Breaking News: Blake Lively Faces $7M Defamation Lawsuit from Crisis Publicist She Claims ‘Weaponized a Digital Army’ Against Her

Blake Lively previously alleged that this crisis PR firm was hired to smear her image with a “digital army”

By Jen Juneau Updated on February 5, 2025 04:40PM EST

Blake Lively is facing another lawsuit in her ongoing It Ends With Us legal battle with costar Justin Baldoni, this time from a publicist she named in the complaint she filed with the California Civil Rights Department.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Jed Wallace of the Texas-based crisis-management firm Street Relations, Inc., sued Lively, 37, alleging defamation. This came after Lively filed a petition on Jan. 21 requesting a deposition from Wallace, which was then rescinded Tuesday, according to Wallace’s lawsuit.

In Lively’s December civil rights complaint, her lawyers alleged that Wallace was hired by Baldoni’s PR team to assist in the alleged smear campaign, claiming he “weaponized a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums.”

Wallace’s lawyers claim in his new lawsuit that her recent petition “conceded that Lively has no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street in the Precursor which ‘made headlines around the world’ as she now, apparently under the threat of sanctions from one of Plaintiffs’ attorneys, sought to ‘investigate the scope of Mr. Wallace’s conduct.’ ”

In response to the lawsuit, Lively’s legal team said in a statement, “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation.”

“This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department,” her lawyers add. “While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”