Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively have become embroiled in a legal back-and-forth involving multiple lawsuits, leaked text messages and emails and behind-the-scenes footage to prove certain claims.
Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively followed the actress’s own, accusing the actor of sexual harassment while filming “It Ends With Us.”
Baldoni insisted Lively “falsely” accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation following fallout from the “It Ends With Us” press tour after she allegedly took control of the film.
Even Taylor Swift is tangled up in the legal drama, which first began in 2023 with the casting of Lively as Lily Bloom in “It Ends With Us.”
BLAKE LIVELY VS. JUSTIN BALDONI: EVERYTHING TO KNOW
Justin Baldoni bought the rights to Colleen Hoover’s book, “It Ends With Us,” in 2019. Blake Lively was announced as the lead in the film in January 2023, with Baldoni starring alongside her.
Lively and Baldoni began filming, and everything was fine at the time, according to the “Jane the Virgin” star’s lawsuit. In fact, Lively and Baldoni began developing a friendly working relationship.
In May 2023, “It Ends With Us” filming was paused due to the Screen Actors Guild strike. The SAG-AFTRA strike lasted from May 2, 2023, until Nov. 8, 2023.
According to Lively’s complaint, obtained by Fox News Digital, the actress convened an “all hands” meeting Jan. 4, 2024, regarding the alleged behavior of Justin Baldoni and Jamey Heath, a meeting her husband, Ryan Reynolds, attended.
Some of Lively’s alleged demands included no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s or Heath’s previous “pornography addiction,” no more discussions about personal experiences with sex, no more descriptions of their own genitalia, no more adding sex scenes outside what was in the original script, no more discussions about Blake’s weight or deceased father and more.
Everyone agreed the alleged behavior would stop.
BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI LAWSUIT: MESSAGES EXPOSE ALLEGED LIES, THREATS AND INTIMATE SECRETS
“It Ends With Us” premiered Aug. 19, 2024. Leading up to the premiere of the film, Lively was the subject of negative press. Many called out the actress for promoting hair products while the movie portrayed the difficult topic of domestic violence.
As for the red carpets, Baldoni largely did his portion of the press tour solo despite being the lead alongside Lively. While many online found this odd, the “Jane the Virgin” star spent time praising Lively. However, the actress didn’t seem to mention Baldoni in any interviews.
During the press tour in August, a Norwegian journalist uploaded a video from an interview with Lively in 2016 titled, “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.” Kjersti Flaa seemingly experienced an uncomfortable moment with Lively after she congratulated the “Gossip Girl” star on her pregnancy. In the video, Flaa congratulated Lively on her “little bump.”
Lively responded, “Congrats on your little bump.” However, Flaa was not pregnant at the time. The video gained traction on social media, garnering over 6 million views on YouTube.
Flaa was later included in Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni.
“My name is just printed in the lawsuit, and there’s not really any context around it, just a headline from a news outlet [that covered Flaa’s video]. … But they haven’t mentioned more about my video in the lawsuit because they know that it had nothing to do with [Baldoni’s] campaign. So, they could not put that in any legal papers,” the journalist told The Ankler.
“They saw that they could insinuate that I had something to do with it.”
Flaa claimed the inclusion of her video in the lawsuit insinuated that she was a part of Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign, but the journalist insisted she had nothing to do with it.
Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional affliction of emotional distress, negligence and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights department and later in federal court.
“Ms. Lively was forced to address concerns about Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath’s misconduct with them directly, and began doing so months before filming began,” the complaint, filed Dec. 31 and obtained by Fox News Digital, said. “The concerns she raised were not only for herself, but for the other female cast and crew, some of whom had also spoken up.”
Lively claimed that despite all parties agreeing to stop certain behavior on set, Baldoni participated in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her career.
Baldoni previously told The New York Times that Lively’s initial claims were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
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Baldoni filed his own lawsuit against Lively Jan. 16. He sued the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million in a complaint alleging defamation and civil extortion, among other things.
Baldoni’s legal team claimed Lively has no evidence of a deliberate smear campaign and instead worked to repair her reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.
“But Lively could not tolerate her publicly tainted image for even a moment, and further could not accept that it was entirely of her own making,” the lawsuit says. “She needed a scapegoat. And rather than admit and take accountability for her own mishaps, she chose to blame Plaintiffs, in a malicious and unforgivably public manner.
“When she and Reynolds could not force Baldoni and Wayfarer to read a statement she and her representatives prepared, extorting them to ‘take accountability’ in defense of Lively’s actions, she lay in wait for months, preparing to publicly attack Baldoni by falsely claiming that he had sexually harassed her.”
A representative for Lively slammed Baldoni’s lawsuit.
“This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook,” the statement provided by Lively’s legal team said. “This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation, and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender.”
Baldoni mentioned Taylor Swift in the lawsuit while attempting to show Lively taking control of the film set. According to the “Jane the Virgin” star, Lively rewrote the rooftop scene from the film and allegedly used her friendship with Swift to threaten him.
“I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor [emoji] You really are a talent across the board. Really excited nd [sic] grateful to do this together,” Baldoni texted Lively, according to the lawsuit.
Lively shared a lengthy response, in which she seemingly referred to Swift and Reynolds as “dragons” who protect her.
“Both Ryan and [redacted] have established themselves as absolute titans as writers and storytellers outside of their primary gig – just singing or just acting or [redacted] just directing. I’m so lucky to have them as creative barometers,” Lively’s text, included in the complaint, said.
“But also to have them as people who prop me up and make sure I’m seen for all I can, and do offer. Because they know firsthand all I contribute. They also know I’m not always as good at making sure I’m seen and utilized for fear of threatening egos, or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don’t give a s— about that. And because of that, everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I have to stop worrying about people liking me.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Swift’s representative for comment at the time.
Shortly after Baldoni filed his lawsuit, the actor’s team released unedited footage from the set of “It Ends With Us” that it claims refutes Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment.
“The following videos captured on May 23, 2023, clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior,” a statement shared at the beginning of the video, obtained by Fox News Digital, stated. “The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.
“These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”
However, Lively’s legal team claimed the unedited video is “damning evidence” and “corroborates” her allegations of sexual harassment.
WATCH: JUSTIN BALDONI RELEASES UNEDITED ‘IT ENDS WITH US’ FOOTAGE FEATURING BLAKE LIVELY
A six-minute voice note was then released with Baldoni admitting he “fell short” of Lively’s expectations.
“There’s so much I want to say to you and I hope that we can FaceTime or see each other in person soon and get to talk more, but I’m just going to send you a few thoughts, and hopefully it’s not going to be more than a few minutes, but I don’t have the best track record. I don’t think either one of us have the best records for voice memos. I want to start with an apology,” Baldoni said in part in the recording obtained by TMZ.
“Man … reading the second part of your message, my heart sank, and I’m really sorry. I for sure fell short, and you worked really hard on that, and the way you framed it and how that made you feel, and I just wanted to say thank you for sharing that with me. That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability.”
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Justin Baldoni’s team launched a promised website Feb. 1. The site included the amended complaint, filed Jan. 31, as well as a timeline of alleged events. The timeline included texts and emails involving the actors, intimacy coordinators and producers as evidence to counter Lively’s claims.
One of the texts included in the document referenced an intimacy coordinator. The “Gossip Girl” star claimed in her lawsuit that an intimacy coordinator had not been present on set and later demanded one be at all times in a bulleted list of non-negotiable requests for her return to filming.
However, Baldoni claimed it was actually Lively who “refused to meet” with the intimacy coordinator, leaving him to meet alone and then share the “sex scene suggestions and plans to Lively in the intimacy coordinator’s absence,” his lawsuit stated.
The documents include a screenshot of Baldoni disclosing the information to a female producer. In the screenshot, Baldoni shared his alleged message with Lively.
“Just hired intimacy coordinator who I LOVE,” Baldoni told Lively. “Will set you up to mee/FT with her next week for intro.”
Lively responded, “I feel good. I can meet her when we start 🙂 thank you though!”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, addressed the amended complaint.
“The decision to amend our lawsuit was a logical next step due to the overwhelming amount of new proof that has come to light. This fresh evidence corroborates what we knew all along, that due to a blind pursuit of power, Ms. Lively and her entire team colluded for months to destroy reputations through a complex web of lies, false accusations and the manipulation of illicitly received communications.
“The ongoing public interest in this case online has ironically shed light on the undeniable facts pertaining to The New York Times and how heavily Ms. Lively and her representatives were not only deeply involved in the attempted takedown and smear campaign of Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and their teams but that they themselves initiated it.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to a rep for Lively for comment.
Lively and Baldoni’s lawyers were in court Feb. 3, where they discussed a potential gag order with a judge.
Judge Lewis Liman ordered the stars’ legal teams to follow the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which limit speaking to the press. Neither party will be allowed to make statements to the press that have a “substantial likelihood” of prejudicing a jury. However, the legal teams will be allowed to defend their clients in the media against publicity not created by either side.
The trial date remained set for March 2026.
Days before the court hearing, Lively and Reynolds indicated they plan to request Baldoni’s lawsuit against them be dismissed. The move came after Judge Liman ordered the parties must “indicate in one sentence the Defendant’s intent to make a motion to dismiss.”
