It Ends With Us’ Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Feud and Lawsuits Explained: How Did It Start?

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s reported rift made headlines months before the It Ends With Us costars filed lawsuits.

While Lively and Baldoni promoted the film in August 2024, rumors began swirling of an alleged feud between the pair. Fans noticed that Lively was promoting the movie with some of her costars while Baldoni, who was a director on the film, did not join for interviews or press opportunities. At the same time, Lively received backlash from fans for how she addressed the domestic violence theme of the movie. (She later provided domestic violence resources.)

Months later, The New York Times broke the news that Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment. Baldoni denied all allegations against him made in the December 2024 lawsuit, which was obtained by Us Weekly.

Days later, Baldoni was among 10 plaintiffs who launched a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for its coverage of Lively’s accusations. (A spokesperson for the The New York Times told Us that the outlet is planning to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”)

Lively filed a lawsuit that same day against Baldoni in a New York federal court which mirrored her earlier claims — which were filed with the California Civil Rights Department.

Scroll down for an explanation on Lively and Baldoni’s alleged feud and lawsuits:

How Did the Alleged Feud Start?

In August 2024, speculation surrounding a potential rift on set began swirling after fans noticed that Lively didn’t follow Baldoni on Instagram — and neither did anyone else in the cast at the time. Fuel was added to the fire when Baldoni was noticeably absent from joint press interviews.

At the start of press for the movie, Lively revealed that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, wrote part of the rooftop scene in It Ends With Us. In a separate interview, Baldoni made a comment that Lively should direct a sequel of the movie. Both remarks went viral on TikTok and fueled the feud speculation. A source exclusively told Us at the time that Lively and Baldoni had “creative differences” while filming the movie.

“There were two camps on the film — team Blake and team Justin,” the insider said. “This creative struggle set the tone for the negative experience behind the scenes and grew into them not speaking anymore.”

Breaking Down Blake Lively’s Accusations About ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Justin Baldoni

Who’s Suing Whom?

Months after the film was released in theaters (and the same month it went on Netflix), Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment. In the December 2024 lawsuit, Lively also accused Baldoni of launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to “destroy” her reputation.

In a statement to The New York Times regarding her lawsuit, Lively said, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called Lively’s accusations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a statement to Us, claiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” about the movie’s production.

Baldoni hit back days later with his own lawsuit, where he was listed as one of the 10 plaintiffs suing The New York Times for $250 million after its reporting on Lively’s lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that Lively pursued a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign against Baldoni and “cherry picked” communications while leaving out key details.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said in a statement to Us that the publication is standing by its story and plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” the statement read. “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. Those texts and emails were also the crux of a discrimination claim filed in California by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his associates.”

The statement continued, “To address some inaccuracies in the lawsuit, when seeking comments from Mr. Baldoni and others who would be mentioned in the article, The Times shared the information that we intended to publish, including references to specific text messages and documents, asked them to identify any inaccuracies, provide additional context and speak with our team. Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer and the other subjects chose not to have any conversations with The Times or address any of the specific text messages or documents and instead emailed a joint response, which was published in full. (Also, they sent their response to The Times at 11:16 p.m. ET Dec 20th, not at 2:16 a.m. ET Dec 21st as the complaint says.)”

Lively’s attorneys told Us that the lawsuit was based on an “obviously false premise,” while Baldoni’s attorney continues to deny any wrongdoing.

The same day, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni in a New York court which mirrored her earlier claims, which were filed in California.

Baldoni’s studio filed a lawsuit the following month against Lively and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, seeking $400 million in damages. In the filing obtained by Us, Baldoni claimed that Lively was “determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story” to divert attention from her alleged “tone-deaf” promotion of the film.

Freedman shared in a statement to Us, “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.”

Lively’s legal team reacted to the lawsuit, sharing, in part, “Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”

Who Said What?

Among several claims in her lawsuit, Lively alleged that she was not the only cast member to complain about Baldoni. Lively also claimed that there was a meeting — which was attended by Reynolds — held in January 2024 to address some of her concerns about It Ends With Us’ production.

Some of Lively’s demands that were addressed included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”

In the lawsuit Baldoni filed with other plaintiffs, Lively’s accusations were addressed and countered with the actor’s interpretation of the events. One example is Lively feeling fat-shamed while Baldoni claimed he asked a trainer for Lively’s weight because of his back issues. Another example of the different recollections of events involved Lively claiming Baldoni had a “lengthy outburst” that delayed production over social media backlash to her costumes. Baldoni described the incident as “professional” and noted that while he did “briefly tear up during the conversation,” he said it was “in response to what he believed was a genuine compliment from Lively.” He now believes the alleged comment was a “manipulation tactic.” A third example involved the claim about “pornography” on set, which Baldoni claims was a photo of a home birth.

Among several other counterclaims, the lawsuit alleged that there were key communications omitted by The New York Times — like an emoji missing from the end of a text message— regarding an alleged effort from Baldoni’s team Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel to generate bad press for Lively.

In response to the lawsuit, Lively’s attorney said in a statement to Us that Baldoni’s claims change nothing about her accusations against him.

Amid the legal battle, Baldoni’s lawyer released 10 minutes of footage from the It Ends With Us set in an attempt to prove his side of the story. The clip obtained by Us in January 2025 began with a statement that read, “Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr. Baldoni was behaving inappropriately. The following videos captured on May 23, 2023, clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism. These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”

The video showcased a scene that was highly debated in the docs, including the moment where they discuss his nose and the smell of her spray tan.

Freedman said in a statement to Us: “Us received this video from legal counsel Bryan Freedman, who has gone on record numerous times and told the public that Justin Baldoni and team has nothing to hide and this video, once more proves this. Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims.”

Following the video’s release, Lively’s team slammed Baldoni and his team for choosing to drop the footage publicly. The same day, Lively and Reynolds filed a letter in court seeking a protective order against Freedman. Days later, Baldoni’s attorney Kevin Fritz asked the judge to deny the gag order if it is formally requested by Lively’s team.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Reported ‘It Ends With Us’ Drama: What We Know

How Is Taylor Swift — and Others — Related to the Lawsuit?

In Lively’s lawsuit, her former costars Leighton Meester, Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck were referenced in an alleged “scenario planning” document drafted by Baldoni’s team. “Our recommended approach would be to provide reporters who reach out for comment, should it be obvious she’s referring to you, with the appropriate background information (listed in Scenario 1) to ensure their stories are balanced and the speculation can be turned to another one of the many people she’s had issues working with (Leighton Meester, Anna Kendrick, Ben Affleck, etc.),” the docs read. Hailey Bieber was also referenced by Baldoni as an alleged “astroturfing” plan against the actress while Lively’s pal Taylor Swift was also mentioned by his team in reference to the pop star’s loyal fans.

Exhibits attached to the complaint showed a crisis management expert working for Baldoni wrote in an August 2024 email “we have seen the most innocuous issues turn giant due to socials or the hugest crises have no effect on social whatsoever. You just cannot tell at this stage. But, BL does have some of the same TS fanbase so we will be taking it extremely seriously.”

A separate “scenario planning” doc from Baldoni’s side noted, “Our team can also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want.” (Baldoni’s lawsuit included a text from Abel that read, “This document is an overview … We need to prepare as if she will also go through any great lengths with press. It’s a good thing if we all prepare for the worst outcome because then if and when it’s not as bad, we are OVER prepared.”)

Following Lively’s filing, other stars spoke out with their own experiences. In a December 2024 Instagram video, Kate Beckinsale recalled a time when she was working on a project and was called names after raising concern about working with a costar. Beckinsale also alleged that she was treated poorly by someone on her own team. Abigail Breslin also defended Lively’s lawsuit after her own claims against former costar Aaron Eckhart were made public in 2023.

Several stars tied to the It Ends With Us set have also come forward supporting Lively. Costar Jenny Slate said “the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening,” while author Colleen Hoover told Lively to “never change.”