Blake Lively seeks protection order in Justin Baldoni lawsuit after 'violent' messages

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are seeking additional protections amid their ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

The couple, who are involved in a complex lawsuit with Lively's "It Ends With Us" co-star and director, are seeking set confidentiality rules for handling "sensitive" information in the time leading up to Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit and Baldoni's extortion countersuit, according to a proposal filed Thursday.

The protective order request is attached to a letter to the presiding judge, Lewis Liman, reiterating from her amended complaint that Lively, her family, "It Ends With Us" co-stars and witnesses "have received violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications." Her team alleges one witness, who has supported her publicly, received a written threat stating his "family would be sexually assaulted and killed unless" he "agreed to 'make a statement and give the truth.'"

The order applies to the couple, Baldoni and their lawyers, as well as third parties involved in the lawsuit, and allows some information to be labeled confidential or for "Attorneys Eyes Only," which can be objected.

The protection request follows months of public back and forth, including Baldoni launching a website with previously unseen texts between the director and the couple, and in January, his team released a 10-minute behind-the-scenes clip of a slow-dancing scene the actors performed. Attorneys for the A-list couple later filed a gag order, accusing Baldoni and his legal team of continuing their "harassing and retaliatory media campaign" against Lively with "almost daily media statements or other releases to the press," according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

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Baldoni first sued his "It Ends with Us" co-star, her husband and The New York Times after the actress went public and filed a lawsuit with claims Baldoni sexually harassed her and helped orchestrate a smear campaign against her.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Lively fabricated the claims of sexual harassment and conspired with The Times to publish a damning article against Baldoni, and used her celebrity status to "seize control" of the filmmaking process. The director's amended extortion, invasion of privacy and defamation suit folds in Baldoni's previous suit against The Times for $250 million.

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In Lively's suit, she alleged Baldoni sexually harassed her on set, added unwanted intimate scenes to the script, shared unsolicited information about his sex life and asked about hers, and entered her dressing room uninvited while she was breastfeeding.

Implicating not only Baldoni but also the crisis PR firm he hired after the movie wrapped, Lively alleged the hatred she received online was not an organic phenomenon but rather a highly coordinated operation to boost negative sentiment around the actress and insulate Baldoni from potential claims of harassment.

Lively and Baldoni's trial is set for March 9, 2026.

Contributing: Anna Kaufman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blake Lively seeks protection order in Justin Baldoni lawsuit