Justin Baldoni is countersuing his former publicist, Stephanie Jones, and her firm, Jonesworks, over claims that she “maliciously” leaked non-public details about the “It Ends With Us” director amid his feud with his former co-star Blake Lively.
Baldoni, 41, is suing Jones for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant and good religion and truthful dealing after she sued him for breach of contract, per a grievance filed in New York federal court docket Friday.
The actor claims his former publicist — “seemingly in the midst of a downward spiral” — determined to “stir up unnecessary drama and discord, throwing elbows for self-interested reasons, undermining and eventually terminating Jonesworks’ point person at Wayfarer [Jennifer Abel], refusing to follow instructions, and generally causing more problems than she was solving.”
Abel, who is known as as a co-plaintiff within the countersuit, had developed “close” and “trusting relationship” with Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath and the remainder of their staff.
Meanwhile, there had been some resentment constructed up with Jones, as she “largely did not hide” that Baldoni was a “lower prestige” shopper as reverse to larger stars she represented like Tom Brady, per the grievance.
In the summer time of 2024, amid Baldoni’s “PR crisis” with Lively, Abel determined to go away Jones’ agency, which allegedly made the PR head “concerned” that her former worker would take her shoppers.
Abel recommended that Baldoni rent Melissa Nathan — one other co-plaintiff within the countersuit — as a disaster PR supervisor on the time, however “knew that [Jones] would be unhappy with the recommendation.”
The countersuit alleges that when Jones discovered, she “was furious and immediately lashed out at Abel, pressuring her to disparage Nathan as a demonstration of loyalty” to her.
“As Jones tried to stir up drama and undermine Abel’s authority, Wayfarer and Baldoni were focused solely on managing the crisis in front of them,” the grievance states.
The countersuit additionally accuses Jones of contacting a Daily Mail reporter on Aug. 8, 2024, “in direct violation” of Abel’s directions on behalf of Wayfarer as they’d a “truce with Lively’s team.”
After Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Sony, the distributor for “It Ends With Us,” discovered that “someone from Baldoni’s team had been negatively communicating with the media,” leading to Nathan and Abel “left to deal with the fallout,” the grievance alleges.
At the identical time, Nathan had allegedly gotten phrase that Sloane had begun planting adverse tales of her personal in opposition to Baldoni’s camp and had “broken the truce.”
When confronted by Sony over all of the drama, Jones allegedly positioned the “blame on her team,” which “ruptured her relationship with Wayfarer and Baldoni.”
On Aug. 21, 2024, Jones allegedly terminated Abel “suddenly,” per the grievance, “threatening her, seizing her phone, and marching her out of the Jonesworks Los Angeles office.”
She allegedly went by way of Abel’s telephone that day and shared confidential data with Sloane and different third events “on information and belief” in “no event pursuant to a subpoena or any kind of lawful court order.”
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman tells Page Six, “It is plain that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of occasions by violating essentially the most fundamental of privateness rights, in addition to any remaining belief her shoppers held.
“No stranger to stirring up crisis scenarios for departing clients, Ms. Jones maliciously turned over communications from the phone she wrongfully took from her own partner to her cohort Leslie Sloane, immediately after Jones was terminated for cause by Wayfarer due to her own wrongful behavior.”
The legal professional — who can also be representing Baldoni in his defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively — additional alleges that Jones “has a well-documented history of highly questionable conduct in the workplace.”
He concludes, “We will not stop until our clients are cleared of all wrongdoing and compensated for the vast damages that they have incurred.”
Kristin Tahler, associate at Quinn Emanuel, tells Page Six on behalf of Jones, “Ms. Jones’ lawsuit relies fully on details and concrete proof.
“That suit clearly shows that Jen Abel conspired with Melissa Nathan and others to steal reams of confidential documents, clients and staff and eventually attempt to destroy the business that Ms. Jones spent decades building.”
The legal professional accuses the Baldoni, Abel and Nathan of making an attempt “to achieve these outcomes through bullying distortion and outright disparagement,” including, “These facts are backed up by dozens of messages provided in the suit we filed month ago and cannot be credibly disputed.”
Tahler concludes, “Having no facts or evidence, we see a familiar playbook — smear our client, culminating in the work of fiction masquerading as the counterclaims that were filed yesterday.”
Baldoni’s legal battle along with his former publicist comes as he’s concurrently fighting Lively in court over claims that he sexually harassed her and launched a smear marketing campaign in opposition to her.
The “Jane the Virgin” alum has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit in consequence, which the “Gossip Girl” alum, 37, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, filed a motion to dismiss earlier this week.
