Blake Lively's lawyers have hit back at Justin Baldoni for launching "more attacks" against her during their ongoing legal battle.
The 37-year-old actress filed a complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star and director last month, alleging that Justin created a hostile work environment through sexual harassment, among other things, and used "sinister retaliatory tactics" in an effort to smear her name.
The New York Times broke the news of the lawsuit on December 21, claiming Justin hired a crisis PR team to "bury" Blake and intentionally slander her credibility and reputation.
Days later, Justin filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the publication's coverage of Blake's accusations, claiming it pushed an "unverified and self-serving narrative".
Addressing Justin's lawsuit on Monday, Blake's attorneys said that her "serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation" are "backed by concrete facts".
"This is not a 'feud' arising from 'creative differences' or a 'he said/she said' situation," the lawyers' statement to People began.
© Getty Images"As alleged in Ms. Lively's complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing."
The statement continued: "Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to 'blame the victim' by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied.
© USW"Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct."
It concluded: "Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively's legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats."
© Getty ImagesOn New Year's Eve, Blake filed a lawsuit against Justin in a New York federal court, mirroring her earlier claims that were submitted with the California Civil Rights Department. In addition to Justin, she is suing his production company Wayfarer Studios and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel.
Justin has denied all allegations and last month, his lawyer Brian Freedman called them "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt".
© Getty ImagesHe said: "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions."
© Getty ImagesJustin's lawyer revealed on January 2 that he "absolutely" plans to sue Blake on behalf of his client.
"We plan to release every single text message between the two of them," he told NBC News. "We want the truth to be out there. We want the documents to be out there. We want people to make their determination based on receipts."
