverine. This allegedly happened before Baldoni hired a crisis PR agency. WME permanently dropped Baldoni earlier this month following Lively’s proposal. A WME representative denied to Variety that the company was pressured by Reynolds or Lively.