A former publicist for Justin Baldoni has filed a lawsuit towards the It Ends With Us director and star days after Blake Vigorous filed a grievance towards him.

Stephanie Jones, the founding father of the general public relations agency Jonesworks, alleges that her former worker Jennifer Abel conspired with Baldoni, his manufacturing firm Wayfarer, and disaster PR fixer Melissa Nathan to execute a smear marketing campaign towards Vigorous, because the actress alleged in her grievance, with out Jones' data.

"Defendants Abel and Nathan secretly conspired for months to publicly and privately assault Jones and Jonesworks, to breach a number of contracts and induce contractual breaches, and to steal purchasers and enterprise prospects," Jones' grievance reads. "Behind Jones' again, they secretly coordinated with Baldoni and Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear marketing campaign towards Baldoni's movie costar, after which used the disaster as a chance to drive a wedge between Jones and Baldoni, and to publicly pin blame for this smear marketing campaign on Jones — when Jones had no data or involvement in it."

Jones says within the grievance that she fired Abel in August after studying what her worker was doing. At that time, Abel began her personal PR agency and continued to work with Baldoni and different purchasers that she had labored with at Jonesworks.

Jones alleges that these purchasers have been "stolen" from her, however a supply near the state of affairs tells Leisure Weekly that Baldoni and Wayfarer selected to depart Jonesworks alongside Abel and that Jones' lawsuit is "retaliatory."

Justin Baldoni's podcast cohost Liz Plank exits present amid Blake Vigorous harassment grievance

After Abel was allegedly fired, Jones claims that she discovered texts and emails associated to her work with Baldoni, which she subsequently turned over to Vigorous's group after being served a subpoena, which is why the messages seem in Vigorous's 80-page grievance.

EW has reached out to Abel for remark.

It Ends With Us relies on Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel of the identical identify and tells the story of a romance between Ryle Kincaid (performed by Baldoni within the movie) and Lily Bloom (Vigorous) that turns into abusive. In her grievance, Vigorous alleges that Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of the film, claiming that he "improvised bodily intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or mentioned," pressured her into extra nudity for the movie than was deliberate, informed her unsolicited particulars about his intercourse life and porn dependancy, and tried to smear her with a PR marketing campaign as an act of retaliation for her complaints about his conduct.

Since Vigorous's submitting went public, Hoover has voiced her help for the actress, as have Amber Heard, A Easy Favor director Paul Feig, and her former Sisterhood of the Touring Pants costars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel.

"As Blake's associates and sisters for over 20 years, we stand together with her in solidarity as she fights again towards the reported marketing campaign waged to destroy her repute," reads the actresses' assertion, which they collectively shared to Instagram. "All through the filming of It Ends With Us, we noticed her summon the braveness to ask for a protected office for herself and colleagues on set, and we’re appalled to learn the proof of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice. Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of home violence survivors' tales to silence a lady who requested for security. The hypocrisy is astounding."

Liz Plank, one of many cohosts on Baldoni's Man Sufficient podcast, exited the present following Vigorous's grievance, and an award Baldoni just lately obtained honoring him for "braveness and compassion in advocating on behalf of girls and ladies" was additionally rescinded. The Important Voices International Partnership, a world nonprofit group specializing in girls's empowerment, granted him the Voices of Solidarity Award earlier this month.

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