Justin Baldoni sues former publicist, claims she leaked private texts that sparked Blake Lively lawsuit

Another chapter has been added to the ongoing conflict between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, co-stars of last summer’s hit, It Ends With Us, who have been engaged in lawsuits and counter-suits since December 2024. Justin Baldoni, who directed, produced, and acted in the film, has filed a lawsuit against his former PR representative, Stephanie Jones.

On March 21, Baldoni filed the lawsuit alongside his current publicist and Jones’ former co-worker, Jennifer Abel, as per People Magazine.

Stephanie Jones is the founder and head of the PR firm, Jonesworks. Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, and Baldoni himself were the clients of Jonesworks, where Jennifer Abel was employed as a VP, according to Deadline.

Baldoni and Abel have accused Jones of providing Blake Lively with confidential text messages and internal communications that prompted Lively’s December 2024 lawsuit against Baldoni, which allegedly accused the latter of s*xual misconduct and trying to damage Lively’s career and reputation, as per People Magazine.

In a statement shared with various media outlets, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman gave more information about the Baldoni team’s new lawsuit which alleges that Jones violated her client’s privacy and principles of confidentiality. Freedman said,

“It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic of privacy rights, as well as any remaining trust her clients 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.”

Freedman continued, saying,

“Stephanie Jones, founder of Jonesworks, has a well-documented history of highly questionable conduct in the workplace…We will not stop until our clients are cleared of all wrongdoing and compensated for the vast damages that they have incurred.”

For the unversed, Leslie Sloane is Blake Lively’s publicist who was named by Justin Baldoni in his previous lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds accusing them of defamation and trying to damage his career and reputation. In February 2025, Baldoni amended the lawsuit to include the New York Times, while dropping the separate lawsuit he had filed against the news organization in December.

What are Justin Baldoni and Jennifer Abel accusing former publicist Stephanie Jones of?

In what is the sixth lawsuit associated with the conflict around the production of It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni and Jennifer Abel have pointed to the alleged source behind the leak of private communication which was acquired by The New York Times.

The slew of complaints related to the Justin Baldoni-directed film began when Lively filed a complaint on December 20, 2024, with the California Civil Rights Department alleging s*xual harassment on the sets of the film. The confidential complaint was a source for The New York Times article which alleged that Baldoni and his PR team orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively.

The New York Times also had access to numerous internal and private communications and text messages, which the outlet claimed had been acquired by Lively via a subpoena, according to a report by Variety. As per the same report, the messages originated from Jennifer Abel’s phone.

In the lawsuit filed on March 21, Baldoni and Abel, who were due to leave Jones’ firm, allege that Abel was forced to surrender her private communications and digital devices to Jonesworks employees. People Magazine reproduced parts of the complaint, which states,

“After being ushered into the conference room, Abel noticed that the security guard was posted just outside its doors, positioned between the conference room and the office entrance, blocking the exit. There, the attorney gestured at the documents and instructed Abel to review and sign them. The attorney stated that Jonesworks suspected Abel had retained proprietary information on her personal laptop. Abel was told that Jonesworks would have grounds to sue if she did not allow them access.”

The complaint, further quoted by Variety, alleges that Abel was tricked into relinquishing her phone. The complaint states,

“Abel lost access to her iCloud (including all her text messages, photos, and contacts), bank accounts, utilities, insurance, and virtually every other sensitive account. By contrast, Jones now had unrestricted access to everything stored on Abel’s phone — her text messages, emails, personal photos.”

The complaint alleges that Jones was in strict violation of California labor laws, where Joneswork’s office is located in Beverly Hills, as per Variety.

With this recent turn of events in the conflict between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, only time will tell what course the various lawsuits take.