Rumors of a feud between and began swirling when he was mysteriously missing from several set photos and promotional events leading up to the release of their film, It Ends With Us, on August 9, 2024. Lively later filed a lawsuit against Baldoni (he denied the claims and later initiated his own litigation against Lively) and the public is curious about what happened.

Lively filed a lawsuit and accused Baldoni of inappropriate behavior on the set of It Ends With Us on December 20, 2024. In the documents viewed by In Touch, Lively claimed that an “all hands” meeting was held to address the “hostile work environment” that “nearly derailed” the production of the movie.

At the meeting, several demands were made regarding Baldoni’s behavior, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women, including producer’s wife,to BL and/or her employees, no more mention of Mr. Baldoni’s ‘pornography addiction’ or BL’s lack of pornography consumption to BL or to other crew members and no more inquiries by Mr. Baldoni to BL’s trainer without her knowledge or consent to disclose her weight.”

Lively also requested that an “intimacy coordinator” be on set during her scenes with Baldoni.

She added, “No more improvising of kissing. All intimate touch must be choreographed in advance with BL and an intimacy coordinator. No biting or sucking of lip without BL’s consent. And all intimate on camera touch and conversations must be ‘in character,’ not spoken from Mr. Baldoni to BL personally.”

The documents stated that after the meeting, “the parties agreed to implement and follow the Protections for Return to Production to ensure that the Film could be completed, marketed, and released safely and successfully.”

The marketing of It Ends With Us fell flat, and it was partially due to the fact that Baldoni and Lively had different ideas on how the film should be promoted. While Baldoni thought the focus should be on the trauma of domestic abuse, Lively wanted to put a spotlight on the resilience of her character, Lily Bloom, with a more upbeat marketing campaign. However, in the court documents, Lively claimed that Baldoni’s domestic abuse angle was merely a tactic to “protect his public image” and part of a larger smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

The lawsuit claimed that , the leading financier for It Ends With Us, “divulged at the Film’s New York premiere on August 6, 2024, that he was prepared to spend $100 million to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family.”

Baldoni then allegedly hired crisis communications expert created a proposal that included “[a] website (to discuss), full reddit, full social account takedowns, full social crisis team on hand for anything – engage with audiences in the right way, start threads of theories (discuss) this is the way to be fully 100% protected.” Nathan noted that “all of this will be most importantly untraceable.”

Baldoni’s lawyer, , released a statement to The New York Times the same day news of the lawsuit broke.

“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,” Freedman said.

Lively released a statement the following day on December 22, 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,” Lively told TMZ.

Freedman released an additional statement on December 23, 2024, defending the actions of TAG PR, a.k.a. The Agency Group PR, the crisis management firm hired by Baldoni and named in Lively’s lawsuit.

“TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources,” the statement read. “The standard scenario planning TAG PR drafted proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful, and responded organically to that which the media themselves picked up on.”

Freedman also referenced the text exchanges between Baldoni and his PR team that were cited in the lawsuit, claiming that the messages were taken out of context.

“It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to ‘uncover’ an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context — the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing,” the statement concluded.

Hours after word spread about Lively’s lawsuit, Deadline reported that Baldoni had been dropped by his talent agency, WME. Sources told the outlet that the decision “was made Saturday morning by WME leadership due, at least in part, to the sexual harassment and retaliation complaint filed late Friday.”

Lively, on the other hand, was still represented by WME at the time of publication.

The author of It Ends With Us, , spoke out in support of Lively after the lawsuit made headlines.

“@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” Hoover wrote via her Instagram Stories on December 22, 2024. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”

Baldoni filed his own lawsuit on December 31, 2024, but his was aimed at the New York Times. He claimed that Lively “initially refused to permit his attendance” at the August premiere of It Ends With Us in an effort to “undermine” his authority as a director on the film.

“Only after significant pressure did she reluctantly agree to allow Baldoni and the Wayfarer team to attend, but under humiliating conditions,” the documents viewed by In Touch read.

The paperwork continued, “The Wayfarer team and their families, including Baldoni and [producer ] , were segregated from the main cast, barred from the exclusive after-party, and forced to organize their own event at additional cost. Baldoni’s participation on the red carpet was cut short, and his family and friends were confined to a makeshift holding area in the basement before being escorted into a separate theater after Lively’s departure. Not only had Lively stolen the Film, but she also robbed Baldoni and his team of any genuine opportunity to celebrate their hard work.”

This incident at the movie’s premiere was just one of the instances where Lively allegedly “systematically sidelined [him] from the marketing of his own Film.”

On top of the claims that Lively tried to halt Baldoni’s attendance at the premiere, the Five Feet Apart director also alleged that Lively’s husband, , “berated” him for “fat-shaming” Lively, according to the documents. The verbal altercation allegedly happened at Lively and Reynolds’ New York City penthouse.

“Reynolds and Lively’s inappropriate and humiliating berating of Baldoni—delivered, perhaps intentionally, as other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse—was prompted by Baldoni’s reasonable inquiry into crucial information needed to ensure safety and avoid injury in a scene,” the documents stated.

In Lively’s lawsuit she accused Baldoni of “exploiting the lack of controls on set to behave inappropriately.” One example included in the documents was a scene where the characters slow danced that needed to be filmed for a montage in the film. Lively claimed Baldoni “he spoke to Ms. Lively out of character as himself” and “slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good.’”

In response, Baldoni released raw footage of the scene in question on January 21, 2025, and Freedman gave a statement to The New York Post.

“The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism,” Freedman said.

However, Lively’s legal team slammed the clip and said that it lined up with her claims instead of vindicating Baldoni.

“Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,” a representative for Lively told the outlet the following day. “Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

On January 22, 2025, Baldoni went even further in his attempts to clear up Lively’s sexual harassment claims and his attorney said that Baldoni planned to launch a website of all of the correspondence between himself and Lively, along with “relevant videos.”

“Justin Baldoni and team have nothing to hide,” Freedman told The New York Post. “Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims.”

Lively and Reynolds filed documents on January 22, 2025, asking a judge to issue a gag order on Freedman.

“Ms. Lively also issued the Wayfarer Parties a cease-and-desist letter (the “First Cease and Desist”) demanding that they immediately cease and desist all unlawful conduct toward the Lively–Reynolds Parties and their affiliates, including their harassing and retaliatory media and online campaign against Ms. Lively,” the letter viewed by In Touch read.

The document continued, “Immediately thereafter, and virtually every day since, Mr. Freedman has given television interviews, appeared on podcasts, issued inflammatory written statements, and leaked information (including, remarkably, documents as banal as document preservation demands to third parties) to the Hollywood press and tabloid media.”

However, sources told TMZ that same day that they felt Lively’s request was “grossly unfair” considering Baldoni’s allegations of defamation against The New York Times. The insider added that the only thing Baldoni wants to do “is release videos and text messages to prove the allegations are false.”

On January 29, 2025, the Daily Mail reported that a composite image of Baldoni and Lively used in the article, “We Can Bury Anyone”: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, from the New York Times had the date December 16, 2024, embedded in the URL of the image. Lively didn’t officially file a lawsuit against Baldoni until five days later on December 21, 2024.

, who is married to Lively’s sister, , apologized for saying “unkind” things on social media one day after he had previously called Baldoni a “fraud” in a since-deleted post on X. Johnson’s original message was reported by USA Today on December 27, 2024.

“He’s a fraud. He puts on the ‘costume’ of a hero, man bun and all. Used all of the trendy catchphrases & buzz words for his podcasts. None of it’s genuine. It’s all theater. And everyone fell for it. For years,” Johnson wrote, per the outlet.

However, a little over a month later, he seemingly regretted his behavior.

“Anytime I’ve said anything unkind about someone I’ve regretted it. Fortunately that’s almost never and definitely not when I’m at my best,” Johnson shared via X on January 29, 2025. “Regardless if it’s true or not, if it’s my opinion, even if I’m trying to speak truth or stand up for someone, it’s never good. Even in times where it might ‘feel’ justified and doing the right thing, it makes no difference. There’s a better way. It’s below the standard I have for myself and I regret it.”

Johnson continued, “I do sincerely apologize to anyone I’ve hurt or let down by saying something that sounds mean. I’ll do better. If you follow me you know you’ll be hard pressed to find more than one time I’ve criticized anyone on social. It’s not my jam. You can easily find a million times I’ve uplifted, supported, encouraged and uplifted my family, friends, followers & strangers. That’s what I’m committed to and where I find my happiness.”

He ended his message by saying that everyone has “flaws” and described himself as a “work in progress,” before adding that he was “doing his best” to “grow and be better.”

On January 30, 2025, Lively and Reynolds told a judge that they were seeking to dismiss Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit, according to a report from Variety. Their notice was filed in compliance with order after he requested a letter from Lively and Reynolds that would “indicate in one sentence the Defendant’s intent to make a motion to dismiss.”

“The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint,” said attorney .

That same day, People reported that Lively allegedly requested that Baldoni’s attorney, Freedman, not take her deposition in court. , another of Baldoni’s lawyers, claimed that Reynolds and Lively’s counsel “stated their objection to the Wayfarer Parties’ lead counsel conducting the deposition of Blake Lively” in a letter to Judge Liman.

“Specifically, the Lively Parties’ counsel indicated that they object to Bryan J. Freedman, personally, taking Ms. Lively’s deposition, based upon unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman,” Fritz continued, per the publication.

However, Lively’s legal team “declined” to “elaborate on the grounds for their objection.”

Baldoni kept his promise to launch a website, as a site called The Lawsuit became available to the public on February 1, 2025. It included a PDF download of the lawsuit Baldoni filed against Lively and Reynolds, as well as another document listed as a “Timeline of Relevant Events.”

The “Timeline of Relevant Events” detailed Baldoni’s first contact with Hoover about adapting It Ends With Us into a film, as well as screenshots of alleged text messages between Lively and Baldoni and Baldoni and Reynolds.

Baldoni appeared to become emotional as he spoke about his “intense” year in a teaser for an interview on the “Gent’s Talk” podcast shared on February 7, 2025.

“This morning I sent a text message,” he said in the preview. “I had anxiety. I haven’t talked about this yet.”

Baldoni then put his face over his hands and sniffled as the screen went black.

The actor’s full episode premiered on February 10, 2025.

Lively’s lawyers sent subpoenas to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile requesting the phone records of Baldoni, Heath and Sarowitz, in an effort to uncover further evidence of the alleged smear campaign against her. They also requested the records of Baldoni’s publicists and Melissa Nathan.

“Phone records belonging to all of the individual defendants will expose the full web of individuals who were involved in the smear campaign against Ms. Lively,” a Lively representative said in a statement obtained by Us Weekly. “Such records will provide critical and irrefutable evidence not only about who, but also about when, where, and how their retaliation plan came together and operated.”

In response, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told the outlet that “subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation.”

“What is extraordinary is what the Lively Parties are seeking. They are asking for every single call, text, data log, and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient, or subject matter,” he continued in a statement. “This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none.”