Saman
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Blake Lively's lawyers have responded to Justin Baldoni's lawsuit.
On Thursday, Baldoni sued his It Ends With Us co-star and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million (£326 million), alleging "extortion, defamation and breach of contract", among other claims.
Responding to the lawsuit in a statement, Lively's legal team called the action "another chapter in the abuser playbook".
"This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim," they continued. "This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender."
The Gossip Girl star's legal team went on to accuse Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, of filing "meritless lawsuits" to "overwhelm the public's ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations".
They also accused the Jane the Virgin actor of responding to Lively's recent sexual harassment allegations against Baldoni by placing the blame on her.
"Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it's her fault," the statement read. "Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim."
They added, "The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and it will fail."
Baldoni filed the lawsuit in a New York federal court on Thursday. In the suit, the director and actor also claims he was pressured into accepting a rewrite for a "key scene" in the film by Lively, Reynolds and her close friend, music megastar Taylor Swift.
The filing comes weeks after Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni in December, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign to "bury" her reputation around the film's release in August.
On Thursday, Baldoni sued his It Ends With Us co-star and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million (£326 million), alleging "extortion, defamation and breach of contract", among other claims.
Responding to the lawsuit in a statement, Lively's legal team called the action "another chapter in the abuser playbook".
"This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim," they continued. "This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender."
The Gossip Girl star's legal team went on to accuse Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, of filing "meritless lawsuits" to "overwhelm the public's ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations".
They also accused the Jane the Virgin actor of responding to Lively's recent sexual harassment allegations against Baldoni by placing the blame on her.
"Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it's her fault," the statement read. "Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim."
They added, "The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively's complaint, and it will fail."
Baldoni filed the lawsuit in a New York federal court on Thursday. In the suit, the director and actor also claims he was pressured into accepting a rewrite for a "key scene" in the film by Lively, Reynolds and her close friend, music megastar Taylor Swift.
The filing comes weeks after Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni in December, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign to "bury" her reputation around the film's release in August.