Blake Lively's legal eagles have embarked on an intensive quest to procure the phone records of Justin Baldoni and his entourage, aiming to unravel what they assert is a malicious defamation campaign orchestrated by the director of "It Ends with Us" against the actress.
At 37, Lively accused Baldoni, 41, alongside others, of sexual harassment and initiating a purported retaliatory smear campaign in a grievance lodged in December. In swift counteraction, Baldoni retaliated with a whopping $400 million lawsuit in January against Lively, her spouse Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane's PR firm, citing civil extortion and defamation among other claims. The high-stakes legal battle, titled "Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al.," is penciled in for a court date on March 9, 2026.
In a statement to PEOPLE on February 12, Lively's legal representatives, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, revealed that subpoenas had been issued to "uncover the individuals, strategies, and methodologies that have been meticulously employed to 'destroy' and 'bury' her reputation and that of her family over the past year."
Freedman, responding to these subpoenas, described them as a "routine aspect of the litigation process" but underscored the "extraordinary" nature of the information being sought. "They are demanding every conceivable call, text, data log, and even real-time location data spanning 2.5 years, irrespective of the sender, recipient, or content," Freedman's statement emphasized. "This extensive fishing expedition underscores their desperate quest for any semblance of factual support for their demonstrably false allegations. They will come up empty-handed."
Subpoenas were dispatched to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, seeking phone records pertaining to Baldoni, publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, in an endeavor to "expose the intricate web of individuals implicated in the smear campaign targeting" Lively, her spokesperson elaborated. These records could potentially serve as "invaluable and undeniable evidence, shedding light not only on who was involved but also when, where, and how their retaliatory scheme was conceived and executed."
Furthermore, subpoenas were issued to Cloudflare, Inc., and AOL for internet records, with the objective of "revealing the participation of various individuals who might be playing pivotal roles in digital retaliation," according to the spokesperson.
Jed Wallace, too, received a subpoena, following Lively's December civil rights complaint, which alleged that Baldoni's PR team had enlisted Wallace of Street Relations, Inc., a crisis-management firm, to aid in the smear campaign. Notably, Wallace and his firm preemptively filed a $7 million defamation lawsuit against Lively earlier this month.
Lively's spokesperson expressed the team's anticipation to delve deeper into "Jed Wallace's entire business model and uncover any additional endeavors he undertook to divert attention away from the legitimate sexual harassment and retaliation claims lodged by Ms. Lively."
Lively's legal team asserts that they are poised to "now obtain all the 'smoking guns,'" encompassing messages purportedly omitted from a website launched by Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, on February 1. Dubbed simply "Lawsuit Info," the site includes a link to the amended complaint Baldoni filed against Lively on January 16.
