Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Fight Back Against Justin Baldoni’s Media Blitz
Hollywood power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have hit back against Justin Baldoni in the ongoing legal battle stemming from Lively’s ‘It Ends with Us’ co-star’s legal team’s release of behind-the-scenes footage from the film.
In a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, attorneys for the A-listers accused Baldoni and his legal team of continuing their “harassing and retaliatory media campaign” against Lively with “almost daily media statements or other releases to the press,” according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.
The filing follows Baldoni’s attorneys’ release on Tuesday of behind-the-scenes footage of an intimate scene Baldoni and Lively performed in the romantic drama. In an emailed statement to USA TODAY that same day, Lively’s legal team blasted the footage’s release as a “stunt” by Baldoni’s attorneys that reinforces “misleading media narratives.”
Lively and Reynolds’ legal team previously sent a cease-and-desist letter to Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman in December 2024, requesting that he refrain from making “defamatory and retaliatory statements relating to Ms. Lively.” Around the same time, a cease-and-desist was also sent to Baldoni and his business associates, asking them to halt “all unlawful conduct toward the Lively-Reynolds parties and their affiliates.”
“Virtually every day since, Mr. Freedman has given television interviews, appeared on podcasts, issued inflammatory written statements, and leaked information … to the Hollywood press and tabloid media,” Lively and Reynolds’ attorneys said Tuesday.
Those statements not only continue the campaign of retaliation that was the subject of Ms. Lively’s First Cease and Desist, but they contain numerous new false statements about Ms. Lively and others.”
In response, Lively and Reynolds’ attorneys are seeking an “appropriate protective order” to curb Freedman’s non-litigation statements, as well as a hearing to “address the appropriate conduct of counsel moving forward.”
Extensive Media Releases and a Behind-the-Scenes Clip
Among the numerous media releases made by Freedman, Lively and Reynolds’ legal team cite a video of behind-the-scenes footage from “It Ends with Us” released on Tuesday.
The nearly 10-minute clip shows the actors’ characters, Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) and Lily Bloom (Lively), slow dancing during a scene referenced in Lively’s December complaint against Baldoni, which preceded the actress’s federal lawsuit.
As further evidence of an alleged harassment campaign, the couple’s attorneys also referenced Freedman’s previous announcement to launch a website relating to Baldoni’s federal lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds. The website will reportedly contain “all correspondences as well as relevant videos that quash (Lively’s) claims.”
“As Ms. Lively’s counsel have attempted, repeatedly, to caution Mr. Freedman, federal litigation must be conducted in court and according to the relevant rules of professional conduct,” Lively and Reynolds’ attorneys said.
“His conduct threatens to, and will, materially prejudice both the Lively Case and the Wayfarer Case by tainting the jury pool, because his statements are deliberately aimed at undermining the ‘character, credibility, (and) reputation’ of numerous relevant parties and likewise includes ‘information the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be inadmissible as evidence in a trial,’ thereby creating a substantial risk of prejudice not just for Ms. Lively, but for numerous other parties in the matters.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Freedman for comment.
A Tangled Legal Web: Allegations and Countersuits
The legal drama between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively took a complex turn when both former co-stars filed lawsuits on New Year’s Eve recounting their experiences working together.
Lively’s federal suit mirrors a complaint filed in California and detailed in a viral New York Times report titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
The “Gossip Girl” alum alleges that Baldoni engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct both inside and outside the workplace and orchestrated a smear campaign against her for addressing his purported behavior.
Baldoni, in turn, filed a $250 million suit challenging The New York Times’ reporting on Lively’s allegations, claiming the publication relied on “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
Baldoni also filed a $400 million federal lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds on Jan. 16, accusing the couple of defamation and extortion.
Conclusion: Jury Tainting Concerns and an Ongoing Battle
Lively and Reynolds’ legal team maintains that Baldoni’s media blitz is an attempt to taint the jury pool in the upcoming trial by damaging Lively’s reputation and that of other relevant parties. They seek an ‘appropriate protective order’ to curb Freedman’s extrajudicial statements.
The ongoing legal battle between Baldoni, Lively, and Reynolds continues to unfold, with both sides making serious accusations and the potential for reputational and financial consequences hanging in the balance.