Things are getting messy behind the scenes of It Ends With Us. Justin Baldoni has filed a whopping $400 million federal lawsuit against his co-star Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist Leslie Sloane, accusing them of launching a smear campaign to wrest creative control of the movie from him.
Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, are taking legal action, claiming that Lively orchestrated a campaign to make him the “real-life villain” to distract from public criticism she faced during the film’s media tour. According to legal documents obtained by Just Jared, the lawsuit alleges Blake was accused of being “tone-deaf” for promoting her haircare and alcohol lines while working on a project centred around domestic violence.
The tensions reportedly began during filming in May 2023. Baldoni claims Lively initiated a “takeover strategy” to seize creative control, even going so far as to rewrite pivotal scenes. One such rewrite allegedly occurred during a meeting at Lively and Reynolds’ penthouse in New York City, where Reynolds apparently praised his wife’s version of a key rooftop scene. Hours later, Taylor Swift, a close friend of the couple, also showed up to support Lively’s rewrite, according to the lawsuit.
Baldoni’s grievances extend to wardrobe disputes, with Lively allegedly pushing for a “rich and sexy” aesthetic for her character, while Baldoni argued it clashed with her role as a struggling small business owner. He also accused Lively of not fully engaging with the source material, claiming, “She even tried to Google the colour of her character’s hair rather than pick up the book.”
In the suit, Baldoni doesn’t hold back. “This lawsuit is 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,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement to Just Jared.
“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.
“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. 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,” the statement concluded.
In addition to seeking $400 million in damages from Lively and her publicist, Baldoni is also suing The New York Times for $250 million over what he claims was a defamatory article tied to this controversy.
This legal clash follows Lively’s own accusations against Baldoni. She previously filed a legal complaint accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
With lawsuits flying and allegations escalating, it seems the drama behind It Ends With Us is far outpacing anything scripted for the big screen.
