Judge dismisses Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against 'It Ends With Us' costar Blake Lively
NEW YORK — A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit filed by actor and director Justin Baldoni against his “It Ends With Us” costar Blake Lively after she sued him for sexual harassment and retaliation.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic drama that includes Lively suing Baldoni in late December.
Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
The judge ruled that Baldoni can’t sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her lawsuit, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.
Baldoni's legal team can revise the lawsuit if they want to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached a contract, the judge said.
Emails seeking comment were sent to attorneys for Baldoni and Lively.
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.
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Miley Cyrus admits she used to hide thousands of dollars in drugs from accountant
NEW YORK — Miley Cyrus is getting candid about her past drug use, including a time when she says she hid tens of thousands of dollars worth of drug purchases from her accountant.
The Grammy-winning “Flowers” singer, 32, confirmed that “drugs were the biggest cost” of her recording her 2015 self-funded album, “Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.”
“To hide those from my accountant, we called them ‘vintage clothes,'” she revealed on Friday’s episode of The Ringer’s “Every Single Album” podcast. “So she would get these checks for thousands of dollars worth of vintage clothes.”
Eventually, her accountant began to wonder where those clothes actually were.
“Every time she saw me, she’d be like, ‘Where’s that, like, $15,000 original John Lennon T-shirt that you bought?’” Cyrus recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’s upstairs. … We just really want to protect it. It’s really delicate.'”
Cyrus admitted to buying “a lot of ‘vintage clothes’ that year,” saying she’s grateful she “survived” that period of her life.
“I would definitely not encourage anyone else to go this hard, but the fact that I got through it, I’m very glad I got to do it,” she said.
The Disney Channel alum has since been vocal about getting sober — first from marijuana in 2017 and then alcohol three years later. She credits sobriety with having “changed (her) entire life.”
Cyrus is currently riding the wave of her May 30 album release, “Something Beautiful.” This week at the Tribeca Festival, Cyrus debuted the accompanying visual album.
Jason Biggs details climbing into trash to snort cocaine amid height of addiction
NEW YORK — “American Pie” alum Jason Biggs is speaking out on the moment he hit rock bottom during the height of his drug addiction.
The 47-year old actor, who’s been candid when discussing his recovery journey, recently detailed a time when he resorted to climbing into a trash can to snort cocaine.
“One of my craziest stories was I was doing cocaine by myself in my house, and I did what I said was the last line,” he shared on the latest episode of Arielle Lorre’s “Well” podcast.
Biggs explained that his wife, Jenny Mullen, was asleep upstairs, unaware that he was still awake and doing drugs at 4 a.m. In an effort to get himself to stop and go to bed, he threw the rest of the cocaine into the garbage.
Within 15 minutes, however, the last bump was “wearing off,” so Biggs pulled the coke out of the garbage and did another line. He then went outside tossed the remainder into the large trash bin outside their house.
“OK, I’m done,” he recalled telling himself before heading back inside to take a sleeping pill. But again, within minutes, the urge for more coke kicked in.
“I went outside and I climbed into the trash bin and got the bag of coke and went upstairs and did another line,” Biggs said. “I was like, ‘What the f–k am I doing? This is absolutely insane.’”
The New Jersey native, whose substance abuse dates back 25 years to the peak of “American Pie” popularity, has now been sober since 2017 after multiple attempts to get clean.
“After some fits and starts, I’ve managed to put together one year of sobriety,” he wrote on Instagram in 2018. “I’m as proud of it as anything in my life. If you’re struggling, know there’s help. Don’t be ashamed. We can do this.”