“It Ends With Us” director and actor Justin Baldoni filed a lawsuit on Thursday against his co-star Blake Lively, adding another layer to the legal saga between the pair that began in December.
Attorneys for Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, an “It Ends With Us” LLC, producer Jamey Heath and PR pros Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel filed a 179-page complaint in a U.S. district court in New York on Jan. 16, accusing Lively; her husband, Ryan Reynolds; her PR person Leslie Sloane; and Sloane’s business of defamation and other contractual claims.
“Heartbreakingly, a film that Baldoni envisioned years ago would honor the survivors of domestic violence by telling their story, with the lofty goal of making a positive impact in the world, has now been overshadowed beyond recognition solely as a result of Lively’s actions and cruelty,” attorneys for Baldoni write in the complaint.
Lively’s legal team responded to the filing, calling the lawsuit “another chapter in the abuser playbook” in a statement to NBC News.
“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,” the statement continued.
Lively’s legal team said Baldoni and Wayfarer “are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.”
The statement concluded by saying “the strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”
Lively previously filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni in California and a lawsuit against him in New York. Baldoni has denied Lively’s allegations against him.
Baldoniis seeking damages of at least $400 million for defamation, civil extortion, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, said in a statement to TODAY.com that the lawsuit was “a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.
“It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth,” he said.
“Ms. Lively will never again be allowed to continue to exploit actual victims of real harassment solely for her personal reputation gain at the expense of those without power,” he continued. “Let’s not forget, Ms. Lively and her team attempted to bulldoze reputations and livelihoods for heinously selfish reasons through their own dangerous manipulation of the media before even taking any actual legal action. We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide, documents do not lie.”
Here’s what Baldoni accuses Lively of in the complaint related to allegations of “breach of contract, extortion, defamation and further wrongdoing.”
Baldoni says Lively insisted on oversight of her character’s costume
Lively, who was hired as an actor to play Lily Bloom in the film, allegedly insisted on control over her character’s costume before filming even began, according to the complaint.
Baldoni alleges that Lively’s actions led the costume designer to re-shop her wardrobe, “far exceeding the allocated budget and diverting time and resources, while also preparing wardrobes for the rest of the cast,” according to the complaint.
Lively spoke about her involvement with the costumes during the press tour for the film, including with TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones.
“It’s storytelling,” she said on TODAY. “To me, fashion and costume design is storytelling.”
Lively wrote a draft of the rooftop scene, then said Reynolds wrote it at the film’s premiere, lawsuit says
During production, Lively asked Baldoni if she could “take a pass” at writing one of the scenes in the film, where Lily and Baldoni’s character, Ryle, meet on the rooftop of his apartment building, the complaint states.
Baldoni alleges the draft of the scene Lively wrote significantly differed from the original version, and that he thanked her for her passion and said that the final scene would likely end up being somewhere between her version and the original version.
Lively did not respond and went silent for multiple days afterward, according to the complaint.
In text messages, Lively referred to a meeting she called at her penthouse, in which Reynolds greeted Baldoni and gave his wife praise for her version of the scene, the complaint says.
“Hours later, as the meeting was ending, a famous, and famously close, friend of Reynolds and Lively, walked into the room and similarly began praising Lively’s script,” the complaint says. “Baldoni understood the subtext: he needed to comply with Lively’s direction for the script.”
In one of the messages, Baldoni refers to the friend as “Taylor,” but the name is redacted in other messages. (Baldoni’s team confirmed this was a reference to Taylor Swift; the pop star has not commented.)
Lively’s complaint did not have details on this specific alleged meeting.
Later, during a red carpet interview, Lively said her husband had written the scene, according to the complaint.
“This was also the first time that Plaintiffs learned that Reynolds — who had no formal role whatsoever in the Film’s production — had made unauthorized changes to the script in secret,” the complaint alleges.
Baldoni explains why he asked for Lively’s weight
Lively introduced Baldoni to the person who would become his personal trainer, according to the complaint.
During production, Baldoni privately reached out to the trainer to ask what Lively’s weight was so that he could properly prepare his back muscles for a scene in which he had to lift her up, according to the complaint. (Baldoni has suffered from lifelong back injuries, according to the complaint.)
The next day, Lively asked Baldoni to come to her penthouse, where he was greeted by Reynolds, who swore at Baldoni and accused him of fat-shaming his wife, according to the complaint.
“How dare you f——- ask about my wife’s weight?” Reynolds asked Baldoni, according to the complaint. “What’s wrong with you?”
Baldoni offered what are described in the lawsuit as “repeated (and completely unwarranted)” apologies, and Reynolds demanded that the scene be removed entirely, according to his complaint. Lively allegedly refused to perform the scene, even after it was rehearsed with a stunt double, according to the complaint.
In Lively’s original complaint, she alleges that weeks after she gave birth to her fourth child, Baldoni “secretly called her fitness trainer without her knowledge or permission and implied that he wanted her to lose weight in two weeks” because he was concerned about picking her up in a scene. She said in her complaint that “there was no such scene.”
Later, according to Baldoni’s complaint, Lively delivered an ultimatum: “If Baldoni could not get on board with her work methods, he had two weeks to recast her.”
Baldoni’s attorneys say a 17-point document brought by Lively was ‘essentially signed under duress’
After filming was paused due to multiple strikes, production was set to begin again once the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, according to the complaint.
“The same day that the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, Baldoni, the studios, and producers were eager to resume production. Instead, they were met with an email from Lively’s lawyer, who sent Wayfarer an unsettling and unexpected 17-point list of non-negotiable conditions that must be met before Lively would return to work,” the complaint states.
“The stunning list was drafted for the apparent purpose of insinuating or outright claiming that Baldoni, Heath, and others had engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct during filming,” the complaint continues.
In Lively’s complaint, she also includes details on the meeting, saying it was to discuss “the inappropriate conduct that Ms. Lively, her employees and other cast and crew experienced at the hands of Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.” Her complaint included the list she says was reviewed at the meeting.
In the list, Lively suggested that there wasn’t an intimacy coordinator on set, but attorneys for Baldoni write that there was one assigned to the film.
The complaint alleges that Lively didn’t meet with the intimacy coordinator, leading Baldoni to work on scenes with the coordinator and relay any changes to Lively.
Baldoni accuses Lively of unchoreographed kissing during scenes, while one of the 17 points on Lively’s list was “no spontaneous improvisation” during intimate scenes.
Before returning to production, Lively allegedly had more notes and script changes that Baldoni eventually mostly agreed to, out of fear the film would be taken from him by “threats and coercion,” according to the complaint.
Attorneys for Baldoni write that the document was “essentially signed under duress,” and in an email to his team, Baldoni wrote that he was “waiving the white flag and submitting” and that he would give Lively “98% of what she wants.”
Baldoni says Lively refused to promote the film if she didn’t get her own cuts, replaced film editors with her own
In April and May 2024, Lively was granted her own cut of the film after Sony told Wayfarer that Lively would refuse to promote the film unless her demands were met, according to the complaint.
“Ultimately, Lively replaced the Film’s editors with her own choice: an editor often used by Reynolds, and the Film’s editors had to be let go,” the complaint states.
As there were two versions of the film, Lively’s cut and Baldoni’s cut, the studio agreed to do an official audience test of both versions, according to the complaint. Baldoni’s version “scored significantly higher with key audience demographics,” according to the complaint.
Lively then said Hoover would not promote the film unless her version was released, and Sony later told Wayfarer that neither Lively nor any of the film’s cast would promote the film unless her cut was used.
As noted previously, Lively specified in her response to Baldoni’s lawsuit that “Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.”
“Baldoni was forced to choose between killing the film and his own career by insisting on his own creative vision and rights, or putting out a version of the Film that Baldoni knew could still be so important to domestic violence survivors, even if it differed greatly from what it could have been,” the complaint states. “Baldoni reluctantly chose the latter, and stood down, allowing Lively’s version of the Film to be released and promoted.”
The film went on to bring in over $148 million at the box office throughout its theatrical run.
Baldoni alleges he was kept apart from Lively at the film’s premiere
The lawsuit contends that Lively communicated that she would not promote the movie if she was not given a producer credit.
Baldoni and Wayfarer also allege they sent a letter to the Producers Guild of America “under duress” asking for Lively to be given a “coveted” p.g.a. designation on her producer’s credit even though they didn’t believe she deserved it.
Attorneys for Baldoni write in the lawsuit that he was in Sweden for his wife’s birthday when he was informed that Lively and a “majority of the cast” would boycott the “It Ends with Us” premiere if Baldoni attended it.
A compromise was reached in which “Wayfarer persuaded Lively to ‘permit’ Baldoni and the Wayfarer team, along with their friends and family, to attend” the premiere, according to court documents. Baldoni and his family and friends then attended under “demeaning and humiliating conditions,” per the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Baldoni had to cut his time on the red carpet short at the event and was “instructed to stop immediately” because Lively was on her way.
The court documents include photos of Baldoni with friends and family on folding chairs and surrounded by pallets of soda bottles. Baldoni’s attorneys say the photos are from the basement of the venue, where Baldoni and his entourage were allegedly moved to be separate from the remainder of the cast at the premiere.
The group was then escorted out of the building by security to “avoid even a chance of interaction with Lively or her guests,” his complaint says.
Baldoni and Wayfarer also allege that they had to organize and pay for a separate after-party for “himself and the Wayfarer team” because he was excluded from the official after-party attended by Lively and the cast. He alleges Wayfarer paid for both parties.
Baldoni’s attorneys also allege that he was not invited to any events involving cast members, such as photo shoots, screenings and promotional events, according to court documents.
Baldoni alleges the cast was ‘induced’ by Lively to shun him, unfollow him on social media
The lawsuit alleges that Lively “induced” other cast members to avoid Baldoni “in an early attempt to give fans the impression that Baldoni had committed an egregious sin, something so egregious that no one wanted to even take photos with him or have him around.” Lively’s response to his lawsuit says that “cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer.”
His attorneys also write that Lively told Sony that she and the cast would not take part in any promotion of the film with Baldoni present, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges she ordered him to be removed from all artwork promoting the film, including the posters.
Baldoni’s attorneys allege that Lively used tactics like unfollowing him on social media as “crumbs,” to give fans “just enough to allow them to come to their own conclusions” about him, according to court documents.
The court documents include alleged screenshots of a friendly and complimentary text message exchange between Baldoni and actor Isabela Ferrer, who plays a younger version of Lively’s character in the movie. The lawsuit asserts that Lively then turned Ferrer against him.
“It was not until Ferrer spent substantial time with Lively during film promotions that Ferrer felt compelled to shun Baldoni in repudiation of her warm words,” the lawsuit reads.
Ryan Reynolds allegedly told an executive at Baldoni’s agency to ‘drop’ him
Baldoni and Wayfarer allege in the lawsuit that Reynolds told an executive at William Morris Endeavor to get rid of Baldoni as a client.
They allege the first meeting with the executive took place at the premiere of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the blockbuster 2024 film starring Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
Reynolds allegedly approached a WME executive and “expressed his deep disdain for Baldoni, suggesting the agency was working with a ‘sexual predator'” and, at a later date, “demanded that the agent ‘drop’ Baldoni,” court documents say.
These allegations were also included in Baldoni’s lawsuit against the New York Times, and WME denied having had any of the alleged conversations.
“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ premiere. This is not true,” WME said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
On Dec. 21, The New York Times published an investigative report about Baldoni’s alleged PR campaign against Lively. After the article was published, WME stopped representing Baldoni, Ari Emanuel, chief executive of the agency’s parent company, Endeavor, told the Times.
Lively allegedly demanded Wayfarer and Baldoni put out a statement ‘accepting blame’ or ‘the gloves would come off’
Baldoni’s attorneys allege in the court documents that when word of troubles involving the promotion of the movie began surfacing in the media, Lively and Reynolds wanted Wayfarer, Baldoni and Heath to make a public apology in August 2024.
If they did not, they were told the “gloves would come off” from Lively and Reynolds.
“They told Heath that Lively and Reynolds had demanded that Wayfarer put out a statement ‘accepting blame’ for the problems during filming, with an express threat that they themselves would attack Wayfarer in the press if Wayfarer refused,” the lawsuit reads.
Baldoni and Wayfarer did not issue any such statement.
Blake Lively’s team allegedly worked to smear Baldoni
A portion of the lawsuit echoes the allegations Baldoni has made in a separate $250 million libel lawsuit he filed against The New York Times in late December 2024.
The New York Times story published on Dec. 21 includes text messages and emails between public relations experts working for Baldoni that allegedly suggest Lively was the target of a smear campaign. Baldoni’s attorneys contend it was the opposite — Lively started a push to smear him.
The Times story was published the day after Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, saying he repeatedly harassed her on the set of the film and crossed boundaries during intimate scenes.
In Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively, he alleges that she and her team worked in “close coordination” with The New York Times, “likely over a matter of months.” He alleges that she provided the newspaper with a copy of her sexual harassment complaint “long before filing it.”
“Lively and her team used cherry-picked text messages, stripped of context and even manipulated, to peddle a narrative that Plaintiffs had responded to Lively’s complaints about purported sexual harassment by plotting to destroy her reputation through a shadow smear campaign,” the lawsuit reads.
“The allegations against The New York Times in this new lawsuit are meritless and recycled from the equally baseless claims in the suit that was filed against The Times in California,” a New York Times spokesperson said on Jan. 16.
Baldoni’s attorneys allege that any backlash against Lively during the promotion of the movie was due to her own social media missteps, like promoting her alcohol brand alongside a movie involving domestic violence and her “bubbly, sunny messaging” about a film depicting serious issues.
Her reaction to the negative press was to shift blame to Baldoni, his attorneys allege in the lawsuit.
“Lively ordered her team to begin a campaign to frame herself as a martyr and pin the blame on Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit reads. “Behind the scenes, Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, devised and executed a smear campaign of her own against Baldoni.”
The lawsuit alleges Sloane engaged with a reporter with the Daily Mail and began “seeding false information to cast Baldoni in a negative light.”
