Former co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are embroiled in a heated legal battle—one that may be just the beginning of a prolonged conflict.
In December, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and his associates, accusing them of sexual harassment and attempting to sabotage her reputation through damaging rumors. Baldoni fired back with a $400 million countersuit, alleging that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrongfully seized control of the It Ends With Us production.
The feud has escalated further, with a crisis management firm, Street Relations, entangled in the conflict now suing Lively for defamation after she named the company in her California Civil Rights complaint. As the legal drama continues to unfold, here’s a breakdown of the key developments.
How did Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s feud start?
They initially sparked plenty of buzz during the press tour in August 2024 for It Ends with Us, a film Baldoni directed that centers on an abusive relationship. But all the talk wasn’t about their performances — it was about the possible behind-the-scenes drama between the director and lead. After the pair didn’t appear together during the film’s promotion, many on social media started wondering if a feud was brewing.
Fans pointed out that Lively didn’t follow Baldoni on Instagram — nor did anyone else in the cast at the time. Then Baldoni didn’t appear alongside the cast in joint press interviews, fueling the speculation. (Baldoni later alleged that Lively “initially refused to permit” him to attend the film’s premiere.)
During the film’s promotion, Lively revealed that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrote the pivotal rooftop scene in the movie. Then, in a separate interview, Baldoni said that Lively should direct a sequel to the movie. Both these remarks went viral on TikTok.
“There were two camps on the film — team Blake and team Justin,” an unnamed source told US Weekly at the time. “This creative struggle set the tone for the negative experience behind the scenes and grew into them not speaking anymore.”
Some of these tensions have since been confirmed in Baldoni’s legal complaint, in which he claims Lively “threatened” not to promote the film if she didn’t get to make her own cut — and that she once gave him an “ultimatum” to either do things “her way” or recast her. He also claims that the final version that audiences ultimately saw is Lively’s version.
But their relationship didn’t appear to start out that way. Baldoni’s lawsuit claims that the pair “texted almost daily,” and they shared a “comfortable dynamic” with “friendly banter.” Then later during pre-production for the film, Baldoni claims Lively began “asserting control almost immediately” over the movie, specifically over her character’s wardrobe. At one point, the filing states that Lively insisted that her character had money and could afford $5,000 shoes, even though she was a floral shop owner.
What did Justin Baldoni allegedly do?
On Dec. 20, Lively filed a complaint with California’s Civil Rights Department against Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Specifically, she accused Baldoni of making inappropriate comments about her appearance, demanding that she be nude in scenes in which the script didn’t call for nudity, and unexpectedly biting her during kissing scenes.
She also alleged that Baldoni not only shamed her over her weight, but also walked into her trailer unannounced, including when she was breastfeeding her child. (Lively gave birth to her fourth child in February 2023, just months before filming was set to begin.) According to the complaint, Lively “felt comfortable” working while breastfeeding as long as “she was given the time and space to cover herself. But her lawyers claim Baldoni “showed a shocking lack of boundaries by invading her personal space.”
But Baldoni shared an alleged text from Lively on June 3, 2023, that paints a different picture. It read, “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.” He responded, “Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way.” Baldoni’s lawyers claimed this illustrated that Lively “invited Baldoni into her trailer” at least on one occasion.
Lively also claims that Baldoni would “often reference pornography” to her. At one point, she recalled an instance in her complaint when producer Jamey Heath, a business partner of Baldoni’s, played her a video from his wife’s home birth, and she “thought he was showing her pornography and stopped him.” Baldoni’s lawyers said the clip was a “deeply personal one with no sexual overtone” and was part of a creative discussion about the film’s birth scene.
What did the NYT report find?
The day after Lively filed her civil rights complaint, The New York Times publicized her allegations against Baldoni in a bombshell report. The story, “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” included screengrabs of texts that included exchanges between Baldoni and his publicists.
One apparent back-and-forth showed his PR team boasting about a Daily Mail article with a headline questioning if Lively would be “canceled”: “Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece,” one publicist wrote to the other, who replied, “That’s why you hired me right? I’m the best.”
But Baldoni’s lawyers say the Times deliberately “cherry-picked” information and left out key context to that conversation, including the publicist saying she wasn’t involved with the story’s publication. The newspaper also left out an emoji of an upside-down smiling face, which the suit says is “commonly used to convey irony, sarcasm, joking, or a sense of goofiness or silliness.”
In another alleged text exchange featured in Lively’s complaint, one of Baldoni’s publicists said, “He wants to feel like she can be buried.” Another one responded, “Of course,” but added: “We can’t write ‘we will destroy her.’ Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury anyone.”
Baldoni’s legal team dismissed concerns about these exchanges, saying they were “internal scenario planning” and nothing out of the ordinary.
Who’s suing who?
By Dec. 31, Lively formally filed a federal complaint in the Southern District of New York, which mirrored many of the earlier claims included in her civil rights complaint.
In the lead-up to the film’s release, Lively claims that Baldoni and his Wayfarer team orchestrated “a carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out.” This allegedly included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards and create a social media campaign to spread critical news stories about Lively.
That same day, Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs — including Heath, crisis communications expert Melissa Nathan, and publicist Jennifer Abel — responded by filing their own $250 million libel suit against the Times.
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” the statement read. “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of original documents, including the text messages and emails we quote accurately and at length in the article. Those texts and emails were also the crux of a discrimination claim filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his associates.” In response, the Times stated that it plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
But Baldoni hasn’t stopped there — his lawyers filed a 179-page complaint against Lively and Reynolds. In the filing, they stated that Lively “unequivocally left them with no choice, not only to set the record straight in response to Lively’s accusations, but also to put the spotlight on the parts of Hollywood that they have dedicated their careers to being the antithesis of.”
Some of the claims in the filing are already drawing attention. Notably, Lively allegedly never read It Ends With Us, the book the movie is based on. Additionally, she reportedly declined to meet with the film’s domestic violence partner organization and conducted what was described as a “tone-deaf” press tour. During this time, the actress seemingly focused on promoting her new hair care brand, though an unnamed source told Entertainment Weekly that the brand launch and press tour were never intended to overlap.
On top of his legal feud with Lively and the Times, Baldoni also faces a separate lawsuit from his former publicist, Steph Jones, for breaching their contract. (She claimed that the alleged smear campaign against the actress happened behind her back.)
Lively also has additional legal drama of her own. On Feb. 5, Jed Wallace and his crisis PR firm, Street Relations, filed a complaint against her in a Texas court. The 10-page filing seeks at least $6 million in punitive damages, arguing that Lively caused reputational harm by naming Wallace in her initial complaint but omitting him from the lawsuit against Baldoni later that month.
Lively, however, isn’t backing down. “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit attempting to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation,” her rep told E! News in a statement.
What do know about the leaked footage?
On Jan. 22, Baldoni’s legal team unveiled previously unreleased footage from the set of It Ends With Us, which they argue supports his assertion that he treated Blake Lively with “respect and professionalism” throughout their interactions. You can watch the footage in the video below:
The nearly 10-minute video shows Lively and Baldoni slow dancing amid a crowd of background dancers. They appear to be speaking out of character, discussing how to approach the more intimate moments of the scene. At one point, Lively suggests that it would be more “romantic” for them to look as if they’re talking rather than kissing. In another take, during a particularly intimate exchange, Baldoni leans in and asks, “Am I getting beard on you today?” After Lively laughs and responds, “I’m probably getting spray-tan on you,” Baldoni jokingly replies, “It smells good.”
The video shows three takes of the same scene, but it remains unclear whether any other footage was filmed but not included in the released clip. The length of time Lively and Baldoni spent together on set that day also hasn’t been confirmed.
Still, this moment corresponds with a scene referenced in Lively’s initial civil complaint and subsequent lawsuit, where she alleged specific instances of inappropriate behavior by Baldoni. In her Dec. 31 sexual harassment lawsuit, Lively described how Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear down her neck” while saying, “It smells so good,” a comment she claims was “not remotely in character” and not based on any script.
However, Baldoni’s lawyer contends that the leaked footage “clearly refutes Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior.”
In response, Lively’s legal team issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, asserting that “every frame of the released footage corroborates” the actress’ claims and labeling the footage as “manufactured media stunts.”
What have other stars said?
Several A-list stars have come out in support of Lively, including some of her own costars from It Ends With Us. Jenny Slate said, “The attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening.” Colleen Hoover, the author of the book the movie was based on, told Lively to “never change.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment chair-CEO Tony Vinciquerra has also praised Lively’s “passion and commitment to advancing the conversation around domestic violence” and added that he hopes “to do 12 more movies with her.”
The allegations have even prompted other celebrities to share their own experiences with on-set harassment. Actress Abigail Breslin defended Lively’s lawsuit after her claims against former costar Aaron Eckhart were made public in 2023. At the time, Breslin accused Eckhart of “aggressive, demeaning, and unprofessional behavior” during the filming of the spy thriller Classified, and reflected on the ordeal in a recent essay.
“When did the word woman become synonymous with scapegoat? As I see the news each day, I realize this is the world we seem to live in,” Breslin wrote. “I have unfortunately been subject to the same toxic masculinity throughout my life.”
In light of his legal woes, Baldoni’s other professional relationships have been under fresh scrutiny. He had his first breakout role as Rafael Solano in The CW’s Jane The Virgin opposite actress Gina Rodriguez; after the series wrapped in 2019, the pair remained close, with Baldoni officiating Rodriguez’s wedding that same year. And as recently as August 2024, she said the two remain close and “talk all the time.” Baldoni’s other co-stars, including Brett Dier and Yael Grobglas, also had positive things to say about their shared time with him on set. “Justin really made me feel like I could be myself,” Dier recalled during a November 2023 episode of Baldoni’s Man Enough podcast.
While Baldoni’s and Lively’s legal battle is far from over, the allegations do pose new questions about the actor-director’s branding as a feminist ally — and about just how rampant harassment and toxicity in Hollywood may be.
