In the past month, few stories in Hollywood have gotten as much attention as the conflict between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Earlier in December, the former filed a legal claim against Wayfarer Studios (the production company co-founded by Baldoni) accusing the latter of creating a hostile work environment on the set of their film It Ends With Us, based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name and released this past August. Today, the situation has become even more complicated, as Baldoni's ex-publicist has filed her own lawsuit to distance herself from the alleged effort to smear Lively's reputation.
Details of this development are being reported by TMZ, which says that Stephanie Jones, a former rep for Justin Baldoni, has opted to sue her ex-employee Jennifer Abel and is claiming that her own reputation was targeted. The claim states that it was Abel who hired crisis PR specialist Melissa Nathan when the conflict between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni started to become public this past summer, and while Lively has accused Abel and Nathan of trying to discredit her in the film industry, Jones is saying that she has been targeted as well.
According to the lawsuit, Stephanie Jones is claiming that Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan conspired "for months" in an attempt to undermine Jones and her firm Jonesworks with the hopes of enhancing their own careers and positions within the entertainment industry. The filing claims that there was a collaboration between Abel, Nathan, Justin Baldoni and Wayafarer Studios to not only go after Blake Lively, but also Jones and her company. The "Nature of the Case" section in the filing says,
Behind Jones’s back, they secretly coordinated with Baldoni and Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear campaign against Baldoni’s film co-star, and then used the crisis as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Jones and Baldoni, and to publicly pin blame for this smear campaign on Jones—when Jones had no knowledge or involvement in it. To this day, Abel and Nathan continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light, and to defame and attack Jones in the industry.
The filing includes screenshots of alleged text messages between Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan that include discussions of future career plans and their personal thoughts about their experience working with Justin Baldoni
Stephanie Jones' lawsuit targets Jennifer Abel, Melissa Nathan, Justin Baldoni, and Wayfarer Studios and accuses the parties of charges including breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation. There is no specific number mentioned in regards to award for damages to the company.
Needless to say, this is a big story that is going to continue to develop as we get into the early weeks and months of 2025, and we'll continue to follow it closely here on CinemaBlend. It Ends with Us is currently available to stream with a Netflix subscription.
