A complete timeline of Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively's feud and lawsuits Blake Lively; Justin Baldoni Lia Toby/Getty Images, James Devaney/Getty Images Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against her "It Ends With Us" costar Baldoni and accused him of a smear campaign. A judge officially ended Baldoni's lawsuit against The New York Times, Lively, her rep, and Ryan Reynolds in November 2025. In January 2026, court documents revealed texts Taylor Swift sent to Lively calling Baldoni a "bitch." The "It Ends With Us" press tour in the summer of 2024 was overshadowed by rumors and speculation of a feud between lead star Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, her costar and director. But while the movie survived the backlash and went on to become one of the summer's biggest hits at the box office, grossing $350 million worldwide, the "It Ends with Us" drama didn't end there. In December 2024, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, setting off a cascade of subsequent lawsuits brought by Lively, Baldoni, and even tangential characters like Baldoni's ex-publicist Stephanie Jones. In June 2025, a judge threw out Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit. Baldoni was allowed to file an amended complaint, but in November, the judge formally ended the suit after the deadline for Baldoni to do so had passed. Lively's original lawsuit against Baldoni is still ongoing with a trial set for May 18. In January 2026, unsealed court documents revealed texts between Lively and her friend Taylor Swift, in which Swift called Baldoni a "bitch" and Lively referred to him as the "doofus director of my movie." Here's everything we know about their feud and legal battle. Eve Crosbie and Ayomikun Adekaiyero contributed to previous versions of this post. Baldoni didn't interact with other cast members at press events, sparking feud rumors. Blake Lively with Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Tammy Reynolds, and Brandon Sklenar at the New York premiere of"It Ends With Us." John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images Fans suspected something was amiss when Baldoni and Lively didn't interact during the press tour despite playing partners in the film. Lively did press events with costars Brandon Sklenar and Isabela Ferrer and author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the book the film is based on. Baldoni did most of his press solo. When they both attended the New York premiere on August 6, they were not photographed together. Lively posed with her castmates, Hoover, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman, his "Deadpool & Wolverine" costar. Baldoni was photographed with his wife and some of the other producers who worked on the film. While speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the carpet at the New York premiere, Baldoni explained why he was stepping back from the limelight. "This isn't my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for," he said." This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I'm just so grateful that we're here, five years in the making." On social media, fans theorized about the potential drama between the two. The speculation intensified after a user on the r/ColleenHoover subreddit noted on August 6, 2024 that Lively and Hoover did not follow Baldoni on Instagram. Fans also noticed that the film's other stars, including Sklenar, Ferrer, and Jenny Slate, did not follow Baldoni. Baldoni followed all of them except Hoover. Justin Baldoni and Colleen Hoover seemed to be on good terms during the movie's production in 2023. Hoover now does not follow Baldoni on Instagram. Jojo Whilden/Sony Pictures Ent. Business Insider could not verify whether they previously followed Baldoni. Adding to this theory was a clip of Slate seemingly sidestepping a question about Baldoni at the movie's New York premiere. Asked about having Baldoni as both a scene partner and a director, she responded by not mentioning him and instead speaking about how "intense" it must be to do both jobs. i just found out about the whole 'it ends with us' cast drama and omg they asked her what it was like to work with justin and she completely ignored the question 💀 pic.twitter.com/2DdlmvxS4x — leah doesn't do cocaine (@camis_unicorn) August 7, 2024 As speculation increased, fans turned on Lively. Blake Lively Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images Many fans began blaming Lively for the supposed feud, accusing her of trying to take over the film. This theory was supported by Baldoni and Lively's interviews in the lead-up to the premiere. On August 9, 2024, Baldoni told Today that Lively and Reynolds, who was not a producer on the film, contributed significantly to it. "You can't summarize Blake's contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end," Baldoni said. Baldoni also said he struggled to balance allowing collaboration and having his voice drowned out entirely. "You don't have to listen to everybody, and that didn't happen all the time, but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much," he said. Baldoni said Lively should take over as director to adapt the sequel to the "It Ends With Us" novel, "It Starts with Us." Meanwhile, Lively told E! News on August 7, 2024 that Reynolds helped pen the opening scene of "It Ends With Us." The film's screenwriter Christy Hal told People a day later that she wasn't aware that Reynolds had written some of the dialogue used in the final version of the script. "When I saw a cut, I was like, 'Oh, that's cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing,'" Hall said. "So if I'm being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful." Fans also criticized how Lively promoted the movie, choosing to focus on its lighthearted and romantic elements instead of its heavy domestic abuse plot. Baldoni was the only cast member who consistently spoke about the domestic abuse element. A clip of Lively making an off-color remark to a reporter in a 2016 interview resurfaced amid the 'It Ends With Us' drama. As online sentiment toward Lively turned increasingly negative, journalist Kjersti Flaa released an archival clip of an interview with Blake Lively on August 10, 2024 titled "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job." "It actually took me a while to get over the experience," Flaa told BI in an email on August 19, 2024 of the interview, which took place years earlier. "Every time I entered a room after this I got nervous that something similar might happen again," she wrote. Lively's costar made a statement asking people to stop focusing on 'what may or may not have happened.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brandon Sklenar (@brandonsklenar) Sklenar, who plays Lively's other love interest in "It Ends With Us," spoke out about the backlash in an Instagram post on August 20, 2024. "Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves. Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in its message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about," he said. "This film is meant to inspire. It's meant to validate and recognize," Sklenar added. "It is not meant to once again, make women the 'bad guy,' let's move beyond that together." Representatives for Baldoni, Lively, Reynolds, Hoover, and Sklenar did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. Months later, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign against her. Blake Lively at the 2024 Beauty Inc Awards held in December 2024. Katie Jones / Beauty Inc via Getty Images On December 20, 2024, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, inflicting "emotional distress," and conspiring to damage her public reputation. Lively's complaint also named Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni's production company, and Jamey Heath, the company's CEO, as two of the 11 defendants. In the complaint, Lively said an all-hands meeting about Baldoni and Heath's behavior on set was held in January 2023. She accused him of showing her nude videos and images of women, improvising kissing scenes or intimate scenes, and entering her trailer while she was naked. Lively said Heath and Baldoni responded by hiring Melissa Nathan, a crisis PR representative, and Jed Wallace, a Texas-based contractor, both defendants in the complaint, to orchestrate a "multi-tiered" plan to "destroy" her public reputation and stop her or anyone else from speaking out about what happened on set. She also said that the cast agreed to a marketing plan created by the film's distributor, Sony Pictures Entertainment, to avoid talking about the sad parts of the movie, which Baldoni broke away from. "What the public did not know was that Mr. Baldoni and his team did so to explain why many of the Film's cast and crew had unfollowed Mr. Baldoni on social media and were not appearing with him in public," the complaint said. Baldoni's attorney said Lively blamed Baldoni in hopes of improving her reputation. Justin Baldoni. Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, told BI in a statement after the complaint was filed: "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation, which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions." Freedman said Nathan was hired because Lively made multiple demands and threatened not to show up to set or promote the film if they were not met. When asked to respond to Freedman, a representative for Lively referred BI to a statement shared with The New York Times on December 21, 2024: "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." On December 24, 2024, publicist Stephanie Jones sued Baldoni, his film studio, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel, a former employee of Jones' PR company, for breach of contract and defamation. In the suit, Jones alleged Baldoni and the PRs orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively while her company was working with Baldoni. Jones said this was done behind her back until August 2024, when Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios stopped working with the company and worked directly with Abel. In the following days, Hoover and other stars reacted to the lawsuit. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amber Tamblyn (@amberrosetamblyn) Lively's costars from 2005's "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" — America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel — shared a joint statement supporting Lively after she made the complaint. Hoover and Sklenar, who worked on "It Ends With Us," seemed to both throw their support behind Lively by sharing links to her allegations on their Instagram stories. "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," Hoover wrote in her story post. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt." Hoover has since deleted her Instagram, TikTok and Threads account. Representatives for Hoover did not immediately respond to a comment request from BI. Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency. Justin Baldoni's Voices of Solidarity Award has been rescinded. Bryan Bedder / Getty Images for Vital Voices Global Partnership On December 21, 2024, The New York Times reported that Ari Emanuel, chief executive of the parent company that owns Baldoni's talent agency, William Morris Endeavor, said the agency had stopped representing him. On December 9, 2024, before the complaint was released, Vital Voices, a nonprofit organization that supports women leaders, awarded Baldoni the Voices of Solidarity Award to honor his advocacy work for women. On December 23, 2024, Vital Voices said in a statement on their website that they had rescinded the award. "The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit — and the PR effort they indicate — are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award," the statement read. Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. Baldoni and others filed a defamation lawsuit agains the New York Times. Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty Images Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and others mentioned in a New York Times story that detailed Lively's accusations against Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the newspaper on December 31, 2024. The lawsuit, obtained by BI, said the Times' story published on December 21, 2024 "relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative" and accused the publication of "disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives." The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, contained screenshots of messages that it said contradicted the Times' reporting. In a statement provided to BI after the lawsuit was filed, a Times spokesperson said the newspaper stood by its reporting and would "vigorously defend against the lawsuit." "Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article," the statement said. The outlet also published its full statement responding to the allegations. In a statement provided to BI after Baldoni's lawsuit was filed, Freedman, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said Lively had orchestrated a "vicious smear campaign" and that the Times "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites." Freedman also said that they would also sue other individuals "who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients." In a statement provided to BI about Baldoni's suit, Lively's lawyers said: "Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint." Lively filed her own lawsuit in New York. Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, The Hollywood Reporter said. ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images The same day Baldoni filed his lawsuit against the Times, Lively filed a lawsuit against him, Wayfarer, and others in New York federal court. Representatives for Lively said the lawsuit, which was obtained by BI, was based on the legal complaint Lively previously filed with the California Civil Rights Department. The lawsuit accuses Baldoni and his PR team of engaging in a campaign to retaliate against her for speaking out about sexual misconduct. "Unfortunately, Ms. Lively's decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks," her lawyers said in a statement provided to BI. "As alleged in Ms. Lively's federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns." Representatives for Baldoni and Wayfarer did not address the lawsuit filed by Lively when reached by BI. Baldoni's lawyer accused Reynolds of teasing the actor with a 'Deadpool & Wolverine' character. Ryan Reynolds plays Nicepool in "Deadpool & Wolverine." Marvel Studios On January 7, Freedman told SiriusXM's "The Megyn Kelly Show" that his team planned to take further legal action. Freedman also alleged Reynolds used his influence to help Lively take over "It Ends With Us" and to mock Baldoni on "Deadpool and Wolverine," via a new character in the film called Nicepool. In the film, which premiered in July 2024 and was the second-highest-grossing movie of 2024, Nicepool, a version of Deadpool from an alternate dimension whose face has not been disfigured, jokes about a woman's pregnancy weight, claims to be a feminist and wears a man bun. Freedman alleged this was based on Baldoni, who has a reputation for being a feminist and has been known to wear his hair in a bun in the past. In the movie, Nicepool is eventually killed by Ladypool, a female version of Deadpool from an alternate dimension played by Lively. "What I make of that is that if your wife is sexually harassed, you don't make fun of Justin Baldoni," Freedman said. "You don't make fun of the situation. You take it very seriously. You file HR complaints. You raise the issue and you follow a legal process. What you don't do is mock the person and turn it into a joke." Baldoni's company Wayfarer sued Lively, her publicist, and Reynolds. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds attended the "It Ends With Us" New York premiere. Cindy Ord/Getty Images On January 16, 2025, Baldoni, his associates at his company Wayfarer Studios, and his publicists Nathan and Abel sued Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging they orchestrated a smear campaign against him. Baldoni's lawsuit, which seeks $400 million in damages, alleges that Lively, with the help of Reynolds and Sloane, hijacked "It Ends with Us" by wresting creative control away from Baldoni, then worked to destroy his reputation and livelihood. The suit, which contains many of the same details from Baldoni's defamation suit against the Times, also claims that Reynolds pressured the talent agency WME, which also represents Lively and Reynolds, to drop Baldoni. The agency did so in December but a WME spokesperson previously denied Reynolds and Lively put pressure on the agency. Freedman told BI that their suit was "based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team's duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni." "Justin and his team have nothing to hide," the statement adds, "documents do not lie." Lively's legal team said Baldoni's team's suit is another attempt to "shift the narrative" from one about harassment claims to one around battles for creative control. "This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook," Lively's legal team said. "This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim." Baldoni's team released behind-the-scenes footage from the "It Ends With Us" set. Justin Baldoni as Ryle Kincaid and Blake Lively as Lily Bloom in "It Ends With Us." Nicole Rivelli/Sony Pictures Entertainment In Lively's complaint, Lively said Baldoni acted as himself instead of Ryle while filming a slow-dance sequence for the romance film. "At one point, he leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, 'it smells so good,'" the complaint read. "None of this was remotely done in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no sound." Her team alleged Lively later objected to this behavior and said Baldoni replied, "I'm not even attracted to you." On January 21, Baldoni's production company and lawyer hit back by sending a nearly 10-minute behind-the-scenes footage of the cast filming the scene to outlets including the Daily Mail. Baldoni's team said in a statement at the beginning of the video that the footage contains three takes filmed on May 23, 2023, and said these were the only versions filmed of the scene. "Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism," they added. The video also showed that the initial direction in the "It Ends With Us" script is that Baldoni and Lively's characters just dance together. In the takes, Baldoni repeatedly moves in to kiss Lively, and Lively pulls away and says it would be better if they talked during the scene. At one point, Baldoni rubs his face on both sides of Lively's neck seemingly without warning, but the pair joke about it in the video. The video has elicited a range of responses on social media. Some users thought Lively looked uncomfortable, while others believed Lively was attracted to her costar. Lively's attorneys sent a statement to The Hollywood Reporter after the video was published, saying that the footage corroborated Lively's story because "every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present." "The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively's discomfort," the statement said. "They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent." Lively's attorneys also said that Baldoni's choice to release the video to the media instead of presenting it to court was an "unethical attempt to manipulate the public" and a "continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign." "While they are focused on misleading media narratives, we are focused on the legal process," her attorneys said. Freedman responded in a statement sent to Business Insider via email on Wednesday: "Prior to filing her lawsuit in court, Ms. Lively went to The New York Times in an effort to publicly destroy Justin Baldoni. When Mr. Baldoni exercises his right to publicly defend himself by putting forth actual facts and evidence, for Ms Lively and team this instantly becomes morally and ethically wrong." The statement continued: "Ms. Lively wants very different standards to apply to her but fortunately, truth and authenticity apply to everyone and can never be wrong. Looking at the video and the evidence to come, I can understand why Ms. Lively would now, not want this to play out in public." Baldoni's lawyers created a website containing his complaint and a timeline of events. The website, called Lawsuit Info, contains two documents which have been filed as part of Baldoni's lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds. https://thelawsuitinfo.com In February 2025, Baldoni's lawyers launched a website containing two documents related to his legal battle with Lively. The first is an amended version of Baldoni's $400 million counter-lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds. In the amended complaint, Baldoni's team claims that the metadata on The New York Times' website shows that the publication had access to Lively's civil rights complaint at least 11 days before publishing its report on Baldoni's alleged smear campaign, titled "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine." Another update in the lawsuit took aim at Lively's husband and accused him of using the character of Nicepool in "Deadpool & Wolverine" to bully Baldoni, saying that the "caricature of a 'woke' feminist" was a "transparent and mocking portrayal of Reynolds' warped perception of Baldoni." The second document on the new site is a 168-page "timeline of relevant events" related to the feud and the movie's production. The timeline dates from January 2019, when Baldoni approached Hoover about adapting her novel, to January 2025. In a statement to CNN, Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman said: "The decision to amend our lawsuit was a logical next step due to the overwhelming amount of new proof that has come to light." Variety reported that the Times has disputed "inaccuracies" in Baldoni's complaint. A judge threw out Baldoni's defamation lawsuit. Justin Baldoni at the world premiere of "It Ends With Us" at AMC Lincoln Square on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP On June 9, US District Judge Lewis Liman dismissed Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit, in which the actor and director accused Lively of taking creative control of "It Ends with Us" and damaging his reputation. The suit also alleged that Lively had falsely accused Baldoni of sexual harassment as a way to take control of the production. The countersuit had previously been combined with a separate suit Baldoni had filed against The New York Times and Lively's publicist Leslie Sloane, which accused Sloane of planting rumors to smear Baldoni in the press and the Times of facilitating their circulation. Judge Liman ruled that Lively's claims of sexual harassment were legally protected and immune from a lawsuit. Liman is still weighing whether to dismiss Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni. Baldoni's defamation lawsuit was officially dismissed after deadline lapse. Justin Baldoni. Cindy Ord/Getty Images On October 31, Judge Liman officially ended Baldoni's lawsuit against Lively. Liman stated in his order that he contacted all parties on October 17 that his final judgment to conclude the case was coming soon. Only Lively responded. With Baldoni's side missing the deadline to continue to claim, the judge dismissed the lawsuit. Lively's original lawsuit against Baldoni is still ongoing. A court date is set for May 18. Unsealed court docs reveal Taylor Swift called Baldoni a "bitch" in texts to Lively. Blake Lively and Taylor Swift are seen in 2023 in New York City. Gotham/GC Images On January 20, 2026, following Judge Liman's ruling that both parties release evidence before a hearing to dismiss the May trial, Lively's team released documents, including depositions and text messages. They included text exchanges between Lively and her friend Taylor Swift. In one, Swift referred to Baldoni as a "bitch," writing to Lively before the New York Times story ran, "I think this bitch knows something is coming because he's gotten out his tiny violin." A year prior to that text, Lively referred to Baldoni as the "doofus director of my movie" in a text to Swift. The deposition of Lively's "It Ends With Us" costar Jenny Slate was also among the unsealed documents. In it, she describes an alleged incident on set where Baldoni said to her, "I can say this because my wife is here, but you look sexy in what you're wearing." Slate said the comment was "not appropriate" on set or in "any workplace." "The comment was about me, not my character. It wasn't useful for my work. It wasn't anything I wanted. It was unwanted and had no place, in my professional experience," Slate said in her deposition. Texts by Slate were also released. In one, she described Baldoni as "a fraud." In another message, she called him "the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist." Baldoni's team has yet to release its evidence. Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, told Business Insider in a statement that "the evidence does not support the claims as a matter of law" and pointed to messages from Sony discussing Lively's behavior. "A simple read of the newly released message exchanges makes the truth abundantly clear. We remain confident in the legal process and clearing the names of all of the Justin Baldoni parties." Reps for Lively, Swift, and Slate did not respond to requests for comment. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Read the original article on Business Insider
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