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Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively‘s issues on the set of It Ends With Us continued beyond the film’s premiere and subsequent release on streaming. The movie, which tackles tough themes of domestic violence, unexpectedly backfired on Lively.
After a rocky promotional tour, she took legal action against Baldoni. Now, Baldoni is hitting back, claiming that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, have been “bullying” him. The new lawsuit against The New York Times, which released the report of Lively’s legal complaint tells Baldoni’s version of events. The actor starred in the film, as well as directed and produced through his company Wayfarer Studios, and the film was distributed by Sony Pictures.
While It Ends With Us found amazing commercial success, ending its theatrical run just shy of $350 million (via The Numbers) against a modest $25 million, the drama was bigger behind-the-scenes than it was on the screen. Baldoni is not planning to go down quietly and has refuted Lively’s allegations with additional claims.
Justin Baldoni claims Ryan Reynolds ‘berated’ him during a meeting
In the bombshell lawsuit against The Times, released by Variety, Baldoni recalls a heated meeting at Reynolds and Lively’s Tribeca home. The lawsuit notes Lively and Reynolds invited Baldoni and other producers on It Ends With Us, as well as a Sony rep to their home on the evening of Jan. 4, 2024, before filming resumed after being paused by the dual strikes in 2024.
The legal action notes the group “arrived eager” to start discussing the plans for when they resumed filming the next day. “Instead, they were blindsided by Lively and Reynolds, who presented a list of grievances that were both unanticipated and troubling.” Baldoni claims “Reynolds launched into a tirade, berating” him, who described it as a “traumatic” encounter. The Deadpool & Wolverine star allegedly wanted him to apologize for fat-shaming his wife.
“When Baldoni resisted apologizing for what he had not done, Reynolds became further enraged. Everyone, including the producer Lively had asked production to engage and a representative of Sony that was in attendance left that meeting in shock. A producer who attended the meeting claims that, in his 40-year career, he had never seen anyone speak to someone like that.” The Sony rep reportedly claimed Lively “would often think of that meeting,” adding that her “one regret” was that “she didn’t stop Reynolds’ berating of Baldoni.”
Baldoni further claimed that after filming was complete, Lively took over the project and refused to walk the red carpet or let him attend the premiere. He further accuses her and her husband Reynolds of using their power to damage him. He claims that Reynolds approached Baldoni’s agent at WME and demanded they “drop” him. The actor was subsequently dropped by the agency after Lively’s lawsuit, but a rep denied that it was because of Reynolds’ involvement.
The Jane the Virgin actor further claimed he never signed Lively’s CRD complaint about the on-set issues. “No such document was ever presented to Baldoni, the Wayfarer team, or, to their knowledge, anyone else — whether during that meeting or at any other time — and therefore, could not have been agreed to.”
In reality, many of these items were encountered for the first time in the CRD Complaint itself and include references to highly disturbing events that never occurred. The repeated use of the phrase ‘no more’ before each demand falsely suggests that these alleged incidents had previously taken place and needed to cease. This implication is not only misleading but entirely untrue
The lawsuit further clarifies Lively’s allegations about entering her makeup trailer uninvited, his publicist Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel’s text messages, which they claim were taken out of context, as well as producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz’s messages. Baldoni also accuses Lively of embarking on a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign of her own.