As Blake Lively‘s legal case against Justin Baldoni enters its next phase ahead of the March 2026 trial, Hollywood insiders are reportedly whispering about Ryan Reynolds‘ reputation taking a hit.
The latest round of court documents that were obtained by People hint that the Deadpool & Wolverine star might not be as easy-going as he appears in public to his fans.
“People think Ryan is the funny, charming guy from the commercials,” an entertainment industry source told Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice Substack. “But behind closed doors, he’s a lot more intense. He switches. It’s like there’s Hollywood Ryan, and then there’s the Ryan only insiders meet.”
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Justin Baldoni at arrivals, THE BOYS IN THE BOAT Screening, MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States, December 13, 2023.
Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection
A second insider revealed that Reynolds’ intensity “isn’t shocking” because “people in this town have seen the other side.” While some may see the 49-year-old actor as “fiercely protective” over his wife, others find his energy to be a bit darker than they expected.
Baldoni shared the emotional impact of “an ambush” he had with Lively and Reynolds in a January 2024 group chat that included The Office star Rainn Wilson. The married duo claimed that Baldoni was acting “creepy” on the set of It Ends With Us.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe it,” Wilson wrote in response. “You were set up and ambushed and personally attacked. I’m stunned. I completely relate to you being stunned, like a deer in the headlights.”
Baldoni described it as “one of the hardest nights of my life.”
He continued in the text exchange, “My brain was trying to defend itself when they were needing me to apologize for all of the ways I have [f—ed] up and made her feel unsafe. Ryan was talking to me like a five-year-old and scolding me. It’s hard to feel so much of what they believe about me is false because they are so convinced that it’s real.”
The ultimate test will be next year’s trial, where a jury will ultimately decide whose side they are on, but Reynolds’ involvement in Lively’s career is unsettling for even brand experts.
“Ryan’s ‘nicest guy in Hollywood’ aura is taking a little bruising,” Ryan McCormick, reputation management expert, told Fox News Digital in February. “It’s hard to fathom why both sides (and various media conglomerates with a financial stake in all three actors) would allow this prolonged legal case to be in the public eye. It is mutually assured, reputation destruction.”
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