In the latest development in her legal battle against Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively has filed subpoenas to obtain her It Ends With Us co-star’s phone records. According to Deadline, Lively’s legal team has sent a series of subpoenas to carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as alleged social media manipulator Jed Wallace, to examine Baldoni’s “real receipts.”
Videos by Suggest
“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,” attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb shared in a statement.
“We will now receive all of the ‘receipts’ that, unsurprisingly, are nowhere to be found on Mr. Freedman’s website,” the lawyers noted. “And like Ms. Lively, those ‘receipts’ will have their day in court.”
Justin Baldoni Reacts to the Supoenas Brought on By Blake Lively and Her Legal Team
Meanwhile, Justin Baldoni’s legal team spoke about Blake Lively’s subpoenas.
“Subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation process,” Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said. “What is extraordinary is what the Lively Parties are seeking.”
Freedman then stated, “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.”
Deadline also reported that Freedman represents Wallace. Crisis PR chief Melissa Nathan also represents Wallace. She is listed as a defendant in the lawsuits. Lively accused Nathan of being a part of a smear campaign against her following It Ends With Us lackluster box office success. Lively said Nathan had tapped Wallace to help with the campaign.
Nathan and fellow publicist Jennifer Abel previously admitted they planned a potential defense of their client. However, they said they never “pushed the button” because an “organic hate-in” against Lively occurred without their help.
A spokesperson for Lively and Reynolds released a statement about the subpoenas. “We look forward to investigating more about Jed Wallace’s entire business model and what else he was doing to distract from the very real sexual harassment and retaliation claims made by Ms. Lively. We are delighted to be able to start discovery on it.”
Justin Baldoni is also going after Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist Leslie Stone. He accused them of defamation and is suing them for $400 million. The actor/director launched a website showing text message exchanges between him and Lively during the It Ends With Us production.