Justin Baldoni is suing his former publicist, Stephanie Jones, accusing her of leaking the private text messages that sparked a huge legal battle with his It Ends With Usco-star, Blake Lively.
Baldoni is currently embroiled in a firestorm with Lively, who sued the actor and director – along with crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan, producer Jamey Heath, Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz and others – in December 2024 over allegations of sexual harassment and a coordinated campaign to damage her reputation.
The lawsuit landed amid rumours of a feud that had begun while the pair were shooting the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, and fuelled as they appeared to avoid each other during the promotional tour.
Shortly after, Jones filed a suit against Baldoni for breach of contract, linking her dismissal to the alleged smear campaign against Lively.
The publicist claimed that she fired her former employee Jennifer Abel last summer after learning she was stealing company documents in an attempt to start her own business.
When Abel returned her company phone to Jones, Jones claimed that she discovered text messages and emails related to Abel’s work with Baldoni and his studio Wayfarer, at which point she apparently realised Abel had been involved in a retaliation campaign against Lively.
Baldoni and Abel are now suing Jones, accusing her of violating client confidentiality by sharing private communications that later became central evidence in Lively’s lawsuit.
“It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic of privacy rights, as well as any remaining trust her clients held,” Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement to People.
“No stranger to stirring up crisis scenarios for departing clients, Ms Jones maliciously turned over communications from the phone she wrongfully took from her own partner to her cohort [Lively’s personal publicist] Leslie Sloane, immediately after Jones was terminated for cause by Wayfarer due to her own wrongful behaviour.“
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Jones’s lawyer said in a statement to the publication: “Ms Jones’s lawsuit is based entirely on facts and concrete evidence. That suit clearly shows that Jen Abel conspired with Melissa Nathan and others to steal reams of confidential documents, clients and staff and eventually attempt to destroy the business that Ms Jones spent decades building.
“Abel, Nathan, Baldoni and their co-defendants attempted to achieve these outcomes through bullying, distortion and outright disparagement. These facts are backed up by dozens of messages provided in the suit we filed months ago and cannot be credibly disputed.
“Having no facts or evidence, we see a familiar playbook – smear our client, culminating in the work of fiction masquerading as the counterclaims that were filed yesterday.”
The latest lawsuit is the sixth tied to the production of It Ends With Us, which was released in August last year to dismal reviews.
Baldoni sued the New York Times for $250m in January over its reporting of Lively’s allegations against him, accusing the publication of libel and false-light invasion of privacy. The newspaper defended its reporting and said it plans to “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit.
The former Jane the Virgin star then counter-sued Lively and her husband, actor and producer Ryan Reynolds, for $400m, accusing them of attempting to “destroy” his reputation and career.
Reynolds’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s lawsuit against him this week, saying he cannot sue over “hurt feelings”.
In January, a New York federal judge told both parties to prepare for a trial in March 2026.
