3 February 2025
Justin Baldoni has claimed Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively urged him to take responsibility amid backlash surrounding the actress’ conduct during the ‘It Ends With Us’ press tour.
Justin Baldoni has claimed Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively urged him to take responsibility amid backlash surrounding the actress’ conduct during the ‘It Ends With Us’ press tour
The 40-year-old actor and director, currently facing sexual harassment allegations from Blake, launched a website at the weekend to present his defence to her claims – which includes his amended $400 million defamation lawsuit against the actress and her husband Ryan, as well as a detailed timeline of events that has been filed in court.
One of the documents published on the website is an alleged statement Justin claims the couple drafted for him to release through his production company, Wayfarer, in an effort to deflect criticism from Blake.
NBC News has reported the backlash stems from accusations that Blake, 37, had been insensitive to the film’s themes of domestic violence and engaged in “mean girl” behaviour.
The statement, dated 12 August, 2024, states: “‘It Ends With us’ was a troubled production which we take full accountability for. We are very sorry to everyone we caused upset to privately and publicly.”
It continues: “Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, the entire cast and crew led with professionalism every step of the way, any negativity aimed at them is ours to own. We mutually agreed that the cast would be promoting the film separately and understood why.”
Justin has denied any responsibility for harming Blake’s reputation, with his legal team rejecting her claims.
His lawyers argue the proposed statement was problematic, and according to Justin’s court filings, his former representatives at WME agreed it was “vague, implies culpability without substance, and fails to address the issues at hand”.
His team also argues that the statement “would have the opposite effect” if its goal was to reduce scrutiny of Blake.
Justin’s site also contains alleged handwritten notes from a meeting with the intimacy coordinator for ‘It Ends With Us’.
The notes, which the actor and filmmaker claims were shared with Blake during a script-writing meeting in New York, mention explicit scenes involving her character, including references to “orgasm” and “foreplay”.
The filings allege: “These notes would later become the basis for Lively’s complaint, in which she states that Baldoni would talk about his own sex life and insert gratuitous scenes with Lively’s character orgasming.”
They also claim Justin had requested that the discussions be handled by the intimacy coordinator, but Blake apparently declined to meet with her, which left him in “the less-than-ideal position of having to relay these notes to Lively in her penthouse”.
Blake filed a lawsuit against Justin on 31 December, 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and lost wages.
Justin has denied the allegations and filed his own countersuit against Blake, Ryan, and the actress’ publicist Leslie Sloan.
English (US) ·