Blake Lively’s legal team has taken a significant step in her ongoing lawsuit against It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, issuing a subpoena on Wednesday for his phone records.
Lively accuses Baldoni of orchestrating a smear campaign against her following her allegations of sexual harassment on set.
Her attorneys have already obtained a substantial number of text messages from Jennifer Abel, a publicist linked to Baldoni.
These messages reportedly discuss efforts to “bury” and “destroy” Lively, but her legal team believes additional records are needed to uncover the full scope of the alleged retaliation.
In pursuit of further evidence, Lively’s attorneys have subpoenaed major phone carriers—AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—for records related to Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, and Wayfarer Studios co-founder Steve Sarowitz. The request also includes phone records for publicists Abel and Melissa Nathan.
“Phone records belonging to all of the individual defendants will expose the full web of individuals who were involved in the smear campaign against Ms. Lively,” a spokesperson for Lively stated.
“Such records will provide critical and irrefutable evidence not only about who, but also about when, where, and how their retaliation plan came together and operated.”
Additionally, Lively’s team has issued subpoenas to Cloudflare and AOL, as well as to crisis consultant Jed Wallace, who is accused of launching a “digital army” against Lively on Baldoni’s behalf. Wallace has denied any involvement and has, in turn, filed a defamation lawsuit against Lively.
Lively’s attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, emphasized the importance of their latest legal actions, stating,
“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.”
According to Lively’s team, messages already obtained in the case indicate Wallace was “shifting the narrative” against the actress.
“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,” her spokesperson added.
The requested phone records are expected to reveal call logs and message metadata, showing patterns of communication between key individuals. Both sides will likely push for direct access to additional communications as the legal battle progresses.
