Content Warning: This article touches on the topic of domestic violence and sexual harassment which may be triggering for some readers.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been making headlines for months now.
The two co-starred in the 2024 film It Ends With Us, based on the best-selling Colleen Hoover novel of the same name.
Blake plays the protagonist Lily Bloom, a young florist experiencing domestic violence. While Justin plays Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon who physically abuses Lily.
Justin also directed the film and his production company Wayfarer Entertainment produced it.
But It Ends With Us is not the sole reason Blake and Justin have been making headlines…
What was the issue between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?
In very early August 2024, the press tour for It Ends With Us began.
And TikTok sleuths were quick to point out that Blake and Justin were never photographed nor took interviews together.
In fact, Blake did most of her interviews and promo with her other co-stars Brandon Sklenar, Isabela Ferrer, and Jenny Slate. Whereas, Justin appeared to embark on his own press tour alone.
This led many to speculate whether there was an issue between the two — as well as between Justin and the wider cast…
But as the press tour continued, Blake started facing heavy criticism online for how she was promoting the film.
She was repeatedly called “tone-deaf” for rarely talking about the heavy domestic violence themes It Ends With Us explores, and instead focusing on her character’s fashion and interest in flowers.
Plus, when the official It Ends With Us TikTok account posted a video of Blake saying, “Grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it,” the actress was condemned online.
Multiple comments under this video said her words were “inappropriate”, and that It Ends With Us is not a lighthearted rom-com that should be trivialised with themed dressing.
“This isn’t Barbie,” one comment read.
Blake faced further backlash when she launched and started cross-promoting her haircare line during the press tour of It Ends of Us.
In stark comparison, in most — if not all — of the interviews Justin did, he repeatedly spoke about domestic violence. He shone a light on the important issue while promoting the film.
“The only way I could direct this movie is if I had a group of women behind me who are specialists in this space; from the very beginning we’ve worked very hard to create a very truthful and honest story that could reflect the reality millions and millions of people go through every day,” Justin said while on the US Today show.
By the middle of August 2024, the general consensus online was that Blake and Justin must’ve fallen out over creative differences as they were clearly taking polar opposite approaches with regards to the It Ends With Us promotion.
Then on August 14, TMZ reported that Blake felt “fat-shamed” by Justin while filming It Ends With Us and that was the reason for their rift.
Neither Blake nor Justin responded to TMZ’s story. However, shortly after it was published, sleuths spotted that Blake and several other It Ends With Us cast members had unfollowed Justin on Instagram. Thus, suggesting that the two had indeed fallen out and the cast had likely taken Blake’s side.
It was also brought to the public’s attention around this time that Justin had hired crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan — who reportedly ran PR for Johnny Depp during his high-profile defamation trial against Amber Heard in 2022.
Why is Blake Lively suing Justin Baldoni?
On December 21, 2024, Blake filed a complaint — which is a precursor to a lawsuit — against Justin with the California Civil Rights Department alleging sexual harassment, which Justin vehemently denies.
The actress says that Justin “improvised unwanted kissing” and that both Justin and Jamey Heath (CEO of Wayfarer Studios and lead producer on It Ends With Us) “repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.”
Blake’s complaint further alleged that after she raised concerns about this behaviour while filming It Ends With Us, Justin and his public relations team orchestrated a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
For instance, Blake says that “the official promotion plan instructed the cast to focus more on the uplifting aspects of the movie than on abuse, and to embrace a floral theme.”
But as detailed above, when Blake promoted It Ends With Us that way, she was severely criticised.
She alleges that after seeing that “blowback,” Justin and his PR team decided to ignore the official promotion plan and “instead highlight[ed] survivors of domestic violence in his interviews and social media” to sway public opinion against her and in his favour.
Also on December 21, The New York Times published an article further detailing the claims of Blake’s complaint — which was also filed against Wayfarer Studios, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz (co-owner of Wayfarer Studios), Melissa Nathan (publicist and crisis PR expert), The Agency Group, (Melissa’s agency), Jennifer Abel (Justin’s publicist), RWA Communications (Jennifer’s agency), Jed Wallace (publicist), and Street Relations Inc (Jed’s agency).
The article also featured several damning screenshots of text messages alleged to be between Justin, Ms Nathan, and Ms Abel.
Shortly after Blake filed her complaint and The New York Times published the accompanying article, Colleen Hoover, Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, and Amy Schumer publicly supported Blake.
Vital Voices, a global non-profit organisation that focuses on empowering women, also rescinded an award they had given Justin earlier in December 2024 in light of Blake’s allegations.
And finally, Liz Plank, who co-hosts The Man Enough Podcast with Justin, announced she would “no longer be co-hosting” with Justin and was leaving the podcast altogether. Although, it should be noted that she didn’t explicitly say that Blake’s allegations were why she was leaving.
Blake went on to file a formal lawsuit against Justin, Wayfarer Studios, Jamey, and the others listed above on December 31, 2024.
Why is Justin suing Blake?
Also on December 31, 2024, Justin filed a libel lawsuit against The New York Times for US$250 million.
The actor accused the newspaper of defaming him and his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement:
“In this vicious smear campaign fully orchestrated by Blake Lively and her team, The New York Times cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful ‘untouchable’ Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative.”
Legal representatives for The New York Times swiftly responded, saying in a statement:
“We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit. The role of an independent news organisation is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”
Furthermore, on January 17, 2025, Justin filed a US$400 million lawsuit against Blake, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloan. This lawsuit accuses them of civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
Justin’s complaint alleges that Blake attempted to gain control over the film’s production through demands and threats. It continued that her accusations were a strategic move to deflect attention from her own actions.
Taylor Swift — a close friend of Blake’s — was also dragged into the lawsuit. Justin claims that when visiting Blake’s apartment to go through changes she had made to the It Ends With Us script, Ryan and Taylor were there and sang Blake’s praises.
Once he left, Justin texted Blake, “I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. [And] makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan or Taylor).”
Blake allegedly responded by saying that she was “lucky” to have Ryan and Taylor in her life as they acted as “creative barometers” and were like “dragons” who protected her.
In Justin’s lawsuit, his lawyers have argued that Justin “felt obliged to text [Blake] Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn’t needed [Ryan] Reynolds and her mega-celebrity friend to pressure him.”
The lawsuit goes on to say, “The message could not have been clearer. [Justin] Baldoni was not just dealing with [Blake] Lively. He was also facing [Blake] Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him.”
A spokesperson for Blake said in response to Justin’s lawsuit, “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.”
What’s happening now with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?
On February 1, 2025, Justin’s lawyer launched a public website which contains Justin’s amended complaint. Along with a ‘timeline of events’ document related to the case.
The timeline document contains numerous screenshots of alleged text message exchanges between Justin and Blake, and Justin and Ryan.
Also in early February 2025, New York federal judge Lewis J. Liman set Blake and Justin’s trial date for March 9, 2026.
On February 18, 2025, Blake filed an amended complaint. This complaint alleges that Justin made two other women “uncomfortable” during the filming of It Ends With Us. And furthermore, that these women are willing to testify at the trial.
The amended complaint reads, “Ms Lively was not alone in complaining about Mr Baldoni and raised her concerns contemporaneously as they arose in 2023 … Importantly, and contrary to the entire narrative Defendants have invented, Mr Baldoni acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time. He knew that women other than Ms Lively also were uncomfortable and had complained about his behaviour.”
The document outlined that the two unnamed women gave Blake “permission to share the substance of their communications” and “they will testify and produce responsive documents in the discovery process.”
Blake also added a defamation claim to the suit; she alleges that Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has issued “inflammatory content to media outlets” and has been “saying anything, whether true or false, that will harm Ms Lively’s credibility and intimidate others from speaking up on her behalf.”
In a statement made to Variety, Justin and Wayfarer’s legal team denied these new allegations.
“Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real-time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry-picked to the media. Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband. Her underwhelming amended complaint is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims,” the statement read.
“Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behaviour will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms Lively’s lack of actual evidence,” it continued.
We’re sure there’s more to come before the trial starts in March next year, so stay tuned.
If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this article, help is available. Call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit their website.
