Justin Baldoni's publicist quit previous PR firm over bullying amid Blake Lively's alleged smear campaign

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Justin Baldoni's publicist Jennifer Abel claims to have quit working at her previous PR firm after being bullied, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday, December 26.

However, it clashes with previous reports of her being fired at the same time that Baldoni was allegedly running a smear campaign against Blake Lively.

Abel's claim has come to light days after she was sued by Baldoni's ex-publicist, Stephanie Jones. At present, Abel, Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios, and his crisis manager Melissa Nathan, have all been named as the defendants in the suit alleging defamation and breach of contract.

Jennifer Abel's claim of being bullied

Jennifer Abel left Stephanie Jones' public relations firm Jonesworks and founded her own firm - RWA Communications - in July.

A source close to her reportedly told The Wrap that Abel shared her experience of being bullied at Joneswork while being a partner at that place and representing Baldoni. After she started her own company, Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios went with her.

The complaints of bullying by Abel were targeted at Matthew Mitchell, her partner at Joneswork on Baldoni's account as well as "majority of other clients."

According to Daily Mail, the timeline of Abel's departure from Joneswork was interesting as she claims to have voluntarily resigned on July 10 and set her date of departure as August 23. However, Variety had previously reported Abel being fired on August 21, days after 'It Ends With Us' starring Baldoni and Lively was released.

Stephanie Jones' claim of firing Jennifer Abel

Legal documents obtained by The New York Times reportedly showed Stephanie Jones claiming to fire Jennifer Abel after finding out that the latter was poaching her clients.

The insider close to Abel shared on the subject, "Jennifer tendered her resignation in July and had agreed to stay on until August 23. She was terminated early after Jonesworks discovered that she had stolen over 70 documents."

The timing of the conflict between Jones and Abel coinided with the alleged smear campaign by Baldoni against Lively, which leads the Daily Mail to speculate that it might have had a hand in the incident.