Entertainment
Blake Lively takes swipe at Justin Baldoni’s lawyer over alleged ‘smear campaign’ in deposition transcript

Blake Lively took a swipe at Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, during her July 31 deposition, accusing him of being part of the actor’s alleged smear campaign against her.
According to a heavily redacted portion of her deposition transcript filed by Lively’s team Monday and obtained by Us Weekly, Freedman asked the actress when the alleged smear campaign by Baldoni and his team “ended.”
The “Gossip Girl” alum responded, “It doesn’t feel like it’s ended.” When asked if the alleged smear campaign was “still ongoing,” Lively reportedly replied, “It feels that way, ya.”
“Who do you believe is involved in the ongoing smear campaign?” Baldoni’s lawyer asked.
“I believe — outside of what I know through attorneys — I believe that the defendants are involved,” she replied.
Baldoni’s lawyer sought to clarify which ones, after which Lively responded, “All of them,” adding, “and I believe you are.”
Freedman asked what “basis” the actress had for believing “the defendants and myself are involved in an ongoing smear campaign?”
“Outside of what I know through my attorneys, I believe the act of a retaliatory lawsuit and the press that you have done and the statements that you have made about me and my character have felt incredibly retaliatory,” she said, per the documents.
When asked what the defendants “do that’s part of the ongoing smear campaign,” Lively said, “Like I said, outside of conversations with my attorney, I’m unable to answer that.”
Baldoni’s attorney did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The actor, 41, was present for the New York City deposition, which took place at the offices of Lively’s attorneys. The documents obtained by Us Weekly were only a small portion of the entire deposition.
According to documents obtained by Page Six on Aug. 4, Lively’s lawyers accused Baldoni and his team of “immediately” leaking “details from the deposition to the tabloid media” in an attempt to “advance a storyline that the deposition was a face-to-face showdown between Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively.”
The motion clarified that Lively “testified across the table from Mr. Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, all of whom attended this deposition in person, as well as eight attorneys representing the Wayfarer and Wallace Parties, two of whom questioned her” and accused Baldoni’s lawyers of seeking to “create a media circus.”
The motion also stated that Lively felt Baldoni’s team sought to make it appear that she needed multiple team members with her while testifying during the deposition.
Lively and her team scored a legal victory on Friday, when the judge granted her motion to strike her deposition transcript from the docket.
Lively’s rep had previously accused Baldoni’s lawyer of attempting to make the case “a public spectacle at every turn, even proposing to sell tickets to a televised deposition at Madison Square Garden,” according to People.
“This is a serious matter of sexual harassment and retaliation, and it deserves to be treated as such.”
Blake, 37, is embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit against the “It Ends With Us” director and his Wayfarer Studios for his alleged sexual harassment — accusations he vehemently denies — on the set of their 2024 drama.
She’s also suing Baldoni’s publicity team for allegedly masterminding a smear campaign against her following her allegations. Her claim against Jed Wallace, a social media public relations expert, was dismissed in July.
Baldoni. countersued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for extortion and defamation. However, a judge threw out his $400 million suit in June.
Entertainment
Rarely-seen ’80s star Kristy McNichol appears in ‘fangirl’ Carnie Wilson’s selfie

Carnie Wilson had a “fangirl” moment with Kristy McNichol decades after the actress’ retirement.
“Totally fangirling!!!” the singer, 58, recently gushed via Facebook. “Kris ( Kristy McNichol) was a part of my youth. I adored her in her movies … especially ‘Little Darlings’ and ‘The End.’”
The Wilson Phillips member told McNichol, who left the entertainment industry in 2001, “how meaningful her movies are to [her] and [her] bestie.”
Carnie noted in the July 20 upload that she and her pal “were just talking about her … and how special” the 63-year-old is.
Calling McNichol a “gracious sweetie,” she concluded that the “Bionic Woman” star “sure is loved.”
She snapped a selfie with the rarely-seen star, with McNichol smiling in a zip-up jacket and white tee.
Carnie, for her part, sported a patterned top and a black beanie in the cozy shot.
McNichol was a child star who won two Emmys for her role as Letitia “Buddy” Lawrence on “Family” between 1976 and 1980.
Her other notable TV role included Barbara Weston in “Empty Nest,” a “Golden Girls” spinoff.
She is best known for playing Angel in “Little Darlings” in 1980 and Polly in “Only When I Laugh” the following year.
McNichol was nominated for a Golden Globe for the latter.
When she retired from the entertainment industry, McNichol released a statement reading, “My feeling was that it was time to play my biggest part – myself! I must say that it has been the best thing that ever happened to me. So many fans are disappointed that I’m not currently acting; however, some may not realize that the process I’m in at this time is necessary and vital for my personal happiness.”
She chatted with People about the decision in 2014.
“I was on the big stage between ages 8 and 30,” McNichol explained. “I left show business for a variety of reasons, but a big one was my interest in learning what else there is in life.
“This phase of my life is so good,” she continued. “My home life is happy and serene. I love singing. I also enjoy traveling and seeing the world. One of my favorite stops is Hawaii. I like everything about it and may eventually move there part-time.”
When asked about plans to return to her Hollywood career, McNichol quipped, “Never say never.”
Entertainment
Usher boots fan off stage after her painfully awkward response to his seductive dance moves

Usher quickly put a stop to sexily serenading a fan onstage after she got visibly uncomfortable.
In a now-viral moment from the singer’s performance in Nashville on The R&B Tour with Chris Brown on Saturday, a woman from the audience got pulled onstage as the chosen fan Usher sings to. But as a shirtless Usher started singing to her, she looked painfully uncomfortable, though he continued to try to interact with her by lightly touching her chin and face.
But when he tried to get her to recline on the onstage bed and she stiffly moved back, the 47-year-old singer pulled away.
“I don’t think she want to be on the stage, huh?” he asked the audience, looking bewildered.
Eventually, the “Yeah!” singer stepped away from her completely and waved his hand backwards towards the stage in a signal to bring the fan off, looking annoyed as some fans began to boo.
The fan later took to social media to clap back at criticism she received, responding to comments that she should have never agreed to go onstage if she didn’t want to be there.
“First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage,” she wrote. “I looked good asf, you think I wasn’t going to let THOUSANDS of people see me?”
She shared that she and her mom had floor seats to the show, and she was moved up to the VIP section before the concert even started due to “pretty privileges.”
“They don’t say who you’re going up there for!” she wrote. “Y’all wanted me to go up there and f–k him atp?”
On Sunday, she posted selfies, and pointedly captioned her post, “Unbothered 😘.”
But she continued to defend herself on her Instagram Stories, insisting her attitude wasn’t “nasty.”
“Y’all aren’t gonna get on the internet calling me out my name and disrespecting me and expect me to keep it cool!” she expressed, adding, “Don’t think that yall are gonna bully me about an experience that yall didn’t get!”
Usher is known for his spicy concert interactions with fans. His bodyguard hilariously went viral in 2024 for seemingly looking disgusted on the Past Present Future Tour, during the part of the singer’s show when he would let audience members seductively eat cherries.
Usher’s co-headliner, Chris Brown, also went viral in September 2025 but for an entirely different reaction that he got to pulling a fan onstage — that fan being Travis Kelce’s ex Kayla Nicole.
Brown, 37, gave Nicole, 34, a sensual lap dance while singing his 2007 hit, “Take You Down,” during the singer’s Breezy Bowl XX Tour stop in Los Angeles, prompting mixed reaction online. Some fans thought the two went too far, while others praised Nicole for seizing the moment.
Entertainment
John Cusack reveals why he stepped away from Hollywood after decades of films

John Cusack opened up about why he’s largely taken a step back from Hollywood.
The “Being John Malkovich” star, 60, said he wanted to tell stories without studio executives weighing in, prompting him to write his upcoming graphic novel “Momo.”
“I always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,” he told Variety at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. “You’re picking out shots, they’re so cinematic.”
Cusack explained he turned to writing because he “didn’t [want to] negotiate telling a story.”
“When you ask somebody to put $20 million or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they’re afraid and all that stuff,” he said.
Instead, he teamed up with illustrator Ignacio Noé to create “Momo” on their own terms.
“This was just like, I wrote it, and I said, ‘I like the story,’ and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew,” Cusack said.
“So it’s really a piece of work that was just done by two people. It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today.”
“There’s no bull, and there’s no committee. There’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll testing it,” he added.
“Momo” — Cusack’s first graphic novel — is set to be released on Sept. 29.
The story follows two fugitives in 1972 who set out to recover an ancient artifact for TV icon Jackie Gleason.
The actor spent decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, starring in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “High Fidelity” and “Con Air,” but his acting career has become increasingly selective in recent years.
He appeared in the 2025 films “Fog of War” and the Mandarin-language film “Detective Chinatown 1900” after starring in the Chinese espionage thriller “Decoded” in 2024.
Before that, his only screen credits since 2020 were the action thriller “Pursuit” and Amazon’s dystopian series “Utopia.”
Cusack has been outspoken about the state of Hollywood for years.
“My friend Joe Roth ran Disney [until 2000],” he told the Guardian in 2014. “He made things like ‘The Rock’ and ‘Con Air’ to make shareholders happy, but then he also gave six or seven slots to people he liked.
“I got to make ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank.’ Spike Lee got to make ‘Summer of Sam.’ Wes Anderson got to make ‘Rushmore.’ I had that memory of film and that’s gone.”
“Now it’s six for them — with a committee cutting the film who weren’t part of making it – and maybe one for you,” he added.
Cusack isn’t the only member of his family to step away from the spotlight.
His older sister, actress Joan Cusack, 63, made her first red-carpet appearance since 2015 in May when she attended the London premiere of “Toy Story 5,” ending an 11-year absence from public events.
“I feel so honored to have worked in this industry for a long time,” the actress told Variety in June. “But it’s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.”
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