Blake Lively’s deposition date revealed in Justin Baldoni legal war

Blake Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation against It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni will soon be tested.

Justin Baldoni’s legal team will depose co-star Blake Lively next week to see “how consistent her testimony is with the actual facts”.

After Lively’s lawyers served subpoenas to two publicists connected to Baldoni who are not parties in the legal battle, the publicists’ lawyer filed a motion for extension, asking for an extra week to produce documents, People reports.

One email, sent on July 2, that is exhibited in the filing states that “ … Lively’s deposition is set for July 17.”

According to a source cited by TMZ Lively and her legal team will be in the room but her husband Ryan Reynolds isn’t expected to be in the deposition proceedings.

Lively is suing Baldoni and his company Wayfarer Studios over allegations of sexual harassment during the production of their film “It Ends With Us” as well as an alleged smear campaign against her. Baldoni has denied the claims.

Blake Lively. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Justin Baldoni. Picture: Getty Images for Vital Voices Global Partnership

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni, opened up about the deposition plans on TMZ Live last month.

“I’m gonna ask her questions under penalty of perjury, and she’s gonna have to provide evidence, and she’s gonna have to provide the truth of the stories. We have all of the video tape, all the footage. We have, you know, the text messages and we have emails. We’re gonna see how consistent her testimony is with the actual facts of what transpired,” Freedman said.

Freedman said Baldoni is “a person who wants to be vindicated, and that’s all that he cares about.”

He added that Baldoni “knows who he is. He knows what he’s done. He knows what he hasn’t done. And he wants the truth to come out, and he wants to do that in the appropriate way. … He’s waiting for his day in court, where he can speak out to tell the truth.”

The development comes after Lively dragged two prominent media figures into the dispute.

Her legal team this month subpoenaed right-wing activist and commentator Candace Owens and infamous blogger Perez Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr.

TMZ broke the news that Lively, 37, believed the media stars had colluded with Baldoni, 41, and used their “sizeable digital platforms” to launch a smear campaign against her.

Owens, for her part, said she learned of the legal filing just moments before the outlet’s story went live and had not been personally served with the court documents at the time of publication.

“This is a hit,” she said on her “Candace Owens” YouTube channel Tuesday.

“They don’t want you to respond to any facts, because they aren’t interested in facts. This is a psychological game that they are playing with the masses.”

Owens, 36, also emphatically denied receiving any payment from Baldoni or his team in exchange for her opinions, saying that she was “just so offended” by the implication.

“It might just be the case that I am beholden to no one, and I say whatever I am thinking at any moment of the day. That’s the problem with me. I don’t dance for money,” she added.

Hilton, 47, laughed off the subpoena order in his own video posted on social media Tuesday.

The blogger claimed that he, too, learned of the legal filing via TMZ’s “surprising” story.

“This is the first time I am hearing of it,” he said.

“I have not been served with anything yet, and I also have not communicated with my lawyer, Bryan Freedman, about this, who also represents Baldoni and has not given me any information or influenced me in any way whatsoever.”

Candace Owens. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Perez Hilton. Picture: Supplied

Page Six has reached to Baldoni’s reps for comment on the alleged subpoenas but did not hear back.

The latest twist in Lively’s legal strategy comes weeks after she fought to quash a subpoena Baldoni wanted to issue her former close pal Taylor Swift.

The Wayfarer Studios co-founder initially wanted to subpoena the pop superstar, 35, because he claimed Lively used her famous friend’s influence to take over the direction of “It Ends With Us.”

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift. Picture: GC Images

“The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him,” Freedman previously argued in his client’s countersuit.

However, in May, Baldoni shockingly dropped his probe into Swift, with a source telling Page Six exclusively at the time, “When information is voluntarily received, there is no need for subpoenas.”

It was then revealed that the Grammy winner’s father, Scott Swift, had allegedly willingly leaked information to Baldoni’s camp, including alleged threats Lively made to his daughter to release private texts, that could potentially help the director’s legal case.

– with The New York Post

Originally published as Blake Lively’s deposition date revealed in Justin Baldoni legal war