The attorney representing It Ends with Us actor-director Justin Baldoni lost his home in the Palisades Fire during multiple legal battles involving the film’s star Blake Lively.
Bryan Freedman confirmed to Dailymail.com in an email Tuesday that his home was destroyed by the Palisades Fire, which officials said has destroyed a total of 1,280 buildings.
Freedman’s most recent public appearance on behalf of Baldoni took place on Tuesday, January 7 – the day before the wildfire broke out in an area southeast of Palisades Drive.
Variety initially reported Tuesday that Freedman was “suspected to be one of several industry figures whose home was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire.”
Freedman and his wife Denise had lived in the $5.5 million Pacific Palisades home “since the early 2000s,” according to a June 2024 profile in The Hollywood Reporter.
Freedman joins an extensive list of people in the entertainment industry who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire, including actor-director Billy Crystal, actresses Anna Faris, Leighton Meester and Ricki Lake, and reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
Bryan Freedman, the attorney representing It Ends with Us actor-director Justin Baldoni, lost his home in the Palisades Fire during multiple legal battles involving the film’s star Blake Lively. Pictured in LA in October
An aerial view of fire trucks, utility vehicles and other vehicles parked along the Pacific Coast Highway near homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire on Monday
Freedman — who also represented celebrities like FKA Twigs, Bethenny Frankel, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Lynn Spears, Don Lemon, Tucker Carlson and Chris Cuomo — had made numerous media appearances on Baldoni’s behalf since the start of the new year.
Lively has alleged in a lawsuit that the actor-director sexually harassed her during the making of It Ends With Us.
Baldoni — who has denied all claims against him in Lively’s legal files — has sued The New York Times for $250 million for defamation over a Dec. 21 story titled ‘”We can bury anyone”: in a Hollywood smear machine.’
On Tuesday, January 7, the first day the fires broke out, Freedman made a virtual appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show in which he challenged Lively’s wife Ryan Reynolds, 48, about the creation of a Deadpool character named Nicepool.
He said, “What Ryan Reynolds has apparently done is used his power and influence… on Deadpool and made a mockery of Justin Baldoni.”
Freedman said Reynolds addressing grievances with Baldoni with a comedy skit undermines the credibility of sexual harassment claims Lively, 37, has made in her lawsuit against the filmmaker.
“If your wife is being sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of Justin Baldoni; you don’t joke about the situation, you take it very seriously,” Freeman said. “What you don’t do is mock the person and turn it into a joke.”
The lawyer said the proper protocol for addressing the serious situation would be to file HR complaints [and] raise the issue and follow legal process,” adding that “if someone is being sexually harassed, don’t joke about it – it’s a serious issue.”
Bryan Freedman confirmed to Dailymail.com in an email Tuesday that his home was destroyed by the Palisades Fire, which officials said has destroyed a total of 1,280 buildings.
Freedman said the Nicepool character’s traits were a clear joke at Baldoni’s expense, in an attempt to humiliate the actor-director.
Freedman said the Nicepool character’s traits were a clear joke at Baldoni’s expense, in an attempt to humiliate the actor-director.
“There’s no question it relates to Justin,” Freedman said. “I mean anyone who can look at it – the bun, you know, the pregnancy comment – it’s pretty clear what’s being done.”
Freedman also sent correspondence that day to two entertainment executives and a director urging them to preserve their material relating to Reynolds and the Nicepool character relating to Baldoni.
Eight people died in the Palisades Fire, while three people were injured, the agency said, as the cause of the wildfire remains under investigation; Officials said a total of 25 people have died as a result of the wind-fanned fires in the Los Angeles area.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said these numbers are unfortunately expected to increase as nearly 30 people are still missing.
As of Tuesday, the fire scorched more than 23,713 acres, with 17 percent containment, according to Cal Fire.
A firefighter battled the Palisades Fire as homes burned on Pacific Coast Highway on Jan. 8
CalFire Operations Section Chief Christian Litz said firefighters were making progress in their efforts to extinguish the Palisades Fire, as he said he saw no ongoing fires during a helicopter flight earlier Tuesday, according to the AP.
A total of 15 investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ National Response Team have been deployed to Southern California to investigate what caused the deadly and devastating fire. the agency said Monday.
“The NRT brings a wealth of experience and expertise to these types of investigations,” Brice McCracken, ATF Special Agent in Charge, National Center for Explosives Training and Research. said in a statement.
He added that the agency is “committed to working closely with our partners to determine the origin and cause of the Pacific Palisades Fire.”
On Monday, President Joe Biden urged Congress to “act” and set aside the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild stricken areas. He said the federal government plans to pay the costs over the next 180 days.
The president said at the White House that firefighters and first responders were “the angels” amid efforts to extinguish the fires, while Vice President Kamala Harris said the aftermath of the fires was “truly heartbreaking.”