The release of the highly anticipated movie adaption of Colleen Hoover’s book “It Ends With Us” was dominated by rumors of a feud between its main stars, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Fans first noticed something was off between the two when they failed to do press for the movie together and even seemingly avoided each other during the premiere on Aug. 6, 2024.
Multiple sources told Page Six at the time that Baldoni and Lively did not get along on set.
An insider first told us that Baldoni, who is also the director of the movie, made Lively feel “uncomfortable” and created an “extremely difficult” atmosphere on set for the cast in general.
And while sources who have worked with Baldoni told us he would never intentionally make anyone uncomfortable, additional insiders claimed “none of the cast enjoyed working with Justin.”
Four months later, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and accused him of trying to “destroy” her reputation.
She filed a formal lawsuit in December 2024, the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for $250 million over the outlet’s reporting — before eventually countersuing Lively as well.
Read on to learn everything we know about the “It Ends With Us” drama.
Creative differences
Part of the reason for Baldoni and Lively’s feud was reportedly because there were deep creative differences on set, according to the Hollywood Reporter. While Baldoni was the director, Lively was also a producer in the film.
“There was a fracture among the filmmakers in the postproduction process, wherein two different cuts of the movie emerged,” the outlet reported.
A source also said Lively commissioned a cut of the movie from editor Shane Reid, who worked on husband Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Reid previously worked with Lively on Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me” music video, which she directed.
The “Gossip Girl” alum highlighted one example of creative differences was using Lana Del Rey’s “Cherry,” which was “too charged and heavy,” in the film.
Rolling her eyes, she told Hits Radio UK, “They begged me to take it out of the movie. … I’m not supposed to be talking about this.”
Ryan Reynolds’ role
Lively and Baldoni’s creative differences could have been further fueled when Reynold seemingly took over the writing for one of the scenes in the movie.
During the movie’s premiere, Lively told E! News, “The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that, but you now.
“He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does,” she noted at the time.
All hands on deck
Baldoni also revealed that Lively was “involved in every aspect” of its production.
“[With] every touch, she made [it] better,” he told “Extra.”
“I’m grateful to Blake for just being a powerhouse of a performer and an amazing collaborator and just all the people, the crew,” Baldoni added.
Passing the baton
After confessions of Reynold and Lively’s involvement, Baldoni suggested that he wouldn’t be returning as a director for the sequel, “It Starts With Us.”
While speaking with “Entertainment Tonight,” he called the actress, who played Lily Blossom Bloom, a “better” option to direct the possible adaption.
He also told Variety that he had yet to commit to the project despite his company, Wayfarer Studios, buying the rights for an “It Starts With Us” movie adaption.
“I haven’t even begun to think that far ahead. I’m trying to stay in the present as much as I can,” he told the outlet in July 2024.
Two separate camps
Baldoni walked the carpet during the movie’s premiere and posed only with his wife, Emily Fuxler.
Meanwhile, Lively posed with Hoover, Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas and Jenny Slate, who plays Alyssa.
She also posed with her husband and Hugh Jackman, who stars with Reynolds in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
It was also reported that Lively and the cast watched the movie in one theater while Baldoni and his wife watched from another. Even when Hoover and Lively introduced the film before the screening, Baldoni was absent.
Absent Baldoni
Most notably, Baldoni promoted the movie and sat for interviews solo.
On the other hand, Lively did press tours with Sklenar, Isabela Ferrer, who plays a younger version of her character in the movie, and more co-stars.
Fans have also pointed their interviews suggested they were promoting two different movies as Baldoni spoke out about the film’s domestic violence theme, while Lively talked about the wardrobe and how abuse doesn’t “define” her character.
After days worth of backlash for “being tone deaf” and not speaking about the domestic violence her character experiences in the movie, Lively tried to fix things by sharing resources for abuse survivors in an August 2024 Instagram Story.
She also re-posted a BBC interview where she explained her character is more than just a “survivor” and a “victim.”
Although Lively did not address her rumored beef with Baldoni at the time, Slate went viral for completely sidestepping a question about working with Baldoni, who was juggling being the director and an actor in the film.
“What an intense job,” the comedian quipped to Deadline. “To have to do so many things.”
Social media shade
Many fans have noticed that most of Baldoni’s co-stars do not follow him back on Instagram — and neither does the series’s author, Hoover.
Hoover and Baldoni first connected in 2019 when the latter secured the movie rights to her book.
Reynolds reportedly blocked Baldoni on the social media platform months before the film’s premiere.
Throwback footage
After a social media user shared footage of Lively and Baldoni seemingly arguing on set in 2023, news broke on Aug. 13, 2024, that he hired veteran PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan.
TMZ claimed the following day that Lively, who had recently given birth to baby No. 4, believed her co-star fat-shamed her on set by asking his trainer how much she weighed and how to avoid injuring his back when picking her up.
The outlet also reported that she felt he lingered too long during one of their kissing scenes.
Breaking her silence
In December 2024, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and accused him of trying to “destroy” her reputation with an alleged smear campaign.
She claimed that there had previously been an “all hands on deck” meeting — with Reynolds also present — about Baldoni’s behavior.
At the time, it was allegedly requested that the director refrain from adding more sex scenes “outside the scope” of the pre-approved script, stop showing her “nude videos and images of women” and more.
Baldoni denied his co-star’s “shameful” allegations in a statement reading, “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
He also hit back at claims that he had hired a crisis PR manager to engage in “social manipulation” against Lively.
His and Wayfarer Studios’ attorney, Bryan Freedman, told Page Six the hiring came as a result of Lively allegedly “threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”
Co-stars’ comments
Sklenar showed his support for Lively via Instagram Stories on Dec. 23, writing that his followers needed to “for the love of god read” her complaint.
Slate followed suit with a lengthy statement to Today the next day, which concluded with, “I commend my friend, I admire her bravery and I stand by her side.”
Hoover, for her part, made headlines for calling Lively “honest and kind” on social media.
The publicist plot thickens
Baldoni’s former publicist Stephanie Jones sued him — as well as his crisis PR manager, Melissa Nathan, and her former employee Jennifer Abel, among others — over an alleged breach of contract.
Jones claimed in her lawsuit that Abel and Nathan “coordinated with Baldoni and Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear campaign” against Lively that she allegedly “had no knowledge or involvement in” before “publicly pin[ning the] blame” on her.
She maintained the allegations after a source blasted them as “retaliatory.”
Making it official
Lively filed a formal lawsuit against Baldoni on Dec. 31, suing her co-star in New York federal court over lost wages and emotional distress.
She made the same allegations as she did in her initial complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department.
In addition to Baldoni, Lively sued Nathan, Abel and Wayfarer Studios, which produced “It Ends with Us.”
Libel lawsuit
That same day, Baldoni — and nine other plaintiffs, including Nathan and Abel — took legal action, filing a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times’ story about Lively’s sexual harassment complaint.
The filing claimed that “the Times story relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”
Lively’s rep insisted to Page Six at the time that “nothing in [that] lawsuit changes anything about the claims [she previously] advanced.”
Another lawsuit
On Jan. 16, Baldoni filed another lawsuit, but this time, against Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, Leslie Sloane. He sued them for $400 million for defamation and extortion.
The actor alleged in the complaint obtained by Page Six that tried to assert creative control in several aspects of the film, including the script and wardrobe.
He also alleged that Lively used her friendship with global superstar Taylor Swift to manipulate him.
Baldoni’s lawyers argued that their client “felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn’t needed Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him.”
“The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world.”
Baldoni also reiterated past claims that Reynolds yelled at him during an all-hands meetings and denied that his publicists conspired to ruin Lively’s reputation.
Raw footage revealed
After filing his suit, Baldoni began to release information that he thought might corroborate his case in the court of public opinion.
The actor and his legal team first leaked raw footage from an “It Ends With Us” scene in which he and Lively were cuddled up for a slow-motion dance sequence.
Before directors yelled “action” to kick off the shoot, the co-stars could be overheard talking about their respective spouses, and Lively even making a joke about the size of Baldoni’s nose.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Freedman, claimed the clip showed the pair treated each other with “mutual respect and professionalism,” debunking Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
However, Lively’s lawyers slammed the release of the clip and said “the video itself is damning.” They then filed a request for a gag order against Baldoni’s lawyer, which he called a “bullying” tactic.
An intimacy coordinator agreed with Lively’s team that the evidence showed the actress was clearly “uncomfortable” during the scene.
A voice note heard around the world
Baldoni’s team also dropped a nearly 7-minute voice note, in which the actor is overheard apologizing to Lively following an alleged dispute they had over edits she made to a rooftop scene.
“I want to start with an apology,” the actor is heard saying in the clip. “I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that, and the way you framed it, and how that made you feel … I just wanted to say thank you for sharing that with me.”
Baldoni promised to not make Lively feel like other “f–head” directors in the past had done, saying, “I’m just still kind of blown away that this is the industry we’re in and that you’ve experienced that as a woman.”
He concluded, recognizing the time at which he was sending the voice note, “You probably have kids all over you, and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble.”
Reps for Lively did not immediately respond to the release of this audio.
Legal experts call Baldoni’s bluff
Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for $400 million, which is four times the couple’s reported combined net worth. However, several legal experts explained to Page Six with the massive amount is likely a “PR play.”
“It’s common to shoot for the moon. It’s for scare value and to get press attention,” family law attorney Raiford Dalton Palmer told us.
Neama Rahmani, president of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, agreed, “Obviously, a high number in the lawsuit makes for great headlines, and this case is as much about Baldoni clearing his name and sending a message to Lively than actually getting money out of her.”
Entertainment lawyer Camron Dowlatshahi added that in order for Baldoni to actually walk away with that total sum in damages, he would have to prove he was “on his way to making a half billion dollars” before he was allegedly defamed and extorted.
Team Baldoni launches website
Baldoni made good on their word and released an entire website dedicated to the case in early Febraury.
The site featured his updated complaint and lawsuit, a168-page document detailing a timeline of events, never-before-seen text messages, emails and more, spanning from 2019 to 2024.
In the communications, Lively and Baldoni discussed rewrites of scenes, their meetings with intimacy coordinators and a supposed meeting with Swift, who the actress infamously referred to as one of her “dragons.”
He also included texts about how “f–king terrified” he was about saying the “wrong thing” to Lively about her character’s wardrobe, which received backlash from fans.
Ballooning budget
Speaking of clothes, Baldoni alleged that the film’s “wardrobe budget ballooned” by $430,000 to meet the actress’ demands.
“They had to reshop everything for Blake after creative changes, but it’s a lot of money,” an email from an alleged line producer read.
While they originally set a $185,000 budget for clothes, the unnamed employee claimed they spent $615,000 on Lively and Baldoni’s wardrobe alone.
In Baldoni’s amended complaint, he alleged that the wardrobe issue was just one of the ways Lively tried to take over his project.
“Ignoring the director’s vision for her character and disposing of the weeks of effort and creativity spent by the wardrobe team on shopping and carefully crafting her wardrobe, Lively sent hundreds of images to the Film’s costume designer, including into the late hours of the evening, depicting the style of wardrobe she wanted for her character,” the filing alleged.
When he approached her about the issue, she allegedly ignored him and suggested he was being “gaslit” by producers.
Jed Wallace enters the scene
Lively was sued by a Jed Wallace-led crisis PR firm in early February.
Wallace alleged that the actress defamed him and his company, Street Relations Inc., when she named him as the architect behind Baldoni’s “smear campaign” in her original California Civil Rights complaint.
However, she did not name Wallace in the actual lawsuit filed in New York.
Wallace claimed the alleged mistake cost him “millions of dollars in reputational harm with a projected loss to his company that exceeds another million.” He is suing Lively for $7 million.
The actress’ legal team requested to depose Wallace in Texas so he and others could be added to their New York lawsuit against Baldoni.
Request to subpoena texts
In mid-February, Lively sent out several subpoenas to Baldoni and Wallace’s cell carriers in a search for “receipts” in the case.
“Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to ‘destroy’ and ‘bury’ her reputation and family over the past year,” her attorneys said at the time.
In contrast, the “Five Feet Apart” director’s lawyer called Lively’s request “flagrantly overbroad.”
“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 said 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.”
A judge later ruled that Lively would not be able to subpoena all of Baldoni’s texts over the last two years, stating that it was “overly intrusive and disproportionate to the needs of the case.”
However, her request for some cell records revolving around those involved in the case was partially granted, with the judge starting that she “is permitted to use the tools of discovery to identify the contact information or telephone numbers for those individuals.”
Both Baldoni and Lively refused court mediation.
‘SNL 50’ controversy
Another layer of controversy was added to the mix after Lively and Reynolds stepped out for the “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special, where the “Green Lantern” star made a joke about the legal battle.
When asked how he was doing during the live broadcast, Reynolds replied, “Great! Why, what have you heard?”
Some fans — and Hollywood insiders — questioned the couple for making light of the situation given the serious topics of sexual harassment, defamation and extortion.
More women added to the mix
In an amended complaint, Lively alleged that she wasn’t the only person Baldoni made “uncomfortable” on set.
The “Simple Favor” star alleged that at least two other women were willing to testify about the actions of Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath.
However, their names were left out of the complaint due to concerns over cyberbullying and retaliation.
Lively and one of the other women allegedly reported Baldoni’s behavior but nothing was done about it.
Baldoni’s ‘shocking’ behavior revealed
Lively also added unseen text messages to her complaint, in which she discussed the director’s alleged “shocking” behavior on set.
A May 2023 message Lively sent to a friend seemingly references Baldoni and Heath’s inappropriate conduct.
“It’s like HR nuts today. The both of them,” she wrote at the time. “I wasn’t expecting that turn. I mean it’s been present but today I came home and cried.”
In another text, Lively called Baldoni and Heath “creeps” before continuing, “Like keep your hormones to yourselves. This is not mine. I don’t want it. I don’t want you [sic] gaze or words or tongue or videos of your naked wife. Yeah. It’s shocking. Clowns.”
She also alleged that Baldoni asked “intrusive” questions about her and Reynolds’ sex life, furthering her claims of sexual harassment.
The mother of three claimed that the former podcast host once asked if they “climax simultaneously” during intercourse.
Lively alleged that Baldoni wanted her to “orgasm” on camera — despite agreeing to take the scene out.
Lively requests stronger PO
The actress asked the judge to grant her a stronger protective order in late February due to the sensationalized nature of the case.
In the proposed PO, her legal team requested to have certain discovery material categorized as “Attorney’s Eyes Only,” limiting what is made public given the nature of the case.
The letter noted that the case deals with “high-profile individuals, to whom a duty of confidentiality is owed.”
Specifically, Lively’s legal team also requested a protective order for their client’s private texts with her celebrity pals — which could cause “irreparable harm” if they “were to fall into wrong hands.”
“There are 100 million reasons for these parties to leak information because the PR value is greater than complying with the court’s orders.”
Lively’s initial request referenced the “vicious” backlash Lively has faced online as another reason for stronger protections, noting that she has “received violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications.”
However, Baldoni’s legal team argued that Lively brought it to the public first by bringing her initial complaint to the New York Times. They also cited Reynolds’ “planned skit” at “SNL 50,” which put the case in front of “almost 15 million viewers.”
Lively scores a small win
Lively’s protective order was approved in March 2025, which meant Baldoni could not leak sensitive information to the public by law.
Evidence in their legal battle would be “confidential” and for “attorneys’ eyes only.”
There was a loophole, however, as the filing stated “the Court [was] unlikely to seal or otherwise afford confidential treatment” for documents cited during the trial.
Lively and Reynolds request to dismiss lawsuit
That same month, Lively requested to throw out Baldoni’s “abhorrent” countersuit altogether, calling it “vengeful and rambling.”
Her husband did the same.
Baldoni’s attorney called the couple “cowardly,” quipping that the legal battle was a “self-concocted disaster” Lively “initiated.”
Talk show time
Lively made a rare talk show appearance amid the ongoing drama to promote “Another Simple Favor,” alluding to the scandal while discussing her “intense year.”
“This year has been full of the highest highs and lowest lows of my life,” she told “Late Night With Seth Meyers” viewers in May 2025. “I see so many women around afraid to speak, especially now, afraid to share their experience.
“Fear is by design, it’s what keeps us silent,” she continued at the time. “But I also acknowledge that many people don’t have the opportunity to speak, so I do feel fortunate that I have been able to.”
Taylor Swift enters the chat
In May 2025, Swift was subpoenaed in Lively and Baldoni’s ongoing legal war.
The pop star’s rep hit back at this, telling Page Six, “Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film.
“She did not even see ‘It Ends With Us’ until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,” the statement continued.
Judge tosses Baldoni’s lawsuit
On June 9, Judge Lewis J. Liman filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Sloane, as well as his lawsuit against the “New York Times.”
Her lawyers gushed about the “total victory and complete vindication” in a statement to Page Six.
“This “$400 million” lawsuit was a sham,” the attorneys wrote. “The Court saw right through it. We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages.”
However, Freeman told us, “Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false, so let us be clear about the latest ruling. … We march forward.”
Baldoni’s subsequently majorly shifted their legal strategy to focus on the defense.
Deposition drama
When Lively was deposed at her attorney’s office in New York City in July, Baldoni was present for a “face-to-face showdown.”
In a heavily-redacted transcript of the deposition, Lively hit back at her former co-star’s team’s alleged “smear campaign” against her.
“The press that you have done and the statements that you have made about me and my character have felt incredibly retaliatory,” she claimed at the time.
Isabela Ferrer enters the chat
In August, Ferrer claimed Baldoni was “harassing” her for information after subpoenaing her — and allegedly making “transparent efforts to exert pressure on” her.
Baldoni’s team clapped back with a rebuttal pointing out that Lively was the first to issue Ferrer a summons.
“Ms. Lively should not be permitted to obtain discovery from Ms. Ferrer, while Ms. Ferrer and her counsel frustrate all effort by the Wayfarer Parties to obtain the discovery critical to the preparation of their defense,” they wrote, requesting that “none of the parties will use any communication to, from or concerning Ms. Ferrer, or any testimony from her.”
The harassment claims continue
In September, an individual — whose name was redacted in court docs — accused Baldoni of “repeated, negative interactions” and “verbal abuse.”
The unidentified accuser claimed Baldoni “was not “permitted on set during the majority of production as a result of those experiences” and it was requested he “not be involved in marketing or public relations efforts.”
The person is expected to testify in Lively’s case, which will kick off in March 2026.
End of an era … or is it?
Four months after Baldoni’s lawsuit was tossed out by a judge, the countersuit came to a dramatic end when the actor’s team declined to file an amended complaint by the deadline.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman officially ended the case in November.
Baldoni’s legal team told Page Six that the director opted not to file an amended complaint so he could potentially proceed with an appeal at a later date.
Make it stop
After Lively claimed a whopping $161 million in damages in November due to Baldoni’s alleged actions, he requested the lawsuit be tossed.
Baldoni insisted on Nov. 13 that “no reasonable jury” would find him guilty.
He noted in his formal request that damages for lost profits must be proven with “reasonable certainty” and cannot be “speculative, possible or imaginary.”
His request came on the heels of Lively scoring a legal win against the PR firm tied to Justin Baldoni that sued her for defamation in Texas, with a judge ruling the court did not have the power to deal with the lawsuit.
