Blake Lively hires former CIA chief in legal battle against Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have suffered an image crisis due to their legal confrontation with Justin Baldoni since the actress sued him for s--ual harassment and organizing a smear campaign.

The actor and director of It Ends With Us has counterattacked and added chapters to this legal war that broke out at the end of 2024 and will extend at least until 2026 when the trial is held. Therefore, the reputation of the couple seems to have eroded after the revelation of Baldoni's text messages during the last few years.

Thus, in the midst of this controversy, the actress has opted to hire a former CIA chief to help her in this case. His name, Nick Shapiro.

This is according to Variety, which claims that Lively has hired the services of a public relations crisis manager with "deep ties to the government." Shapiro is the former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to former CIA director John Brennan.

"Ms. Lively's legal team hired Mr. Shapiro to advise on the legal communications strategy for the ongoing s--ual harassment and retaliation lawsuit being filed in the Southern District of New York," the outlet said, citing the words of a lawyer for the actress.

According to Variety, Shapiro "helped lead the Obama administration's response to the H1N1 flu pandemic, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as numerous cyberattacks, data breaches, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes."