Justin Baldoni faces new lawsuit from ex-publicist amid Blake Lively accusations

In a lawsuit filed in New York this week, Hollywood publicist Steph Jones accused her former client, filmmaker and actor Justin Baldoni, of breach of contract. This comes just days after his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively filed a complaint against him for sexual harassment on the film's set.

Justin Baldoni at the 'It Ends With Us' New York Premiere on August 6, 2024.

John Nacion/Variety/Getty Images

Baldoni, who directed and featured with Lively in the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel, has signed a one-year deal with Jones' public relations agency, Jonesworks, at a monthly cost of $25,000. Baldoni left Jones' business in August, just before It Ends With Us was released theatrically, and joined his publicist at Jonesworks, Jennifer Abel, at her newly founded public relations agency.

The lawsuit, filed in New York State Court, also accuses Abel and publicist Melissa Nathan of conspiring in a smear campaign against Lively, claiming that they then sought to shift the burden for besmirching the actress surrounding the release of It Ends With Us onto Jones. In her lawsuit, filed Saturday with the California Civil Rights Department, Lively said that Baldoni and his colleagues participated in a "social manipulation" effort to "destroy" her reputation in retaliation for saying she was sexually harassed by Baldoni.

Baldoni has disputed all charges in Lively's complaint, calling them "shameful" and "serious and categorically false allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives."

Prior to Lively's lawsuit over the weekend, her attorneys obtained text messages from Jonesworks' corporate phones by issuing a pre-litigation subpoena to Jones. The representative then gave over Abel's phone, which she had "forensically preserved" after the publicist left her organization. Text messages from the device reveal correspondences, as detailed in Lively's lawsuit, in which the two reps and Baldoni discuss how they intend to "bury" Lively as the filmmaker attempts to prevent a public outing of alleged on-set sexual misbehavior. 

"The subpoena disclosed and referenced in the complaint was served on Jonesworks LLC," Lively's attorneys said in a statement. "The internal documents mentioned in the lawsuit were produced pursuant to that subpoena.

Since the texts between the representatives and Baldoni were revealed, Abel claimed in a Facebook post that they were conversing just about preparation, as reported by Puck this week. "There was no 'smear' implemented," Abel wrote, according to the publication.  

In Jones' lawsuit, the latest legal action in the spiraling drama surrounding the summer film, which deals with issues of abuse and trauma, the powerhouse publicist claims Abel had planned for months to leave Jonesworks and abscond with the firm's clients while also tarnishing Jones' professional reputation. Nathan is alleged in the complaint of urging Abel to quit because she was eager to obtain Jonesworks clients. 

"This scheme ultimately inflicted serious damage on Jones and Jonesworks," according to the lawsuit.