Justin Baldoni is countersuing his former publicist, Stephanie Jones, and her company, Jonesworks, over claims that she “maliciously” leaked private information 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 faith and fair dealing after she sued him for breach of contract, per a complaint filed in New York federal court Friday.
The actor claims his former publicist — “seemingly in the midst of a downward spiral” — decided 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 named as a co-plaintiff in the countersuit, had developed “close” and “trusting relationship” with Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath and the rest of their team.
Meanwhile, there had been some resentment built up with Jones, as she “largely did not hide” that Baldoni was a “lower prestige” client as opposite to bigger stars she represented like Tom Brady, per the complaint.
In the summer of 2024, amid Baldoni’s “PR crisis” with Lively, Abel decided to leave Jones’ firm, which allegedly made the PR head “concerned” that her former employee would take her clients.
Abel suggested that Baldoni hire Melissa Nathan — another co-plaintiff in the countersuit — as a crisis PR manager at the time, but “knew that [Jones] would be unhappy with the recommendation.”
The countersuit alleges that when Jones found out, 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 complaint states.
The countersuit also accuses Jones of contacting a Daily Mail reporter on Aug. 8, 2024, “in direct violation” of Abel’s instructions on behalf of Wayfarer as they had a “truce with Lively’s team.”
After Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Sony, the distributor for “It Ends With Us,” learned that “someone from Baldoni’s team had been negatively communicating with the media,” resulting in Nathan and Abel “left to deal with the fallout,” the complaint alleges.
At the same time, Nathan had allegedly gotten word that Sloane had begun planting negative stories of her own against Baldoni’s camp and had “broken the truce.”
When confronted by Sony over all the drama, Jones allegedly placed the “blame on her team,” which “ruptured her relationship with Wayfarer and Baldoni.”
On Aug. 21, 2024, Jones allegedly terminated Abel “suddenly,” per the complaint, “threatening her, seizing her phone, and marching her out of the Jonesworks Los Angeles office.”
She allegedly went through Abel’s phone that day and shared confidential information with Sloane and other third parties “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 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.”
The attorney — who is also representing Baldoni in his defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively — further 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, partner at Quinn Emanuel, tells Page Six on behalf of Jones, “Ms. Jones’ lawsuit is based entirely on facts and concrete evidence.
“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 attorney accuses the Baldoni, Abel and Nathan of attempting “to achieve these outcomes through bullying distortion and outright disparagement,” adding, “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 with his former publicist comes as he is simultaneously fighting Lively in court over claims that he sexually harassed her and launched a smear campaign against her.
The “Jane the Virgin” alum has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit as a result, which the “Gossip Girl” alum, 37, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, filed a motion to dismiss earlier this week.
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