Ryan Reynolds’ bold move against Justin Baldoni has been revealed following his wife, Blake Lively, filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star.
The Colleen Hoover adaptation was released in August and was a huge box office success, raking in more than $350 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.
The film centers around Lily Bloom (Lively), a woman who moves to a new city and falls in love with a man named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) – who becomes abusive. She crosses paths with her first love, Atlas Corrigan, and this forces her to confront her tumultuous relationship with Ryle.
Filming for the flick began in May 2023 – just a few months after the Gossip Girl star welcomed her fourth child, a son named Olin, with husband Ryan Reynolds.
The It Ends With Us press tour was marred by rumors of a rift between Lively and Baldoni, fueled by the co-stars’ lack of interactions at the premieres and press tour.
However, the mom-of-four’s lawsuit reveals that her concerns about Baldoni predated filming, and claims they clashed over several issues, including the Jane The Virgin actor’s need to add “gratuitous” nudity and sex scenes before filming began.
When Lively “objected to these additions,” Baldoni insisted on the scenes, citing the importance of portraying the story “through the female gaze,” per PEOPLE.
The actor also inserted other scenes she was uncomfortable with, such as depicting a simultaneous orgasm between Lily and Ryle on their wedding night. He explained that it was important to him “because he and his partner climax simultaneously during intercourse”.
In addition to this, Baldoni “intrusively asked” Lively whether she and her husband also “climax simultaneously during intercourse” – a question that the actress deemed invasive and declined to discuss with him.
Relations soured even further during the filming of the movie and culminated in a meeting held to address Lively’s concerns regarding her involvement in the film in January 2024.
Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, boldly attended the meeting. Baldoni and officials from his Wayfarer Studios production company were also among those in attendance.
The mom-of-four set several expectations for Baldoni, which were: “No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction’, no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
He was also allegedly asked to stop adding “sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project”.
As well as attending the meeting, Baldoni reportedly discovered after filming had wrapped that Reynolds had blocked both him and Wayfarer Studios on Instagram.
In alleged messages, cited by Page Six, the filmmaker was worried that Lively would also block him, making joint promotion for their film a difficult prospect.
“We should have a plan for IF [Lively] does the same when [the] movie comes out,” he allegedly wrote to publicist Jennifer Abel, per court documents. “Just want you guys to have a plan. Plans make me feel more at ease.”
According to the lawsuit, Baldoni later took part in what was described as a “social manipulation” campaign launched to “destroy” Lively’s reputation after the press tour began.
This was documented through emails and texts – reportedly obtained via subpoena – allegedly between the actor, his publicist, and his crisis management team.
Lively shared a statement with The New York Times after filing the lawsuit, which read: “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.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, fired back at the filing, calling all of the claims “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt,” per PEOPLE.
Freedman said Wayfarer Studios “did nothing proactive nor retaliated” against the actress, blasting the lawsuit as “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation”.
