Hailey Baldwin has allegedly been accused of plagiarism.
The 19-year-old model is facing legal action after posting a quote by author Melissa Molomo, from her book ‘Say What’s Real’ on Instagram without attributing the words to the writer.
The now deleted text went on to be published in publications including Teen Vogue magazine and Us Weekly, after it was assumed to be a dig at her pop star ex Justin Bieber.
The quote read: ‘We’ve all had our fair share of things we’ve done, both good and bad. What makes the present so powerful is when we take complete responsibility for our actions, we allow ourselves self-growth.
‘Misplacing the blame onto someone else isn’t going to get you to the next stage in life, so try not to manipulate a situation to make yourself look better.’
According to documents obtained by the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column, Melissa sent a cease and desist letter to Hailey, which means if she fails to take action the author has a right to sue her unless she apologizes and refrains from copying her work.
The letter, written by Melissa’s attorney, Z. Zoltan Stein, reads: ‘In copying and using Ms. Molomo’s work without permission, you have taken credit and caused confusion as to whom the original author of this work is.’
Hailey, whose dad is actor Stephen Baldwin, could now be liable to pay the author damages of up to $150,000.
The document also states the blonde beauty should ‘make a social media post apologising for stealing Ms. Molomo’s content and fraudulently passing it off as your own.’
Last month Selena Gomez took to Snapchat to apologize after an Instagram spat with Justin Bieber ended in him leaving the social network.
‘What I said was selfish and pointless’, the songstress wrote.
The apology came after the duo had a very public spat following his posts with brief flame Sophia Ritchie.
Originally hitting out at fans for trolling his then teen-girlfriend, he threatened to take his Instagram page private if fans didn’t curb cruel comments about the model daughter of Lionel Richie.
Out of the blue, his ex-girlfriend Selena took a swipe, exclaiming: ‘If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol – it should be special between you two only.
‘Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you.’
That prompted a war of words between the pop stars, with both accusing each other of cheating and Justin hinting Selena had hooked up with former One Direction star Zayn Malik.
Justin hit back: ‘It’s funny to see people that used me for attention and still trying to point the finger this way. Sad. All love. I’m not one for anyone receiving hate.’
It was then assumed Hailey had also entered the row when she posted Molomo’s quote about ‘taking responsibility for actions’, ‘misplacing blame’ and trying to ‘manipulate a situation to make yourself look better’.
Shortly after Hailey and Justin unfollowed each other on social media, even though she denied she was trying to get involved.
‘The only thing I “weigh in on” is everyday life in general. Don’t rope me into things I’m not a part of and please respect my privacy. x,’ she tweeted.