by Madelyn Awwad ‘27

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, the stars of the film It Ends With Us, have been engaged in a huge legal battle that has garnered a lot of attention. It all started when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the making of the movie. In December 2024, she filed a lawsuit claiming Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, tried to ruin her public image after she spoke out about the issues she faced on set.

Lively’s allegations began after a meeting in January 2024, when she says that she laid out specific demands to make the filming environment safer. “No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake,” Lively reportedly said, according to her lawsuit. She also asked for “no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others,” and “no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia.” She added that she didn’t want anyone to comment on her weight or talk about her late father. Lively said these demands were to create a “safe and professional” working space. However, she claims Baldoni and Wayfarer ignored her and later worked to destroy her reputation by spreading false information. Because of this, she is suing for harassment and retaliation.

Along with Lively’s lawsuit, Baldoni just filed his own legal action against The New York Times. Baldoni is accusing the New York Times of misreporting the entire situation and publishing false information. The article, titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” reported that Baldoni and his team were behind a smear campaign against Lively. Baldoni argues that the Times “cherry-picked” text messages and emails to make him look bad. In the lawsuit, Baldoni says the messages were edited and taken out of context. He is suing for $250 million, claiming that the article is not only false but also caused serious damage to his reputation.

Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement, “Make no mistake, we will continue this campaign of authenticity by also suing those individuals who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients.” Freedman also claims that the media unfairly supports Lively’s side of the story, calling the situation a “vicious attack.”

However, Lively’s lawyers say she is being unfairly targeted for speaking out. They pointed out that her case is “not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences.’” They also said that Baldoni’s actions were part of a retaliatory campaign against Lively for trying to protect herself and others on set. “As alleged in Ms. Lively’s federal Complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself,” they argued.

Both Lively and Baldoni are now asking for a jury trial to decide who’s right. This legal drama is far from over, and people are following closely to see how it all turns out. With both sides claiming to have evidence to back up their claims, the case could go on for months or even longer.