Justin Baldoni has added his former publicist to his blockbuster lawsuit against Blake Lively, claiming she turned over a phone containing sensitive messages to the actress.

The text messages in question are at the heart of Lively’s case against the 41-year-old actor and director, and were featured prominently in the sympathetic New York Times story that ran last December and first aired the 37-year-old’s sex assault claims against him.

Among them are exchanges between Baldoni’s publicists that appear to show them waging a negative publicity campaign against the mom-of-four.

Baldoni’s legal team says they were doctored and taken out of context, with the It Ends With Us actor’s lawyers making the complete exchanges public as part of his $400million countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

According to the new papers, which were filed in Los Angeles on Friday, Lively’s team were able to get their hands on the messages thanks to his ex-publicist Stephanie Jones, head of Jonesworks PR,

The filings claim she seized a work phone belonging to her former partner Jennifer Abel which gave her access to conversations between Abel and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan – both of whom were working for Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer at the time.

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Justin Baldoni has added his former publicist Stephanie Jones as another defendant in his blockbuster lawsuit against Blake Lively, claiming she helped leak his texts to the actress

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Stephanie Jones (left) is accused of helping Lively’s team get their hands on the text messages between Baldoni and his reps that purportedly showed them waging a negative publicity campaign against the actress

Both women are part of Baldoni’s suit and say Lively’s decision to include their conversations in her initial suit led to them being bombarded with abuse and death threats.

In a statement released to DailyMail.com, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said: ‘It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic of privacy rights, as well as any remaining trust her clients held.

‘No stranger to stirring up crisis scenarios for departing clients, Ms. Jones maliciously turned over communications from the phone she wrongfully took from her own partner to her cohort [Lively’s publicist] Leslie Sloane, immediately after Ms. Jones was terminated for cause by Wayfarer due to her own wrongful behavior.’

Kristin Tahler, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, who represents Stephanie Jones stated to DailyMail.com. ‘Ms. Jones’ lawsuit is based entirely on facts and concrete evidence. That suit clearly shows that Jen Abel conspired with Melissa Nathan and others to steal reams of confidential documents, clients and staff and eventually attempt to destroy the business that Ms. Jones spent decades building.

‘Abel, Nathan, Baldoni and their co-defendants attempted to achieve these outcomes through bullying distortion and outright disparagement. These facts are backed up by dozens of messages provided in the suit we filed month ago and cannot be credibly disputed.

‘Having no facts or evidence, we see a familiar playbook — smear our client, culminating in the work of fiction masquerading as the counterclaims that were filed Thursday.’

Shortly after Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni in December, Jones also lodged her own lawsuit against the actor, as well as his company Wayfarer Studios, Nathan, and Abel.

Abel represented Baldoni while working for Jonesworks, but was allegedly fired last summer after Jones discovered she was ‘stealing documents and client information’ from the firm in aid of a plot to start a rival company, according to a copy of Jones’ lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com.

Echoing Lively’s allegations, Jones claimed in her own legal filing that Nathan and Abel orchestrated ‘a smear campaign against Lively to benefit Baldoni and Wayfarer.’

Text messages included in the New York Times’ Many of the messages included in the complaint show exchanges between publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan

Baldoni also appears to wade in at times and suggest his own tactics to discredit Lively

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Baldoni’s legal team claimed the texts included in the article were doctored and taken out of context and even published the complete exchanges to show the omissions

She further claimed that Nathan and Abel schemed ‘to publicly pin blame for this smear campaign on Jones – when Jones had no knowledge or involvement in it.’

Lively’s legal complaint included purported screen-grabs of text messages, many of them between Nathan and Abel, allegedly showing the PR takedown being planned.

Baldoni initially responded by suing the Times for $250million, claiming it ‘relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims’.

The newspaper has continued to stand by its reporting and is currently fighting the suit in court.

Baldoni’s legal team has since launched an explosive website dedicated to defending the actor against the allegations against him.

The site, which went live in February, includes his full amended complaint and a ‘timeline of relevant events’ detailing apparent inconsistencies and evidence against Lively’s claims.

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In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni of working with his publicist Jennifer Abel (pictured) and crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan to tarnish her reputation

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Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman (pictured in November) told DailyMail.com on Friday that it’s ‘undeniable’ Jones ‘initiated this catastrophic sequence of events’

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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ attorney Michael J. Gottlieb (right) stands in front of Justin Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman inside the United States District Court in Manhattan as they both argue with Judge Lewis J. Liman during a trial conference on February 3

Among them are the apparent omissions in the text message exchanges between Baldoni, Abel, and Nathan that were published in the NYT report about Lively’s complaint.

One screengrab shows Nathan and Abel discussing a DailyMail.com article about Lively, with Nathan lamenting that it could give the impression that she planted the story: ‘Damn this is unfair because it’s also not me[.]’

After Nathan forwards a screenshot of the article link, Abel replies: ‘You really outdid yourself with this piece,’ adding an upside down smiley emoji to indicate sarcasm.

However, in the version of the exchange included in Lively’s CRD complaint, the text conversation not only excludes the preceding screenshot of Nathan denying involvement in the story, but also the emoji.

Baldoni’s lawyers claimed in their filing that ‘Lively, and in turn the Times, misrepresented these communications to support her salacious and unfounded ‘smear campaign’ narrative.’

The latest salvo in the titanic legal battle between Baldoni and Lively comes just two days after the actress filed a motion to have her co-star’s $400million cross-complaint dismissed.

A legal memorandum filed in New York says the case should be dismissed based on an obscure California law that prohibits retaliation against victims of sexual assault.

The filing reads: ‘The Court should dismiss all claims against Ms. Lively with prejudice, deny leave to amend, and award Ms. Lively all relief sought.’

It goes on: ‘The law prohibits weaponizing defamation lawsuits, like this one, to retaliate against individuals who have filed legal claims or have publicly spoken out about sexual harassment and retaliation.’

Baldoni’s team later hit back, describing the move as ‘abhorrent’.

Freedman added: ‘Stringent rules are put into place to protect the innocent and allow individuals to rightfully defend themselves.

‘Laws are not meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to fit their own personal agenda.’

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Lively filed complaint against Baldoni in December amid claims of sexual harassment during production of the movie, which was a hit when it arrived in theaters in August

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The film at the heart of the feud, based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover, was released in August and was a box office hit. It follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni, who was also the film’s director

The new round of legal wrangling comes after months of claims and counter claims with both Lively and Baldoni maintaining low profiles while their lawyers slug it out.

Many of the revelations that have emerged have proved highly embarrassing, not least Lively memorably comparing herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and referring to Reynolds and pal Taylor Swift as ‘my dragons’.

Some of her more lurid claims also came under scrutiny, not least her assertation that Baldoni had sexually harassed her by nuzzling her neck during a scene and commenting on how she smells – none of which was recorded due to microphones being turned off.

But footage first published DailyMail.com revealed that it did have audio which picked up a full account of the conversation and revealed that it had been about the smell of Lively’s fake tan.

She also faced criticism for serving legal papers to Baldoni’s team in the middle of the devastating wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles in early January.

Freedman, who lived in Pacific Palisades, was among the unlucky people whose homes were burned to the ground.

Other revelations from the initial complaint included Lively’s alleged failure to read the novel on which It Ends With Us is based until long after filming had begun and that she allegedly orchestrated a negative publicity campaign of her own with the connivance of her publicist Sloane and the New York Times.

Baldoni’s cross-complaint also revealed that he and his family had been forced to spend the premiere of It Ends With Us sitting in a basement because Lively refused to allow him to be in the same room as her.