First the good news: the ugly public spat between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over the production of last year’s film It Ends with Us finally has an endpoint. The bad news is that it is over a year away. On January 27, a New York judge said that the omnidirectional flurry of lawsuits would go to trial in March 2026.
There is, of course, a problem with that. Ever since It Ends with Us was released in August, the velocity and aggression of the feud has grown exponentially. What began as a quiet online buzz wondering why the film’s star Lively wasn’t posing at the premiere with her co-star and director Baldoni has erupted into one of the ugliest bouts of mud-slinging witnessed in Hollywood.
Last Saturday Baldoni published a website called The Lawsuit Info, containing both his full 224-page complaint about Lively, and an additional 168-page timeline of their argument, stretching from Baldoni’s first interaction with Colleen Hoover (the author of It Ends with Us) about a film adaptation all the way to last month, when Lively attempted to serve one of Baldoni’s team with legal papers as they were in the middle of trying to evacuate their family home to escape the LA wildfires.
It is a long and mortifying read, not least for the pages and pages of toe-curling text message screenshots, where everyone involved drips with insincerity. If you’re at all upset by repeatedly reading phrases like “I hear you” and “I appreciate your empathy” then this is not a suitable way for you to spend several hours of your day. In one message, Lively couches her desire to look sexy in the film with the phrase “As woke as we both are and work to be, this movie requires a certain aesthetic”. In another, Baldoni sends Lively a text offering to connect her with his “medical intuitive”, someone who he claims can “see what’s going on in your body just by talking to you”. Lively later claimed that the person in question was a “weight-loss specialist”. The whole thing is awful. Nobody comes out of it looking remotely good.
After ploughing through it all, you’re left with two competing reactions. The first is, wow, Blake Lively must be an intensely difficult person to steal the film away from Justin Baldoni. The second is, wow, how spiteful must Justin Baldoni be to publish an entire website about how much he dislikes Blake Lively? Perhaps you are not part of the cottage industry of online sleuths who have chosen to dedicate their every waking hour to parsing every nuance of the spat. In which case, here’s a quick recap.
In the pages and pages of toe-curling text message screenshots, everyone involved drips with insincerity.
It Ends with Us was an incredibly popular book about domestic violence, written by Hoover. Baldoni, and his studio Wayfarer, bought the movie rights to the book in 2022. Baldoni cast himself as Ryle Kincaid, the violent lead, and hired Lively to star opposite. But the pair fell out during production. A December article in the New York Times claimed that Baldoni had been sexually inappropriate towards Lively, and had masterminded a smear campaign against her to get ahead of it. Ten days later, Baldoni sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, claiming that the real story was how Lively had used a barrage of threats and complaints — not to mention the heft of her husband — to shut Baldoni out of his own movie.
Since then, Baldoni and his representatives have made it their mission to share every scrap of evidence they have with the wider world. Last month a piece of filming footage was released online of an It Ends with Us scene showing Lively and Baldoni canoodling.
Even this proved to be something of a Rorschach test for viewers. In her lawsuit, Lively claimed that during this scene Baldoni had made her feel uncomfortable as he “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good’”. The footage seems to show that this was a lighthearted moment, made after Lively had worried that she stank of fake tan. But at the same time, an intimacy co-ordinator independently watching the footage pointed out that Lively looked highly uncomfortable throughout the scene, especially when Baldoni leaned in for a kiss.
It’s this sort of thing, the he-said-she-said of it, the fact that both of them come out of it so badly, that it’s hard to definitively pick a side, that has kept this story so red hot.
But the problem with the website’s publication is that it all seems to be out there now. Baldoni has made public 400 pages of his argument — every message, every calendar, every last document that he hopes will tar Lively as a villain — that he has essentially run out of road.
There is such a voracious hunger for details about this on social media (last week TikTok basically burst into flames at the news that Taylor Swift — whom Lively referred to as her “dragon” in one particularly mortifying thread — might not want to be friends with Lively any more) that it has basically become unsustainable. Baldoni’s decision to data-dump everything at once means that he can no longer drip-feed the media with his side of the story. And remember, the lawsuits aren’t going to trial for another 13 months.
How are we going to feast on our parasocial relationship with a couple of — on this evidence — unpleasant-seeming celebrities if they don’t spoon-feed us gossip every couple of days? Can’t the celebrities think of us for once?
How did it all go wrong? Blake and Justin’s messages
Feb 17, 2023:
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni discuss the shooting schedule for It Ends with Us
Lively: As woke as we both are and work to be, this movie requires a certain aesthetic … it’s the assignment. Like when someone is about to start an athletic event. It’s their job to be in top shape …
I just need as much time as possible. I just had my 4th baby … so having your understanding and support to help me pull this off is critical. And very, very appreciated … we are going to kill it. But it’s still a ton of work with not a ton of time. What’s the chance we can do the body scenes at the end of the schedule?
Baldoni: Honestly there’s 1 billion moving parts to schedule right now … so to be really honest I have no clue. I want you to know you will look amazing. Anything you are insecure about we will talk through and get creative together and make sure you are comfortable. I just don’t want you to stress about your body. It’s the last thing you need.
Feb 28, 2023:
Baldoni and Ryan Reynolds make friends
Baldoni: I asked Blake for your number well over a month ago and have wanted to text you for a while now, but my good ol’ nerves got the best of me … Emily and I have a very small circle. We live out in the country in [sic] and pretty much just hang out with each other. We’ve known all our closest friends for years, and I don’t really have any close female friends that my wife isn’t also friends with, let alone married ones. And so I guess this is just an awkward text to say I’d like to be friends.
Reynolds: What a loving and generous message. Thank you. We’re both looking forward to getting to know you and your family better. We’re also big fans over here. Since before we met, and more-so after. You’ve been a wonderful collaborator with [sic], and that meant a great deal — to both of us. Being a stand-up person is everything, and you’ve been just that since day one. Thank you.
I speak from a deep wellspring of experience here, having her in your court behind the scenes as a creative is invaluable. I’m excited for you to work together. I’m excited for Blake to crack open her creative piggy bank with someone as dynamic as you. This is gonna be INCREDIBLE … I happen to adore you, Justin.
April 7-8, 2023:
Lively to Baldoni, on rewriting the ‘rooftop’ scene
Lively: The meet-cute scene is, to me, the most important scene in the movie. You OK if I play around with the dialogue to give her a bit more agency and fun and send to you? But anywhere we can amp up their verbal ping pong/volley, I think we’ll be cookin w gas, right?
If you knew me (in person) longer you’d have a sense of how flirty and yummy the ball-busting will play. It’s my love language. Spicy and playfully bold, never with teeth. And him serving it back to her is just as important. You don’t usually see both the man AND the woman with such agency and humor.
Baldoni: Sorry was just crying my eyes out as kids and family just left for another 5 weeks and it was a shitshow.
Lively: So sorry to you all. But the love is gargantuan and apparent.
April 12, 2023: “Baldoni meets Lively at her apartment in New York. He is greeted by Reynolds, who enthusiastically praises Lively’s rewrites of the rooftop scene. Hours later, as the meeting is ending, a mega celebrity friend [Taylor Swift] of Reynolds and Lively walks into the room and also begins praising Lively’s script.”
Lively: Both X and X [redacted] have established themselves as absolute titans as writers and storytellers outside of their primary gig — just singing or just acting or just directing. I’m so lucky to have them as creative barometers … if you ever get round to watching Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.
May 23, 2023:
Baldoni and Lively discuss the day’s work
Lively: It’s such a good feeling to get work done that we’re proud of … this is all storytelling. This is why we do it.
Baldoni: I like sentimental Blake.
Lively: Never met her.
Baldoni: I also like asshole Blake … don’t worry.
Lively: I’ve met her. So have my suppositories.
August 25-31, 2023:
Baldoni sends Lively scenes from the edit
Baldoni: Happy birthday Blake! Coincidentally today is the last day of my edit … It’s been wildly successful and I’m so happy! You are so fantastic in this film. I’m sending you over one of my favorite sections … I’m excited to show you more in person when we come back. Can’t wait to hear what you think! Have an amazing day. Xx
Lively: Thank you so much for the matcha machine! That was very thoughtful.
Stuart Heritage is a Writer at Large at AIR MAIL. He is the author of Bald: How I Slowly Learned to Not Hate Having No Hair (And You Can Too)
