In addition to calling out The New York Times for reporting “false” allegations by Blake Lively, actor Justin Baldoni is sounding off on Ryan Reynolds in his lawsuit.
On New Year’s Eve, Lively officially filed a lawsuit against her “It Ends with Us” director alleging sexual harassment and “severe emotional distress,” and Baldoni launched legal action against The New York Times for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract.
In the 87-page complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by USA TODAY, Baldoni’s legal team claims the news organization relied “almost entirely” on Lively’s “unverified” narrative and misled the public. The former “Jane the Virgin” actor also named Lively’s husband Reynolds in the docs, accusing the “Deadpool” star of being “aggressive” toward him while defending his wife.
USA TODAY reached out to Reynolds’ representatives for comment.
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Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel and “It Ends with Us” producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz seek $250 million in damages.
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Although Baldoni served as director and producer of the Colleen Hoover book adaptation, it was Reynolds who Lively praised for his creative contributions.
“The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it,” Lively revealed to E! News during the movie’s press tour. “Nobody knows that but you now … We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his. I mean, he’s all over this film.”
The film’s screenwriter, Christy Hall, told People magazine she wasn’t aware Reynolds had any part in writing that scene.
Lively’s red-carpet interview at the New York City premiere of “It Ends with Us” was cited in Baldoni’s legal complaint. “This was also the first time Plaintiffs learned that Reynolds – who had no formal role in the Film’s production – made unauthorized changes to the script in secret,” the docs read.
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Baldoni’s team alleges that Lively began “altering the script daily” and the “frequency of Lively’s revisions alarmed the producers, director, and studio, who anticipated that her interference would persist ‘every day of the shoot’ and disrupt the production schedule.”
“Each shooting day was already intricately planned, and her constant changes introduced significant stress on the production crew and financial strain,” the Tuesday legal docs added.
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Weeks before the New York City premiere of “It Ends with Us,” Baldoni claims that Reynolds “had aggressively berated Baldoni during a meeting at their penthouse in New York, accusing him of ‘fat shaming’ Lively.”
According to the docs, “to avoid further confrontation with Lively and Reynolds and rebuild rapport with his co-star,” Baldoni “continued to bend to her will.”
Of the “inappropriate and humiliating berating of Baldoni,” the actor’s legal team claims that it was “delivered, perhaps intentionally, as other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse” and was “prompted by Baldoni’s reasonable inquiry into crucial information needed to ensure safety and avoid injury in a scene.”
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Baldoni has back issues and multiple bulging discs, his team claims in the docs. While he trained for a scene in which his character Ryle would lift Lively’s Lily, Baldoni asked his trainer − who was introduced to him by Lively − how much the “Gossip Girl” actress weighed “to ensure he could safely perform the lift without injury.”
The inquiry made its way back to Lively and she also let her Reynolds know.
“The confrontation that followed was so aggressive that Baldoni felt compelled to offer repeated apologies, despite his question being entirely reasonable and made in good faith,” the complaint reads. “Following this incident, Lively refused to perform the lift scene, even though it had already been rehearsed with a stunt double.”
In Lively’s lawsuit, officially filed Tuesday in New York federal court and obtained by USA TODAY, the actress took Baldoni’s inquiry over her weight as criticism of her body after she gave birth to her fourth child, son Olin, in early 2023.
Baldoni allegedly “routinely degraded” Lively by “finding back channel ways of criticizing her body and weight,” her lawsuit reads. “A few weeks before filming began and less than four months after Ms. Lively had given birth to her fourth child, Ms. Lively was humiliated to learn that Mr. Baldoni secretly called her fitness trainer, without her knowledge or permission, and implied that he wanted her to lose weight in two weeks.”
“Mr. Baldoni told the trainer that he had asked because he was concerned about having to pick Ms. Lively up in a scene for the movie, but there was no such scene,” Lively’s lawsuit claims.
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As the promotional run for “It Ends with Us” neared, Baldoni claims that Lively instructed Sony “that she and the cast would not participate in any marketing or promotion” of the film alongside the actor.
Later on, Baldoni allegedly “received word that, during the premiere of his movie ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ Reynolds approached Baldoni’s agent at William Morris Endeavor and demanded that the agent ‘drop’ Baldoni.”
“The wielding of power and influence became undeniable,” the docs read. “Baldoni and Wayfarer grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life.”
However, in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on New Year’s Day, WME is refuting Baldoni’s claims.
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“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ premiere. This is not true,” the agency said in the statement. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
USA TODAY reached out to Reynolds’ reps at WME for comment.
Baldoni was dropped from WME on Dec. 21, just hours after The New York Times story dropped detailing Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
In one section of his lawsuit, Baldoni’s lawyers detailed how he was allegedly “systematically sidelined from the marketing of his own film.”
Initially, Lively “refused to permit his attendance” at the August premiere of “It Ends with Us,” and “only after significant pressure did she reluctantly agree to allow Baldoni and the Wayfarer team to attend, but under humiliating conditions,” he alleged.
“The Wayfarer team and their families, including Baldoni and Heath, were segregated from the main cast, barred from the exclusive after-party, and forced to organize their own event at additional cost,” the lawsuit states. “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.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege, “Not only had Lively stolen the film, but she also robbed Baldoni and his team of any genuine opportunity to celebrate their hard work.”
When reached for comment, Lively’s legal team referred USA TODAY to a previous Dec. 31 statement they issued in response to Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ lawsuit filing.
“Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint,” the statement reads, in part. “While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”
Contributing: KiMi Robinson
