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A new legal filing has escalated the ongoing dispute between It Ends With Us co-stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. On June 24, 2025, publicist Jennifer Abel, previously employed by Jonesworks and currently representing Baldoni, filed a motion in New York federal court to force documents from Vanzan, Inc., a company associated with Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
The motion pertains to a September 2024 subpoena in the case of Vanzan v. Does 1-10, a lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court that was ultimately dismissed. Abel’s filing accuses Vanzan of being a conduit to illegally acquire her private communications, which she says were then used in Lively’s allegations of s*xual harassment against Baldoni.
"There is no conceivable link between Abel and Vanzan," the filing reads.The subpoena comes weeks after a federal judge dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Social media personality Zack Peter reacted to Abel's subpoena in a tweet on June 25, 2025. He shared a copy of the legal document and wrote,
"Blake Lively’s VanZan Inc subpoena is officially SUBPOENAED by Jennifer Abel Let the games begin…"How is the Vanzan lawsuit related to the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?
The Vanzan lawsuit, filed on behalf of Lively’s LLC, Vanzan Inc., claimed that unnamed “Doe” defendants committed breach of contract and that subpoenas should be issued to Baldoni’s PR team for their communications. The case was dismissed shortly after Abel’s communications were subpoenaed.
Abel's filing alleges that Vanzan was used as a "shell entity" to secretly obtain her private text messages through what Baldoni’s camp calls a "sham lawsuit." This comes on the heels of The New York Times’ publication in December 2024 of texts from Abel to crisis manager Melissa Nathan, that contained the phrase “we can bury anyone.”
These messages were referenced in Lively's lawsuit as examples of the supposed smear campaign. Abel has insisted the texts were taken out of context, describing them as “private jokes” about fan sentiment following the It Ends With Us press tours. According to The Hollywood Reporter, in a now-deleted Facebook post, she maintains that she never smeared anyone, stating:
“What the cherry picked messages don’t include, although not shockingly as it doesn’t fit the narrative, is that there was no ‘smear’ implemented...we didn’t have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us...As the texts show, we sophomorically reveled and again, joked, privately to each other about the internets feedback to the woman whose team was making our lives incredibly difficult over the course of the campaign.Justin Baldoni's attorney also accused Blake Lively's team of implementing "dubious PR tactics" aimed at maneuvering public pressure by selectively leaking texts. Meanwhile, Lively's lawyers have maintained that the texts were obtained through proper legal channels.
A separate lawsuit filed in March 2025 by Justin Baldoni and Jennifer Abel against Jonesworks claims the PR company wrongfully took possession of Abel’s phone in August 2024. The complaint alludes to a confrontation with security personnel and alleges that the contents of the device were accessed without consent. Jonesworks has denied these claims, asserting that Abel was actively engaged in misconduct while employed.
The original harassment complaint filed by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni remains active, with a trial currently scheduled for March 2026.
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Edited by pratigya dhali
English (US)