Blake Lively claims she has suffered $161 million in damages due to the smear campaign launched against her during the release of “It Ends With Us.”
Lively’s attorneys allege she has lost at least $56.2 million in past and future earnings from acting, producing, speaking engagements and endorsements. They also allege that her beauty brand, Blake Brown, has lost $49 million, and her beverage company, Betty Buzz/Betty Booze, has lost $22 million due to the harm to her image.
Lively is scheduled to go to trial next March in her lawsuit against co-star and director Justin Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, studio head Steve Sarowitz, and their publicists. She alleges that she was targeted with online vitriol in retaliation for raising sexual harassment complaints on set.
Her attorneys allege that she has suffered at least $34 million in reputational harm, based on 65 million negative impressions about her generated on social media.
In her lawsuit, first filed on Dec. 31, 2024, Lively’s attorneys stated only that her damages exceeded $75,000. But in a disclosure provided to the defense in July, and made public on Wednesday, they argued she has suffered at least $161 million in actual damages. Her attorneys will also seek at least three times that in punitive damages.
Lively’s disclosure notes that her damages figure is preliminary, and subject to proof via expert testimony at trial.
“These are wish list numbers,” said Gregory Doll, a lawyer at Doll Amir Eley in Los Angeles. “You want to put a big enough number to get the other side concerned and want to settle.”
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Baldoni’s team, for its part, had argued that he suffered $400 million in damages due to her defamatory and false allegations about him. That lawsuit was dismissed in June, as a judge ruled that Baldoni’s side could not sue for defamation over allegations raised in a legal claim.
Lively’s disclosure also includes a long list of Hollywood celebrities and executives who may have information relevant to the case, though few if any of the big names are expected to actually testify. The list includes Taylor Swift, Emily Blunt, Scooter Braun, Hugh Jackman, Gigi Hadid, Ari Emanuel, Sony Pictures chairman Tony Vinciquerra, and Sony film chief Tom Rothman.
Swift’s potential involvement has been heavily litigated, with Baldoni’s camp making ultimately fruitless efforts to secure her deposition.
From Variety US