Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a defamation and negligence lawsuit over comments he made to a family member of a fallen marine earlier this year. The sisters and widow of the fallen marine are the plaintiffs named in the suit and are seeking $25 million, plus legal fees over suffering severe distress they say was brought on by the actor.

Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum lost his life on August 26, 2021, in Afghanistan after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive at the Kabul Airport during the Taliban’s takeover last year. After McCollum’s death, a GoFundMe account was started for McCollum’s widow Jiennah McCollum and her unborn daughter. In an effort to support the fallen marine’s young family, Baldwin sent a $5,000 check to the Marine’s sister, Roice McCollum.

The gesture of goodwill soon soured after Baldwin became aware of a photo Roice posted online. According to the lawsuit, on January 3, Roice posted “a photo of a crowd of demonstrators at the Washington Monument on her Instagram page in anticipation of the January 6, 2022, one-year anniversary of her attendance at the Washington, DC demonstration."

When Baldwin came across the post, he engaged in a private message conversation with Roice where he detailed his disapproval of the events and the rioters that raided the Capitol building. According to the lawsuit, Baldwin messaged Roice on her Instagram writing, “When I sent the $ for your late brother, out of real respect for his service to this country, I didn't know you were a January 6th rioter."

The suit details that Roice responded to the messages writing, "Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I've already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!"

Instead of ending the conversation, the lawsuit goes on to explain that Baldwin continued his correspondence writing, "I don't think so. Your activities resulted in the unlawful destruction of government property, the death of a law enforcement officer, an assault on the certification of the presidential election. I reposted your photo. Good luck."

According to Roice, Baldwin posted her Instagram post on his feed, and Baldwin’s followers began sending "hostile,” “aggressive,” and “hateful messages” to Roice, her sister, and sister-in-law.

The lawsuit alleges that Baldwin "unequivocally understood that by forwarding Roice's Instagram feed to 2.4 million like-minded followers and posting his commentary would result in the onslaught of threats and hatred that it did."

Roice contends that she was not one of the rioters who entered the capital nor was she ever “detained, arrested, accused of or charged with any crime.”

In his post, Baldwin shared that Roice was the sister of the fallen Marine and that he sent McCollum's family money “as a tribute to a fallen soldier.” Baldwin adds, “Then I find this,” referring to the photo of demonstrators at the Washington monument. “Truth is stranger than fiction."

As a result of his actions, the lawsuit contends that Baldwin is guilty of “defamation by implication, negligence, gross negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

The lawsuit explains that Baldwin should have known what his actions in publicly shaming Roice would do to her and her family. “The social media onslaught of hatred and bile that ensued was entirely foreseeable to Baldwin,” the lawsuit reads, “and any reasonably careful person under similar or the same circumstances as Baldwin would have anticipated the mental anguish and suffering and the physical manifestation of that mental pain that would result in his conduct.”

Baldwin has not publicly responded to the suit and has since kept a low profile as investigations into his involvement with the accidental “Rust” movie set shooting continues.