Photo: Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
After a messy press tour for the It Ends With Us adaptation and damage to her reputation and brands, Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni; Wayfarer Studios; his crisis-PR team, the Agency Group; Melissa Nathan; and others for sexual harassment, retaliation, and more. On December 21, the New York Times detailed the claims in the document, which alleged Baldoni hired the crisis-PR company to “bury” Lively after she complained about Baldoni’s behavior on set to the studio, threatening his “feminist” reputation. Baldoni and company. eventually fired back with their own $400 million lawsuit, accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and civil extortion; Baldoni also sued the New York Times for libel over the allegations in its piece.
Amid ongoing litigation, who has cut ties with Baldoni, and who has joined everyone from Colleen Hoover to Amber Heard in throwing public support behind Lively? Who else is suing Lively? What’s up with the text messages in Lively’s complaint? And what is on Baldoni’s website about the lawsuit? Below, here’s the latest on everything you need to know about the dueling claims in this legal battle.
In the 80-page December 20 filing obtained by Vulture, the complaint, which then developed into a lawsuit, details Lively’s issues with Baldoni throughout production that influenced Baldoni to retaliate against Lively during the film’s press tour. During production, Lively claims that Baldoni “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed with” her and attempted to add nudity and graphic scenes that weren’t in the original script without an intimacy coordinator present. After she raised concerns about Baldoni’s alleged behavior at the studio, the studio promised to add safeguards in place for protection and, in another contract, promised to not retaliate against the actress for her complaints.
Lively also claims that once the press tour began for the film, Baldoni stepped away from the plan the team originally agreed upon, focusing on “female trauma” instead of “female triumph.” The other cast members and author Colleen Hoover started doing promotional events without Baldoni. Baldoni’s team reportedly wanted to get ahead of fans who were questioning why Baldoni was not promoting with the rest of them. This is when Baldoni reportedly hired Melissa Nathan of the Agency Group PR to work on a retaliation campaign against Lively, making a plan for possible scenarios if Lively spoke out against Baldoni. Jed Wallace was then hired; Wallace worked on a social-media strategy to garner support for Baldoni and his work on the film. “The narrative online is so freaking good and fans are still sticking up for Justin, and there literally has been no pickup of those two articles, which is actually shocking to me. But I see this as a total success, as does Justin,” publicist Jennifer Abel reportedly wrote in a text message to Nathan.
In a statement to the Times, Lively shared, “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.”
The lawsuit details how the smear campaign affected Lively’s new hair-care line and how the “record-breaking” sales plummeted 56 percent to 78 percent after the backlash.
According to Variety, Lively’s legal team said in a legal filing that the communications in the complaint were obtained “through legal process, including a civil subpoena.” The team later specified that they got the messages by subpoenaing Joneswork LLC, the PR firm that previously represented Baldoni. The firm also previously employed Abel, who left and started her own firm amid the It Ends With Us drama. Bryan Freedman — the attorney for Baldoni, Abel, Nathan, and Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios — said he plans to sue Joneswork founder Stephanie Jones. Freedman claims that in full context, the text messages “unequivocally show that there was no smear campaign initiated at all,” and suggests that texts that show the truth were “purposefully excluded.”
On December 24, Jones filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, Abel, and Nathan over claims that include breach of contract and defamation. The complaint alleges that Abel and Nathan conspired behind her back with Baldoni to coordinate a “smear campaign” against Lively, and are now trying to blame her for their alleged misconduct. “For months, this group has gaslit and disparaged Stephanie Jones and her company for financial gain, to settle personal scores and most recently to distract from their disgraceful smearing of Blake Lively,” Jones’s attorney, Kristin Tahler, said in a statement to Vulture. “This lawsuit is a necessary step to stop defendants’ continuing misconduct and for Steph to recover the reputation she has worked decades to establish and which the defendants disparaged for their own nefarious purposes.”
Baldoni, who has denied engaging in sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior, filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist on January 16. The suit portrays the It Ends With Us conflict as a struggle for creative control, and accuses the defendants of defamation and civil extortion. Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, said in a statement that the complaint is based on an “overwhelming amount of untampered evidence” of Lively and her team’s “attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.” He is suing alongside Wayfarer Studios and PR representatives Nathan and Abel. An attorney for Lively responded to the suit with a statement characterizing it as an “age-old story” where a “woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim.”
Baldoni and Lively previously both closed out 2024 by filing formal lawsuits on December 31. Lively sued Baldoni for mental pain and anguish, severe emotional distress, and lost wages; Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging that the publication defamed him with its piece about the alleged PR campaign against Lively. His filing includes more context for the text messages between Nathan and Abel, and alleges that the Times disregarded evidence “that contradicted [Lively’s] claims and exposed her true motives.”
On February 1, just a few days before their pre-trial, Baldoni released a website, not so slyly titled “thelawsuitinfo.com”, that contains two links: a 224-page PDF of the amended complaint and a 138-page PDF of a “timeline of related events.” The timeline contains handpicked evidence related to the production of It Ends With Us, like messages relating to the rooftop scene that Reynolds helped rewrite and discussions about Lively’s health when filming. A few days later, another website appeared titled “thelawsuitinfo.info”; however, instead of PDFs with hundreds of pages, it simply said: “Oppose abusive workplace behavior, especially from managers,
including directors. Support Blake Lively’s effort to advocate for herself.” However, it is unclear if Lively’s team or one of her supporters created the website.
Crisis PR rep Jed Wallace, who the New York Times names in their story about Lively’s original complaint, is suing Lively for $7 million in a lawsuit in federal court. In the suit filed on February 5, Wallace claims that neither he nor his company “had anything to do with the alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate or aiding and abetting the alleged harassment or alleged retaliation.” He also says that Lively “weaponized a digital army” against him. “It is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department,” Lively’s lawyers said in a statement in response the lawsuit to AP News. “While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
Talent agency William Morris Endeavor has stopped representing him, Ari Emanuel (a chief executive at WME’s parent company, Endeavor) told the New York Times on December 21. WME also represents Lively and Reynolds, though the agency has denied that there was any pressure from the couple to drop Baldoni.
Vital Voices, a nonprofit supporting women, said in a December 23 statement that it is taking back the Voices of Solidarity Award that it previously honored Baldoni with earlier in the month. “The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit — and the PR effort they indicate — are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the award,” the organization explained. “We have notified Mr. Baldoni that we have rescinded this award.”
Liz Plank will no longer co-host the Man Enough podcast with Baldoni, she announced in an Instagram statement shared on December 23. “We all deserve better, and I know that together, we can create it,” she wrote in part. “I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened. In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable.”
A number of stars have backed Lively since news of her filing. Hoover told Lively to “never change” and “never wilt” in an Instagram Story after she filed. Michele Morrone said he felt Lively’s “pain” when he met her on the set of A Simple Favor 2, asking people leaving “cruel and bad” comments to read the Times report. Sklenar similarly asked his followers to read the formal complaint through Instagram Stories. And Slate stood by her It Ends With Us castmate, whom she called a “loyal friend” and “trusted source of emotional support,” in a statement to the Today show. “What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening,” she added in part.
Lively’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel offered their support in a joint statement: “Throughout the filming of It Ends With Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set,” they wrote, “and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice.” Her A Simple Favor director Paul Feig also supported her on X. Lively’s union, SAG-AFTRA, expressed its support for the actress in a new statement on Monday, December 23, writing, “We applaud Blake Lively’s courage in speaking out on issues of retaliation and harassment and for her request to have an intimacy coordinator for all scenes with nudity or sexual content. This is an important step that helps ensure a safe set.” Actress Amber Heard also backed Lively; Baldoni’s crisis publicist was also hired by her ex-husband Johnny Depp amid his defamation lawsuit against her.
On December 26, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Kaitlin Olson offered Lively her support by sharing an Instagram Reel from the Times coverage with the caption “@blakelively is a kind, lovely, honest and generous person (and an incredible mom.) FYI.” Olson is famously married to Sunny co-star Rob McElhenney, who — also famously — is the co-owner of Wrexham AFC, a Welsh soccer team he purchased with Ryan Reynolds.
Kjersti Flaa, the journalist who posted a now-viral clip of a past interview with Lively, suggested that she is collateral damage in the It Ends With Us battle. Flaa’s decision to share the old footage was mentioned in the New York Times’ December 21 investigative feature about the alleged PR campaign against Lively. (In the video, Flaa congratulated Lively, who had recently announced that she was pregnant, on her “little bump.” Lively replied by congratulating Flaa — who was not pregnant — on her “little bump.”) The Times piece points out that Flaa posted past interview clips with Johnny Depp with hashtags sending him support during his trial against Amber Heard, and that Nathan, the crisis-PR vet hired by Baldoni, worked with Depp during that trial. “It was so shocking to read that in [the Times], with this very strong insinuation that I was involved in this alleged smear campaign,” Flaa told The Hollywood Reporter, denying that Baldoni or his team had gotten in touch with her before or after she posted the video.
According to Flaa, she posted the clip with Lively of her own accord, in part to highlight what she sees as the poor treatment that journalists can face from celebrities. Many people pointed to the exchange as a negative testament to Lively’s character. “The thing is, she smeared herself in that video, and people reacted to it online,” Flaa said. “[The reason] for her becoming unpopular is because of her own behavior.” Still, the journalist said the amount of “hate” that Lively got after the video was posted was “awful.” And as for the current legal battle, Flaa said she will wait to hear “both sides of the story” when Lively’s and Baldoni’s lawsuits go to court.
This post has been updated.
