Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are set to meet on Wednesday face-to-face for the first time in years in a New York courtroom, as the two are forced to attempt a last-ditch effort to settle the messy legal web of accusations each has made in lawsuits filed against one another following the production of the 2024 movie It Ends With Us.
The two leads in the hit romantic drama have not been in the same room since principal photography on It Ends With Us was completed in early 2024. Baldoni’s absence from joint events on the publicity tour for the film that summer led tensions on the film’s set and through its post-production to burst into public view. As rumors swirled about Lively commissioning a second edit of the movie and gossip regarding alleged on-set misconduct causing the rift between Lively, who portrays the film’s domestic abuse survivor heroine, and Baldoni, the film’s director and male lead, he hired a public relations team.
In December 2024, Lively filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, and Wayfarer Studios of creating a hostile work environment and retaliating against her for reporting misconduct. She claimed both men entered her on-set trailer while she was undressed and that Baldoni improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life on set. She also claimed in the complaint that he targeted her in a PR campaign that planted negative stories about her in the press, as the skirmish between the two actors became an all-out war.
Months after that filing, a federal judge in New York tossed out Baldoni and Wayfarer’s $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively. The judge determined, among other rulings, that her allegations of sexual harassment on the It Ends With Us set are legally protected and therefore immune from the suit.
Baldoni has also filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which published Lively’s complaint in a feature on the intense public relations campaign that emerged against her. He alleges defamation because the paper “cherry-picked” and “altered communications” while writing about facts out of context. Meanwhile, a flurry of lawsuits has been filed among the PR reps, accusing each other of defamation and attempts to cover up Baldoni’s behavior on set. The filings have provided a candid view into the world of crisis PR management among Hollywood’s elite.
Wednesday’s meetup in a Manhattan courtroom, which comes ahead of the trial for Lively’s complaint, set to begin May 18, will see Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave attempt to persuade Lively and Baldoni to begin settlement discussions. Meanwhile, filings in the case have exposed communications among several celebrities, including Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, her friend pop superstar Taylor Swift, and several Sony studio executiveswho allegedly bad-mouthed Lively.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to attorneys representing Lively and Baldoni, but we did not immediately hear back on Wednesday.
It Ends With Us, which was adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name about domestic violence, has grossed more than $350 million worldwide.
