‘It Ends With Us’ is a novel by American author Collen Hoover. The book was written and published in 2016 and summarizes childhood traumas through witnessing abuse. In 2019 Justin Baldoni announced the book was being turned into a movie with Hoover being the producer. The film aired Aug. 9, 2024, and starred Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and others.
Blake Lively is married to Ryan Reynolds, and these two celebrities are well-known in Hollywood. Because of this, they were very close to Hoover and this gave leverage for Lively and her husband to tweak the script and wardrobe to her liking. Her costar, Baldoni, also the director of the film, argued that the film should just focus on the main message of the film, abuse. Baldoni and Lively fought over creative differences about how the characters should be portrayed. Baldoni wanted to keep the film as close to the book as possible. Reynolds starts to meddle in behind the scenes and started to push the script and production changes. All this conflict created some tension on the set because it was two big-deal superstars versus one director. Another issue that appeared was the way they promoted the movie. Keeping in line with Baldoni’s goal from the start, he wanted to focus on the main cause of the film, and because he lost creative authority, he wasn’t able to succeed in that. Promotions led many people to assume the movie was just a rom-com, leaving them uninformed that it was about abuse.
After this movie aired, several lawsuits presented themselves between Lively and Baldoni. In December 2024, Lively first dropped a lawsuit against Baldoni claiming sexual harassment against him. Specifically in the lawsuit, their characters performed a slow-dance scene. This scene was supposed to have no sound because there would be music over it. Lively alleges Baldoni broke character and was very creepy. On Jan. 21, a ten-minute video by Baldoni’s legal team released to the public, which showed the interaction between the two during the slow-dance scene. The footage starts with Lively, out of character, suggesting “I think we should be talking.” She was expressing how it would make it more romantic and Baldoni agrees. They then start conversing about how nobody will know what the two are talking about. Also in the video Baldoni randomly brings up their spouses. “I know you and Ryan talk all the time.” Baldoni says, “Emily,” Baldoni’s wife, “and I have like…we have these moments where-” “Staring? You’re just staring?” Lively interrupts. Baldoni continues “–for ten, literally for, we’ve done it for five minutes.” In this scene, it is clear the two are appropriately conversing back and forth and no one is being inappropriate as Lively’s lawsuit describes.
On Dec. 31, Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. He seeks $200 million in damage. The New York Times released an article titled” ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smeer Campaign” and highlighted Lively’s reasoning behind the lawsuit she filed. In the article, they specifically mentioned claims of sexual harassment in an official complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department. After they released the article Lively received a lot of support from well-known organizations like SAG-AFTRA and Sony. Due to all of this, VWE talent agency dropped Baldoni, which represents Lively and her husband. Baldoni is claiming the allegations Lively made against him are false. Baldoni’s lawsuit states that the information presented in the New York Times article “is nothing but an excuse.” Baldoni also claims “Lively’s cynical abuse of sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production was both strategic and manipulative.” Lively’s representatives stated that nothing about Baldoni’s lawsuit changes anything about Lively’s claims.
Currently Lively and Reynalds are seeking a protective order prohibiting Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, from releasing discovery materials regarding the case to the press. Reynolds and Lively’s legal team sent a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman claiming that Freedman’s comments would “taint the jury pool.” In other words, Lively requested the judge to put a gag order on Baldoni so that he would stop dropping evidence. Lively filed a confidential CRD complaint in California and then leaked that to the New York Times and published all the text messages that her team provided them.
Baldoni’s team continues to release new evidence and content during the new time of filming. The several lawsuits have yet to make it to court.
