Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni of leaking details of her deposition, including what she wore, to create ‘a media circus'
Lively, 37, was questioned under oath by the attorneys of her 'It Ends With Us' co-star-turned-rival on Thursday — the details of which were 'immediately' leaked, according to a letter her lawyers filed Monday.
3 Blake Lively claimed Justin Baldoni leaked details from inside his lawyers' deposition of her.
REUTERS
The deposition started at 10:13 a.m. that morning — and by 10:15 a.m. TMZ published its story revealing Baldoni attended the grilling of the 'Gossip Girl' actress, Lively's lawyers claimed.
3 Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a bitter legal dispute for months since she accused him of sexually harassing her on the set of 'It Ends With Us.'
Christopher Peterson / SplashNews.com
'Consistent with their goal of creating a media circus around Ms. Lively's deposition, it also appears that the Wayfarer Defendants immediately leaked details from the deposition to the tabloid media,' Lively said of Baldoni's side, which includes the production company of 'It Ends With Us,' Wayfarer Studios LLC.
The leaks continued the next day, including 'in detail Ms. Lively's attire for the deposition' and who accompanied her to the meeting, Lively's lawyers claimed.
This was to 'misleadingly' create a narrative that Lively 'needed a large contingent of people with her to testify' while suggesting Baldoni was only accompanied by one lawyer, she alleged.
The Daily Mail published a story the day after noting Lively was with her older half sister Robyn and her 'Deadpool' actor husband Ryan Reynolds when she walked into the building wearing black jeans and jacket and a light blue cardigan. The two weren't in the room with her, however, when she was under oath during the day-long session that her eight lawyers also attended, the outlet reported.
'The reality is' Baldoni and the other defendants had an army of 13 lawyers there with them, the Manhattan federal court papers claimed.
3 Baldoni's side told the media that he was present for her questioning and other details from the day, Lively's lawyers claimed.
©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Depositions often take place at the law firms of the parties involved and are not open to the public — unlike most court proceedings. While Baldoni asked that the deposition take place at his lawyers' office, Lively won a protective order allowing her to be questioned at a location of her choosing. She was questioned at her attorneys' office on 7th Avenue, the Daily Mail reported.
Lively's lawyers claim that a day after the deposition, Baldoni's side posted the 292-page rough draft version of the transcript under seal for a week. Lively's team will have to file a motion to keep it under seal indefinitely.
Baldoni's lawyers 'hope to make Ms. Lively defend the continued sealing of the transcript so they can advance a false narrative that Ms. Lively is afraid of her deposition testimony becoming public, which is entirely untrue and deeply harmful.'
Deposition transcripts normally remain under seal unless arguments are made for them to be unsealed for legal reasons. Portions of deposition transcripts can also come out during trials.
Lively's lawyers argued that the transcript should be erased from the record for now.
Lively launched a $250 million lawsuit against Baldoni and others claiming he sexually harassed her on the set of the 2024 movie, which he directed and co-starred in.
She alleged that things got so bad during filming that there was a tense sit-down where she and Reynolds demanded he refrain from showing her nude videos and photos of women and that he stop talking to Lively about his prior addiction to porn and his sexual conquests.
Lively claimed that Baldoni's team then went on a smear campaign about her which hurt her businesses and her family, the suit alleged.
Baldoni — who was on the TV show 'Jane the Virgin' — then countersued for $400 million for extortion and defamation against Lively and Reynolds.
Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Liman dismissed Baldoni's claims in June.
Lawyers on both sides didn't immediately return requests for comment Monday afternoon.
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