Blake Lively's lawsuit against director Justin Baldoni takes a dramatic turn as legal teams clash over leaked texts and alleged smear campaign

Blake Lively's lawsuit against 'It Ends With Us' director Justin Baldoni has suddenly taken a dramatic turn. According to his lawyer Bryan Freedman, the text messages leaked against him were "taken out of context". Sexual harassment complaint that Blake Lively filed against Justin Baldoni in an 80-page document accused the director of serious assault- including forced unwanted kiss scenes and watching her naked. She also offered exhibits, among them e-mail exchanges between publicists who represent Baldoni, accusing them of spearheading a smear campaign against her.

Defending the actor's actions, Freedman accused Lively of "using some shady PR tactics," saying TAG PR, the crisis management firm representing Baldoni, did only what any firm in its shoes would do when presented with an alleged threat. He elaborated that the company was brought into the team by Baldoni to handle backlash that would come from two very powerful men. Freedman added further that the scenario planning of the PR firm was also an exercise in futility since public opinion against Lively was hostile, and the media, in turn, fed into it. In reaction, he claimed to express anger and frustration toward the New York Times for publishing leaked texts without enough context and described this as a misrepresentation as quoted by Hindustan Times.

The accused party who also happens to be Jennifer Abel-a publicist said that the leaked text was justified. In a now-deleted Facebook post, Abel explained that the messages, which she shared with crisis expert Melissa Nathan, were light-hearted comments about fan reactions and were not part of any intentional campaign to smear Lively. She claimed that the texts did not intend to harm Lively's reputation and that she never put in place any negative PR strategy. Abel argued that the negative reactions were spontaneous and not orchestrated by the team of Baldoni.

Abel also claimed that the team of Lively had sowed negative stories about Baldoni as leverage to force him into complying with their demands during the marketing campaign. She explained that her role was to arrange interviews and screenings for Baldoni, and she chose to stand by him because of the evidence that he had always treated others fairly, especially women. Standing by her decision, Abel felt confident in her choice to defend Baldoni; she said that after going through the facts, she was convinced of his commitment to equal treatment and fairness.