It Ends With Us, the 2024 romantic drama starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, may be one of the more litigious films in recent history. Based on
It Ends With Us, the 2024 romantic drama starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, may be one of the more litigious films in recent history. Based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, It Ends With Us was an immediate box office hit, earning $50 million in the US and Canada in its opening weekend. Ultimately, It Ends With Us would gross more than $350 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $25 million.
But beneath its commercial success brewed a battle that would soon turn ugly. In December, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation, and within days sued him, alleging that she suffered emotional distress from her costar and director, who she says sought to malign her character via an online campaign allegedly coordinated with his publicity team. Baldoni soon clapped back with lawsuits of his own, suing The New York Times for libel as well as Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, whom Baldoni has accused of trying to “destroy” him.
With all the litigation swirling, it can be difficult to keep track of who’s suing whom, and for what. So here’s a timeline of the critical legal allegations, lawsuits, and complaints filed amid the ongoing drama between Baldoni and Lively.
August 2024: The dramatic It Ends With Us press tour begins. Even before the film hits theaters on August 9, eagle-eyed fans notice tension at the film’s premiere, where Lively is not photographed with Baldoni. Jenny Slate, who appears in the film, deftly yet conspicuously avoids answering a question about Baldoni on the red carpet, further causing fans to speculate that there is a rift between the cast and their director. (Slate has since voiced her support for Lively.)
Around this time, social media accounts begin criticizing Lively for her handling of the film’s exquisite subject matter. A clip published on the official It Ends With Us TikTok account, featuring Lively instructing fans to “grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it,” sparks backlash, with some accusing the Gossip Girl star of downplaying the heavier themes in the film. Baldoni, meanwhile, spends much of his press tour focusing on the darker aspects of It Ends With Us, which is ultimately about domestic violence. “The book helped thousands and thousands and thousands of women leave these relationships,” he says on ABC News. “I know far too many women who have been sexually assaulted or abused. That number is way too high, and there’s a reason that they care, and I just want them to know I care too.”
The backlash against Lively continues when a clip from a previous interview begins circulating online, seemingly out of the blue. On August 10, junket journalist Kjersti Flaa uploads to YouTube a 2016 interview clip in which Lively appears to snap at Flaa after the journalist congratulates a pregnant Lively on her “little bump.”
“Congrats on your little bump!” says Lively to Flaa in the clip, though Flaa is not pregnant at the time. Flaa names the video “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job.”
December 20, 2024: In a complaint filed with California’s civil court, Lively accuses Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, alleging that the director created a hostile environment on set, then hired a PR firm to launch a smear campaign against the actor (the complaint was preceded the same day by a filing with the California Civil Rights Department). A New York Times article about the complaint is published the following day, having been written by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire, and Julie Tate; it includes alleged text messages regarding the purported Lively takedown, sent between members of Baldoni’s PR team, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel.
The 80-page complaint claims that after production on It Ends With Us was paused due to the Hollywood strikes, Lively’s attorneys sent a list of provisions to the film’s production company, Wayfarer Studios (which was cofounded by Baldoni), demanding an end to what, in the complaint, is described as a “hostile work environment.” In the complaint, Lively alleges, among other things, that Baldoni improvised kisses while filming, frequently referenced his past pornography addiction and sexual encounters, and would enter her trailer while she was undressed and breastfeeding her infant child.
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