Justin Baldoni and his publicists' alleged leaked texts reveal their plan to 'bury' Blake Lively's image
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Justin Baldoni and his publicists' alleged leaked texts revealed that they planned to "bury" Blake Lively's image amid the 'It Ends With Us' controversy.
The messages which are part of the actress' bombshell lawsuit apparently show how the actor orchestrated a PR-driven smear campaign against her after she accused him of inappropriate behavior on the film's set.
Alleged leaked messages show Justin Baldoni and his publicists planned to 'bury' Blake Lively's image
A report, published on Saturday, December 21, by The New York Times explains how Justin Baldoni contacted Jennifer Abel, the public relations head of his studio, and together, they brought in crisis management expert Melissa Nathan for the job.
Abel apparently informed Nathan in writing, "I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel like she can be buried."
Nathan replied, "We can’t write we will destroy her," but moments later she added, "Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone."
A few days later, Baldoni reportedly texted Abel a social media post of a celebrity's bullying behavior and added that this was what he needed.
According to the report, Nathan then floated proposals to hire contractors to dominate social media through "full social account takedowns" by starting "threads of theories."
She further added, "All of this will be most importantly untraceable."
Blake Lively claims Justin Baldoni wanted to 'destroy' her reputation
Justin Baldoni allegedly used a negative social media post about Hailey Bieber as an example of how he hoped his PR team could organize a smear campaign against Blake Lively, a newly filed complaint from her legal team claims, as per People.
A series of private text messages used as an exhibit in Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni, texting and emailing with PR executive Abel and Nathan as they planned what Lively claims was a smear campaign meant to "destroy" her reputation.
Notably, Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, denied Lively's allegations, calling them "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt," in a statement to the outlet on Saturday.
The complaint obtained by People shows that Baldoni texted a screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter) about Hailey titled, "Hailey Bieber's history of bullying many women."
He wrote in the text, "This is what we would need," per the complaint, to which Abel replied, "Yes I literally just spoke to Melissa about this on the break about what we discussed last night for social and digital. Focus on Reddit, TikTok, [Instagram]."
According to the complaint, on the same day, Abel messaged Nathan, stating, "I'm having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with… Just to get ahead of it."
Nathan replied, "Same," noting that one journalist friend of hers was "ready when we are," as per the complaint.
Lively alleged in her complaint filed in California that "she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety" because of Baldoni’s behavior "behind closed doors."
According to her complaint, "The emotional impact on Ms Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children."
