Justin Baldoni's ex-publicist sues over alleged Blake Lively smear campaign
As Blake Lively’s allegations against her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star Justin Baldoni continue to reverberate through Hollywood, a new lawsuit has further raised the stakes.
Stephanie Jones, Baldoni’s former publicist, filed a complaint Tuesday in New York Supreme Court, accusing the actor’s crisis PR team of waging a coordinated effort to undermine her and deflect blame for what she calls a retaliatory smear campaign targeting Lively.
The new lawsuit adds to the mounting fallout from Lively’s legal complaint filed last week in California. In it, the actor accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on the set of the romantic drama and orchestrating a campaign to discredit her after she raised concerns about a “hostile work environment.” Her complaint detailed allegations of "improvised physical intimacy" during scenes, pressure from Baldoni to perform greater nudity than originally agreed upon and a calculated effort to spread damaging stories about her in the press.
Jones alleges that Jennifer Abel, formerly a senior figure at her PR firm Jonesworks, collaborated with crisis manager Melissa Nathan on a “no-holds-barred strategy” to shield Baldoni from Lively's misconduct allegations while simultaneously undermining Jones’ own reputation. According to her lawsuit, the plan involved planting negative stories about Lively in the media, creating fake social media accounts to amplify the attacks and leveraging Baldoni’s public image as a feminist ally to discredit her.
Read more: Who's who in the 'It Ends With Us' controversy
“Behind Jones’s back, [Abel and Nathan] secretly coordinated with Baldoni and [his studio] Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear campaign against Baldoni’s film co-star,” the lawsuit states.
Jones, who represented Baldoni and Wayfarer from 2017 until her termination in August 2024, claims the alleged scheme destroyed her professional relationship with the actor-director. Abel is accused of using confidential company information to poach clients and lay the groundwork for a competing PR firm.
“Defendants Abel and Nathan secretly conspired for months to publicly and privately attack Jones and [her PR firm] Jonesworks,” the lawsuit alleges, describing efforts to “steal clients and business prospects” while pinning the blame for the smear campaign on Jones herself.
The filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that Jones says were extracted from Abel’s company-issued phone after her firing from Jonesworks in August, shortly before the company's relationship with Baldoni and Wayfarer came to an end. In one exchange, Abel allegedly described Baldoni as “pompous” and mocked his decision to attend a men’s retreat during the film’s release, writing, “He doesn’t need a retreat. He needs to be humbled.”
Jones accuses Abel and Nathan of weaponizing the controversy to “drive a wedge” between her and Baldoni, isolating her in the industry and damaging her career. Her lawsuit seeks damages and a court order to halt what she describes as ongoing harassment and professional sabotage. “This lawsuit seeks to finally put a stop to their continued misconduct and to compensate Jones and Jonesworks for the damage Defendants’ conduct and scheme has inflicted,” the filing reads.
Read more: As Blake Lively sues 'It Ends With Us' co-star Justin Baldoni, collaborators take her side
Bryan Freedman, an attorney representing Baldoni and the other defendants, could not immediately be reached for comment but has previously dismissed Lively's claims against his clients as “false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious.” Freedman is preparing to file a counter-lawsuit to Lively’s suit, representing Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath and the publicists named in Lively’s complaint.
As lawsuits from both Lively and Jones unfold in the courts and the public eye, the controversy has cast a harsh spotlight on Hollywood’s PR playbook, exposing the darker corners of reputation management in an industry facing calls for greater transparency and accountability.
The allegations have already had professional repercussions for Baldoni. Earlier this week, his talent agency, WME, dropped him as a client and the nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership rescinded an award honoring him as an advocate for women’s empowerment. In a statement, the organization said Baldoni’s alleged “abhorrent conduct” detailed in Lively’s lawsuit was “contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award."
Author Colleen Hoover, whose bestselling novel "It Ends With Us" was based on, has also expressed support for Lively, writing on Instagram: “Blake’s ability to refuse to sit down and ‘be buried’ has been nothing short of inspiring.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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