‘It Ends With Us’: Blake Lively Claims Two Other Actresses Are Prepared to Testify Against Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively’s legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and co-star took a new turn late Tuesday night when she filed an amended complaint alleging that two other actresses on the set of the film are prepared to testify as to their own uncomfortable experiences with Justin Baldoni or with his Wayfarer Studios partner Jamey Heath.
The suit does not name the actresses, quote directly from their texts or include screen shots, out of concern that they may be exposed to the same sort of cyberbullying and threats Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, claim they have endured, along with others associated with the ongoing saga.
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Sources indicate the two women are actresses Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer, who could not immediately be reached for comment. Slate is a veteran comic and actress known for roles in Parks and Recreation and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Ferrer is a newcomer to the industry and was only around 23 at the time of filming, when she played the younger version of Lively’s character.
“Importantly, however, these victim-witnesses have given Ms. Lively permission to share their communications in the Amended Complaint as they are laid out, and they will testify and produce documents in the discovery process,” said a spokesperson for Lively.
In a statement, Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni, said that Lively’s revised lawsuit is “filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims.” He added, “Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.”
The filing could represent another shake-up in the It Ends With Us legal and PR battle, which until now has largely been seen as a fight between Lively and Baldoni. Having two more women from the production allegedly claim they were likewise mistreated by the director could push the saga from being perceived as a bitter feud into literal #MeToo territory.
It Ends With Us, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel about a couple in love caught up in a growing cycle of domestic abuse, grossed north of $351 million globally against a modest budget of $25 million. The sleeper hit, produced by Wayfarer, was co-financed by Sony, which was in charge of marketing and releasing the film.
“Ms. Lively has filed an amended complaint today that provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims. That evidence includes previously undisclosed communications involving Ms. Lively, representatives of Sony and Wayfarer, and numerous other witnesses,” her lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said in a statement. “The complaint includes significant contemporaneous evidence that Ms. Lively was not alone in raising allegations of on-set misconduct more than a year before the film was edited; as well as evidence detailing the threats, harassment, and intimidation of not just Ms. Lively, but numerous innocent bystanders that have followed defendants’ retaliatory campaign.”
According to the amended suit, experiences of Lively and others were documented at the time they occurred, beginning in May of 2023. On May 24, 2023, Lively confided in a text to a woman who was a mutual friend of Baldoni and Heath: “I was gonna invite you to set tomorrow. These people. Whoa … It’s like HR nuts today. The both of them. I wasn’t expecting that turn. I mean it’s been present but today I came home and cried.” Further in the exchange, Lively describes Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath as “creeps . . . . Like keep your hormones to yourselves. This is not mine. I don’t want it. I don’t want you [sic] gaze or words or tongue or videos of your naked wife. Yeah. It’s shocking. Clowns,” states the amended lawsuit.
A few days later, on May 26, 2023, Lively reported her concerns regarding unwelcome and inappropriate behavior by Baldoni and Heath to Sony employee Ange Giannetti. The suit says Baldoni acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time when reaching out to one of the women.
Over the following three days, another female castmember reported her own concerns regarding Baldoni’s unwelcome behavior to both Giannetti and one of the film’s producers.
The amended complaint has also added a new claim for defamation based on the repeated false statements the defendants have allegedly made about Ms. Lively since she filed her original complaint, and adds Jed Wallace and his company as defendants, according to a spokesperson for Lively. Wallace, a crisis PR manager, was brought on by Wayfarer and has worked closely with Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman and crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan.
The amended complaint further alleges that Wayfarer co-founder and billionaire Steve Sarowtiz told a witness that he “will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies.” The complaint claims he told this unnamed witness, “there will be two dead bodies when I’m done. Minimum. Not dead, but you’re dead to me. So that kind of dead. But dead to a lot of people.” (Lively alleged in her original complaint that he was has not denied telling another third party he was “prepared to spend $100 million to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family.”)
Wayfarer reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since publicizing misconduct allegations over the filming of It Ends With Us in December, Lively has been trading legal blows with Baldoni in dueling lawsuits in federal court in New York as each side looks to curry public favor in the highly publicized dispute. Thus far, they’ve refused to engage in settlement discussions, according to court documents.
The new allegations from Lively filed on Tuesday expand on the narrative she detailed in her initial lawsuit accusing Baldoni and his public relations team of undermining her reputation in retaliation for speaking up about sexual misconduct on the set of the film. It’s her first chance at responding in court to Baldoni’s lawsuit against her and her husband for defamation and extortion. In that complaint, Baldoni has argued that Lively raised objections about his behavior, which included entering her trailer uninvited while she was breastfeeding and improvising an unwanted kissing scene during filming, to wrest creative control of the movie.
Lively’s amended suit tries to paint a different picture, citing correspondence from Sony execs supporting her cut of the film. It also suggests that Wayfarer launched an HR investigation last month.
Among the many reasons the legal drama has fascinated Hollywood is the tangling web of relationships among the major players in the litigation. Shortly after cutting ties with Baldoni, WME — which also represents Lively and her megastar husband, Reynolds — released a statement insisting that the married stars didn’t pressure the agency to drop him.
Also named Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds is Leslie Sloane, the actress’ public relations representative at Vision PR.
Read Freedman’s full statement below:
Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry picked to the media. Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband. Her underwhelming amended complaint is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims. Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.
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