Blake Lively hit with $7M defamation lawsuit from crisis publicist

A crisis publicist named in Blake Lively's sexual harassment and extortion complaint against Justin Baldoni is dragging the actress into a separate lawsuit.

Jed Wallace of the Texas-based crisis-management firm Street Relations, Inc., sued the actress on Tuesday, alleging defamation.

In her December civil rights complaint, Lively alleged that Wallace was hired by Baldoni's PR team to assist in the alleged smear campaign.

Wallace was mentioned in her complaint for allegedly weaponising "a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums."

Now Wallace has hit back claiming that her recent petition "conceded that Lively has no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street in the Precursor which 'made headlines around the world' as she now, apparently under the threat of sanctions from one of Plaintiffs' attorneys, sought to 'investigate the scope of Mr. Wallace’s conduct.'"

Wallace and the company are seeking a minimum of $7 million in damages plus "a court order stating that he didn’t engage in harassment or retaliation against the actress."

In response, Lively's team issued a statement, saying, "Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively 'into oblivion' for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation."

"This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department," her lawyers added.

"While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court."

The actress is also facing a $400 million countersuit from her It Ends With Us director and costar Baldoni over defamation.