Is Old Employer Liable For Falsely Saying We "retired"?

My husband and I are real estate photographers who made the mistake of signing a contract, as independent contractors, with a company that has a 1 year non-compete clause. We have terminated the contract with the company and we are patiently waiting out the year not doing any real estate photography. Recently we were contacted by a realtor that we had worked with in the past and we explained our situation Then they told us that the person we had the contract with is telling everyone that we have retired and are no longer working in photography. This is completely untrue. We are concerned that this could be damaging our possible future in the business and we are not sure what to do. We have been very careful to not break the terms of the contract, in spite of realtors reaching out to us. Is he liable for telling people we are "retired" when he knows that isn't true?