Justin Baldoni has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times after it published an article containing allegations from his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.

Baldoni, who co-directed and starred in the blockbuster film with Lively, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday for defamation and invasion of privacy. The complaint alleged that the Times relied on “emphasized” and altered communications in which details were “taken out of necessary context and intentionally spliced ​​together” to “mislead.”

The story “We Can Bury Everyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” was written by reporters Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate. It reported on Lively’s allegations of sexual misconduct by Baldoni and an alleged campaign to “damage” Lively’s reputation and image. The article also included alleged text messages and email exchanges between Baldoni’s publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan; However, Baldoni’s lawsuit alleges that the exchanges in the Times story were stripped of their “critical context.”

“The central thesis of the article, summarized in a defamatory headline intended to immediately mislead the reader, is that the plaintiffs have orchestrated a campaign of retaliation against Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment – ​​a premise that absolutely is false and easily refuted,” the lawsuit states.

It continued: “If the Times had actually reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have received, its reporters would have seen irrefutable evidence that Lively, not the plaintiffs, waged a calculated smear campaign.”

Baldoni, who is seeking $250 million in damages, also lists nine other co-plaintiffs, including Wayfarer Studios LLC, which produced “It Ends With Us,” and his publicists Abel and Nathan.

Brian Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, said in a statement to “Good Morning America” ​​that the Times “caved to the wishes and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites and disregarded journalistic practices and ethics that were once appropriate to the respected publication.” “Manipulated and manipulated texts and the deliberate omission of texts that question their chosen PR narrative.”

“In doing so, they predetermined the outcome of their story and aided and abetted their own disastrous public relations smear campaign aimed at revitalizing Lively’s self-inflicted, faltering public image and counteracting the organic groundswell of criticism in the online public sphere,” continued Freedman continued. “The irony is rich.”

Freedman added: “Make no mistake, however, as we all join together to bring down The New York Times by no longer allowing it to deceive the public, we will continue this campaign of authenticity by also sue those people who have abused their power to destroy my clients’ lives.

“While their side advocates partial truths, we advocate the full truth – and have all the means of communication to back it up,” the statement said. “The public will decide for themselves, as they did at the beginning.”

A spokesperson for The New York Times told “Good Morning America” ​​that they “plan to vigorously defend” the lawsuit.

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story has been reported carefully and responsibly,” the Times’ response continued. “It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and extensively in the article.”

“To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not identified a single error,” the spokesperson claimed. “We have also published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article.”

Good Morning America has reached out to Lively’s representatives for comment on Baldoni’s lawsuit against The New York Times.

Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni and other defendants in New York on Wednesday. She is also suing Wayfarer Studios for “failure to investigate, prevent and/or remediate harassment,” as well as others, including Nathan and Abel.

Lively’s lawsuit follows a complaint she filed with the California Department of Civil Rights a week ago in which she accused Baldoni and others of waging a smear campaign against her and accusing the actor of sexual misconduct. Baldoni has denied all allegations through his lawyer.

In her lawsuit, which repeats details she previously laid out in her complaint, she refers to a meeting that allegedly took place on January 4, 2024, before filming of “It Ends With Us” resumed following guild strikes . The meeting is alleged to have included Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film, including Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath and Lively, who addressed what she described as “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and Heath.

According to the lawsuit, Lively said she made specific demands at the meeting to ensure a safe and professional work environment, including “no more showing Blake nude videos or images of women” and “no more discussions of sexual conquests in front of Blake.” and others, no further mentions of the cast and crew’s genitals, no further inquiries into Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”

Lively alleged that Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios then engaged in a “social manipulation campaign” to “destroy” Lively’s reputation, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also includes alleged texts from Baldwin’s publicist to a Wayfarer publicist; They allegedly said that Baldoni “wants to feel like (Ms. Lively) can be buried” and “We can’t write, we will destroy her.” Baldoni’s lawsuit has denied that these are complete and accurate texts.

Lively’s lawyers said in a statement that the actress’ “decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks.”

“As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal complaint, Wayfarer and its employees violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns,” Lively’s attorneys said. “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.”

Both Baldoni and Lively are seeking a jury trial.

Good Morning America has reached out to Baldoni’s rep for comment on Lively’s lawsuit against him.

The film “It Ends With Us” is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover. In it, Lively plays a woman with a traumatic upbringing who enters an abusive relationship.

Baldoni told “Good Morning America” ​​that Lively was an integral part of the film and that he worked with a foundation dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence on the project.