Lights, camera, action! The drama began in August 2024, when the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us hit theaters. Blake Lively, a famous actress best known for her role as Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, stars as protagonist Lily Bloom in It Ends With Us. Popular actor and director Justin Baldoni held the role of directing the movie while playing the main antagonist of the movie, Ryle Kinkaid. In the months following its release, rumors flooded social media about bad blood between the movie’s costars.
This was confirmed on December 20th, when Lively filed a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set, causing the conflict to break out into a bitter legal dispute. Following her accusation, Lively seemed to receive support from her other castmates as many unfollowed Baldoni on social media and disassociated themselves from him during the movie’s premiere. Baldoni was soon dropped from his talent agency and his social standing seemed to be falling apart at the hands of Lively’s claims.
On December 31st, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, reiterating her claims of his sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her. As the new year rolled around, there was feuding back and forth between Lively and Baldoni’s teams. Lively’s lawyers argued that she was attempting to protect herself and her castmates through the media. Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of weaponizing the media against Baldoni to take control of the movie. Soon, there was an intense shift in the media’s perception of Lively as the victim in this feud.
There had already been negative opinions circulating on social media about Lively’s promotional strategies for It Ends With Us. In countless interviews about the movie, Lively chose to advertise her haircare line, discuss her fashion choices for her character, and even promote other films that her husband starred in. In contrast, Baldoni’s interviews drew attention to domestic violence—a central theme in the story—and spread the important message of the movie to his audience. Additional rumors were spread about Reynolds being extremely controlling of the production of It Ends With Us. Lively told E! News at the film’s premiere that her husband entirely rewrote a crucial scene where the main characters meet on a Boston rooftop. As Lively used questionable methods to promote the film and her husband made invasive attempts to control its production, fans were beginning to get a bad feeling about the popular couple.
The real kicker to their reputation was Baldoni’s 400 million dollar lawsuit against both the couple and their publicist for extortion and defamation. Baldoni denounced Lively and Reynolds for destroying his reputation and stealing control of the film. He and his legal team also created a website releasing incriminating pieces of evidence that revealed holes in Lively’s sexual assault claims. This website, thelawsuitinfo.com, contains events from January 2019 to January 2025 related to the production of It Ends With Us, as well as screenshots of text messages, emails, and more to back up his timeline. Baldoni’s long list of evidence defending his claims on top of Lively and Reynolds’ weakened reputations have dramatically swayed the public’s opinion on the drama.
There is one piece of evidence released by Baldoni that sparks particular controversy: outtakes of a bar scene between the two main characters. In these cut scenes, Baldoni and Lively slow dance with each other. Lively’s team stated that the clips clearly showed Baldoni inappropriately touching her, bolstering her initial claims. Baldoni’s team shot back by stating that he was simply acting in-character for the scene. Following the release of this evidence, Lively’s lawyers requested a gag order against Baldoni’s lawyer.
As of February 2025, Lively has amended her legal statement to include a new testimony from another woman on the set of It Ends With Us. According to Lively’s legal team, this female cast member has also reported feeling uncomfortable on set. A trial date has been set for March 2026, leaving the media plenty of time to speculate. Which side of this feud will win? Only time—and maybe detailed websites with text receipts—will tell.
