Justin Baldoni Alleges Blake Lively Never Read ‘It Ends With Us’ Book in New Lawsuit

Justin Baldoni is accusing his It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively of not putting in the work when it came to starring in the book-to-movie adaptation.

Baldoni, 40, and his production company Wayfarer Studios filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, 37, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and Lively's publicist, Leslie Sloane, on Thursday, January 16. In addition to accusing the group of trying to make him “the real-life villain in [Lively’s] story” during the production and promotion of It Ends With Us, Baldoni accused Lively of not reading the bestselling 2016 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, which the movie is based on.

“Not only did Lively’s power play cost numerous people their jobs, but at every turn, her wrongheaded creative decisions reflected her fundamental lack of understanding of the book the Film was based on,” Baldoni’s filing, obtained by Us Weekly, reads. “This came as no surprise to her worried colleagues, given that, even well into production, Lively had not even read the book.”

A footnote in the docs states that Lively claimed she read the book, but cites a text exchange between Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath as evidence she did not. “While I understand Blake’s reasons for not wanting to read the book, the book does a very good job in getting in Lily’s mind during her interactions with Ryle and setting up the WHY behind her attraction to him, which ultimately helps us understand why she strays in the end,” reads a text screenshot from Baldoni to Heath.

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It Ends With Us stars Lively as Lily Bloom, a woman who falls in love with Baldoni’s character, Ryle Kincaid. As their relationship takes an abusive turn, Lily reconnects with her first love, Atlas Corrigan, played by Brandon Sklenar.

Baldoni’s lawsuit further claims that Lively’s alleged lack of knowledge of the source material caused issues during the film’s production. “At one point, Lively insisted that her character ‘had money’ and could afford $5,000 shoes — despite being a fledgling small business owner,” the docs state. “This forced Baldoni to rethink the entire script that had been in the works for well over a year and was approved by both Sony and Wayfarer [Studios]. … The wardrobe budget ballooned.”

In another footnote, the lawsuit claims that “Lively herself had voiced insecurities about the public perception of her casting as Lily Bloom,” as she is over 10 years older than Lily is described in the book. “Lively asked that author Colleen Hoover explain in her public casting announcement that they had decided to 'age up' the book’s characters for the Film,” the filing reads. “Hoover didn’t put the statement out in the way Lively requested. Lively was not happy.”

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told Us in a statement on Thursday: “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.”

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He continued: “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.”

Publicists affected by Lively also told Us in a statement: “It is devastating that we are forced to answer this viciously selfish ongoing litigation littered with documented and provable lies in the midst of the tragedy impacting California where we reside. Five months ago Ms. Lively chose to promote a film about domestic violence in a way that caused instant negative and organic backlash due to her own highly publicized actions," the statement reads. "Instead of accepting responsibility, she decided to cruelly blame us. This malicious attack on private individuals by Ms. Lively and her team in which they chose to spoon feed The New York Times with doctored, out of context and edited text messages in an effort to paint herself as a victim set off a chain of events that has been harmful beyond measure. To be clear, Ms. Lively and her team initiated this smear campaign in the media for the sole intention of gaining undeserved public sympathy for her own missteps. Over the last month we have received death threats, abhorrent abuse and vile anti-semitic slurs hurled at us due to her decision to use us as scapegoats for her own choices promoting her film in which she made millions of dollars. With this filing, we lift our own curtain of what happens when the entitled weaponize power, fear and money to destroy, intimidate and bully those who get in their way.”

Us reached out to reps for Lively and Sloane for comment.

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

Baldoni’s lawsuit comes less than one month after Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the actor, accusing him of inappropriate behavior on the It Ends With Us set and launching a negative smear campaign against her.

Baldoni refuted her allegations in a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times, which first reported Lively’s lawsuit, later that month. He accused the outlet of libel and cherry-picking, as well as accused Lively of trying to gain creative control of the film. Both the outlet and Lively denied the claims.

"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," Lively told Us in a December 2024 statement.