Like many in Hollywood, my New Year’s Eve sparkled with fireworks, champagne, and a dash of the Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni melodrama. Hours before the ball dropped in Times Square, Baldoni slapped The New York Times with a $250 million defamation lawsuit, accusing the paper of betraying its journalistic mission by coordinating with Lively’s team to publish a sensationalized account of whatever transpired during and after the shooting of It Ends With Us. Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, lambasted the Times for basing much of its story on an “unverified and self-serving” complaint that Lively had submitted to the California Civil Rights Department. The filing, Freedman said, should have remained “confidential unless leaked—as it was here.”