Justin Baldoni has initiated legal proceedings against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, seeking $400 million in damages, alleging that they have engaged in acts of 'civil extortion.'
Justin Baldoni has initiated legal proceedings against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and others, marking a significant escalation in their dispute. The 179-page lawsuit was submitted to the Southern District of New York, where Baldoni has accused Lively and Reynolds of "civil extortion."
He is pursuing damages amounting to no less than $400 million. In the legal documents submitted on Wednesday, January 16, Baldoni, aged 40, expressed that this was not a narrative he ever intended to share; however, he asserted that Lively, aged 37, "unequivocally left them with no choice."
“Had Lively chosen to merely ride out the self-inflicted press catastrophe she faced in August 2024, the public would likely have moved on and never known the truth about her,” the lawsuit continued. Baldoni asserted that Lively “intentionally and methodically deprived” him and Wayfarer Studios of their film, It Ends With Us, stating that “only the individuals involved would have been aware that she employed threats and extortion to confine her once-esteemed colleagues to a basement during their own premiere, while she basked in the limelight of a premiere and afterparty that were ultimately co-financed by both Wayfarer and Sony.”
Blake Lively
The director of Five Feet Apart expressed that he would have “remained silent” regarding the accusations directed at Lively, alleging that the Gossip Girl star was unable to “endure her publicly damaged reputation” and “could not acknowledge that it was entirely of her own making.” During the promotional activities for It Ends With Us, Lively faced backlash for advertising her hair care line while the film addressed the serious issue of domestic abuse. “It was presented more as a romantic comedy, like, ‘Gather your friends, wear your lovely outfits, and come watch this movie.’ And that’s not the essence of the story,” one woman remarked to NBC News at that time. “Many of us who read the book and identify with Lily are not attending for the floral patterns or the fashion. We are going to see ourselves represented on the big screen.”
In his lawsuit, Baldoni accused Lively of choosing “to insensitively promote her hair care and alcoholic beverage brands instead of highlighting the plight of domestic violence survivors” and claimed that she “ultimately exploited her status as a wealthy celebrity to seize control” from him. Baldoni also included a text message sent to Wayfarer Studios’ Jamey Heath, which stated that Lively had not “expressed a desire” to read the book and that her “creative choices demonstrated” her “fundamental misunderstanding of the source material on which the film was based.”
The Jane the Virgin alum’s lawsuit added, “At bottom, this is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press. This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio. Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat. Tolerating a year and a half of their behavior while remaining polite and professional at every turn offered Badoni and Wayfarer no protection.”
The documents continued, “When Plaintiffs have their day in court, the jury will recognize that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will.”
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In December 2024, Lively initiated legal proceedings against Baldoni, alleging inappropriate conduct during the filming of It Ends With Us. Lively asserted that a comprehensive staff meeting was convened to address certain behaviors exhibited by Baldoni, during which he was presented with a set of guidelines to follow for the remainder of the production. These stipulations included a prohibition on Baldoni inquiring about Lively's weight, showing her nude images of women, discussing genitalia, among other restrictions.
The legal documents also stipulated that there should be “no further addition of sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxing by BL beyond the parameters of the script BL approved upon joining the project,” with Lively claiming that the studio consented to the terms established in the meeting. The actress from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants accused Baldoni of attempting to “destroy” her reputation through a campaign of “social manipulation,” and she provided a screenshot of a text message indicating that Baldoni “wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried.” Baldoni's legal representative, Bryan Freedman, categorically refuted the allegations against his client, describing them as “false, outrageous, and intentionally sensational with the aim of causing public harm” and asserting that they were fabricated to “repair her negative reputation.”
