It looks like we are far from the end of the It Ends With Us legal action between stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Since I can’t be the only one having trouble keeping up with the constantly evolving situation, here’s a quick recap of the timeline. In 2024, the It Ends With Us press tour started getting extra scrutiny when it appeared the entire cast had distanced itself from director Justin Baldoni. But as the movie’s promotion continued, fans got the sense Justin may not have been the problem as problematic interviews of Blake shook the internet.
After months of staying quiet about the situation, Blake filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint accusing Justin, his producing partner and his PR crisis management team (the same one that repped Johnny Depp) of intentionally planting negative Blake coverage to cover up Justin’s alleged inappropriate behavior on set. Blake’s complaint was met with heaps of support from celebrities including co-star Jenny Slate and IEWU author, Colleen Hoover. Blake’s own family said they knew she’d always be vindicated. This however did not cause Justin to back down, even in light of a lawsuit filed against him by his former publicist.
Instead, Justin filed two expensive full-fledged lawsuits. One against The New York Times (which detailed evidence of Blake’s allegations, including text messages and set reports). And another against Blake and Ryan Reynolds, including claims Ryan created an entire movie character to mock him.
Now, Justin is bringing more receipts he believes will back up his suit. Following proof of his claim he was kept in the basement at the It Ends With Us premiere and texts with Blake he asserts show Blake overstepping her role in the movie, Justin Balodni’s team released 10 minutes of unedited footage from It End With Us on January 21, 2025. Here’s how Blake Lively’s legal representatives responded.
What was in the unedited It Ends With Us footage released by Justin Baldoni?
Raw video from #ItEndsWithUs reveals some very telling conversation between #BlakeLively and #JustinBaldoni.
Read the full story on why this particular scene is especially relevant to their ongoing legal battle: https://t.co/Nioc0QmtCS
🎥: Courtesy of Bryan Freedman pic.twitter.com/nzSdYu5KBO
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 21, 2025
The uncut clip shows the raw footage of a scene that Blake cited in her complaint against Justin. Blake’s complaint alleged Justin made inappropriate comments about how she smelled while they were dancing. In the footage publicly shared by Justin’s team, with the intention of vindicating him from Blake’s claims, the “fragrance” comment is not heard. Instead, Justin says her body makeup “smells good.” The video shows Justin and Blake appearing to exchange friendly banter while in character since the audio from the scene was already planned to not be used, as it would be edited to be in slow motion.
They talk about how much they love talking all hours of the day and night to their respective partners (they are both clearly deeply in love with their people, wow). At one point, Justin says Blake and Ryan are “really cute.” Blake jokes back, “I think it’s more than cute.”
In his lawsuit, Justin mentions Blake mocking the size of his nose. In the selected footage Blake laughs about how much their noses are touching and Justin agrees, because his nose is “so big.” Blake then jokes they should shut down production for an “insurance month” so Justin can get a nose job.
The most tense moments of the interaction are Blake and Justin going back and forth about the creative direction of the short scene. While Blake wanted to talk because it’s “more romantic,” Justin preferred to look lovingly into each other’s eyes. He said he and his wife Emily practice prolonged eye contact “all the time” which would probably “terrify” Blake. She responds, “Yeah, I’d be like, ‘Oh, no, I found a sociopath.'”
Blake Lively Responded To The It Ends With Us Footage Release
Blake Lively’s legal team called Justin’s “latest stunt” an attempt to “get ahead of the damaging evidence against him” in a lengthy response to the January 21 release. They assert that despite his efforts, “the video itself is damning” because “every frame of the released footage, corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.” Those allegations include Justin “repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.”
Blake’s attorneys continue that the problem with this alleged behavior is that “every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.” Her team states this situation was only made worse by Justin being Blake’s “boss” as the director and head producer on the film. Blake’s representatives believe that “any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort” and that her “attempts at levity” were “defensive measures.”
Because Justin’s team released “this video in the to the media, rather than presenting it as evidence in court,” Blake’s reps deem the action “another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public” and “a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign.”
