Justin Baldoni’s former publicist is suing the actor-director amid the growing fallout over the alleged harassment of Blake Lively, Baldoni’s It Ends With Us co-star.
Lively previously filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set and initiating a social media campaign to “destroy” her reputation — details of which were in a series of text messages involving Baldoni, his current publicist, Jennifer Abel, and PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan.
In a new lawsuit filed with New York state court Tuesday, Stephanie Jones, who owns PR company Jonesworks, accuses Baldoni of breaching their contract when he dropped the firm after Abel left Jonesworks to start her own company.
Jones also claims Abel and Nathan carried out an online smear campaign against Lively behind Jones’s back and without her knowledge. Jones is suing the two, along with Baldoni, for defamation, saying they tried to blame Jones for the alleged …