Blake Lively is now facing another lawsuit in her ongoing legal battle related to It Ends With Us, this time from a publicist named in her complaint to the California Civil Rights Department.
On Tuesday, February 4, Jed Wallace of the Texas-based crisis-management firm Street Relations, Inc., filed a defamation suit against Lively, 37, following her petition on January 21 that sought a deposition from Wallace, which she later rescinded.
In Lively’s December civil rights complaint, her attorneys alleged that Wallace was hired by Baldoni’s PR team to aid in an alleged smear campaign, claiming he “weaponized a digital army across the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed, and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums.”
Wallace’s attorneys assert in his new lawsuit that Lively’s recent petition “conceded that Lively has no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street in the Precursor which ‘made headlines around the world,’ as she now, apparently under the threat of sanctions from one of Plaintiffs’ attorneys, sought to ‘investigate the scope of Mr. Wallace’s conduct.'”
In response to the lawsuit, Lively’s legal team issued a statement saying, “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation.”
They added, “This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department.
While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wallace and his company are seeking a minimum of $7 million in damages.
The legal dispute between Lively and Baldoni, 41, commenced in December 2024 when the actress lodged a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni, claiming he displayed misconduct during the film’s production and orchestrated a retaliatory smear campaign aimed at tarnishing her reputation, which he has refuted.
In response, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane on January 16, accusing them of extortion, defamation, and other allegations.
On Monday, February 3, lawyers from both parties met in court for the first time during a pre-trial conference, where the judge cautioned them against trying the case in the public eye.
The trial involving Baldoni and Lively is currently set to take place in March 2026.
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