Blake Lively hires the former CIA advisor as a crisis manager in the midst of demand

Blake Lively He has hired Public Relations Crisis Manager Nick Shapiro In the middle of its continuous legal battle against Justin Baldoni.

“The team of litigation of Mrs. Lively retained Mr. Shapiro to advise on the legal communications strategy for the continuous demand for sexual harassment and retaliation in the southern district of New York,” confirmed Lively’s legal team Us Weekly In a statement on Friday, February 28.

Shapiro was previously the CIA cabinet deputy director and previously worked as the main advisor of the former director John Brennan. (Variety He was the first to give the news that Shapiro was working in silence with Lively).

This news comes days after Lively alleged that Baldoni and his team have shown “describe and disrespect” for her as a woman “advocates the most basic protections in the workplace against sexual harassment” in a new presentation obtained by Us.

Related: Blake Lively’s lawyers denounce ‘more attacks’ by Justin Baldoni

Update: 1/7/24, 12 PM ET – Bryan Freedman, who is Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, issued the following statement in response to the Lively team: “It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively accuses Justin Baldoni de Armas to put together the media when his own team orchestrated this vicious attack when sending the documents edited before the New York Times before (…) (…) (…) (…) (…)

He Gossip Girl The student responded on Wednesday, February 26, after he was accused of trying to “prevent the public from” seeing “relevant evidence” in his legal battle against Baldoni.

Lively recently requested a “only lawyer’s eyes” Stipulation in an improved protection order To keep information off the public eye. According to a deadline report, the Baldoni team responded with a letter indicating that they were “surprised” for their application. Lawyer Mitchell Schuster He accused the actress of trying to “rehabilitate her fogged image with bold statements to the press” according to the letter obtained by the deadline and said that Lively “has already published the alleged details of the so -called ‘harassment’.”

Lively initially filed a complaint of sexual harassment against her It ends with us Costa and Baldoni director together with his WayFarer Studios production company in December 2024, claiming that he He promoted a “hostile work environment.” Lively modified his complaint earlier this month to include your “emotional impact” of the legal battle.

“The emotional impact on Mrs. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children”, the judicial documents obtained by Us read. “There are days when he has struggled to get out of bed, and often choose not to venture outside in public.”

Related: Blake Lively responds to the new demand of $ 400 million of Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively has responded through his legal team to Justin Baldoni’s study by submitting a new lawsuit against her, her publicist Leslie Sloan and her husband Ryan Reynolds. The presentation, obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, January 16, seeks damage of $ 400 million and accuses Lively, 37, to be “determined to turn Baldoni into the villain of real life (…)

Baldoni has vehemently denied all Lively’s statementsdemanding her with her husband, Ryan Reynoldsand publicist Leslie Sloane (who has filed a motion to eliminate itself of demand) for $ 400 million. Baldoni also filed a lawsuit against The New York Timeswhich initially published Lively’s statement. Since then, the newspaper has defended his reports and Lively has denied all Baldoni’s statements.

Lively and Baldoni will go to trial in March 2026. However, Judge Lewis Liman declared during an initial hearing on February 3 that the trial could be transferred if the The legal battle continues to develop In the press.