Amber Heard reacts to Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni
Amber Heard is weighing in on Blake Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni.
Lively, 37, filed a complaint against Baldoni, 40, on Friday and claimed he orchestrated a smear campaign against her when “It Ends With Us” came out over the summer.
The complaint states that Baldoni hired PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan — who worked with Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against Heard, 38 — in his efforts to allegedly “destroy” Lively’s reputation.
Heard, who lost the defamation case against Depp, 61, in 2022, reacted to Lively’s accusations against Baldoni in a statement to NBC News on Monday.
“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’” said Heard, who now lives in Spain and is expecting her second child.
“I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive,” the “Aquaman” actress added.
In the Heard-Depp case, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor was awarded $10.35 million in damages after a jury declared Heard defamed Depp with allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Heard won $2 million in her countersuit.
“The Rum Diary” actress filed to appeal the verdict in the case, but she later withdrew and then settled. She agreed to pay her ex-husband $1 million.
After the trial, Heard’s lawyer blamed the outcome in part on the wild social media frenzy that surrounded the case.
“How can you not? They went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it,” Elaine Bredehoft said on “Today” in June 2022.
Heard, meanwhile, said the jury’s decision “sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated.”
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and his allies — including Nathan — of launching a “retaliatory social manipulation campaign” against the actress, and included damning texts as evidence.
Some of the messages from September showed Nathan and PR exec Jennifer Abel celebrating the negative press about Lively amid the rumors about her feud with Baldoni.
“ALL press is so overwhelming we’ve confused people so much mixed messaging. it’s actually really funny if you think about it,” Nathan said in one message.
Abel wrote back to Nathan, “The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin. I see this as a total success, as does Justin. You did such amazing work.”
Lively claimed in her complaint that the smear campaign caused her “emotional distress” and impacted some of her professional commitments, including her plans to host the “Saturday Night Live” Season 50 premiere.
The mom of four also accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film.
Baldoni, who directed the flick based on Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book, has denied all claims in Lively’s lawsuit.
In a statement to the New York Times, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
