EXCLUSIVE: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Were 'Forensic in Their Research' of Justin Baldoni’s Legal Team Before Filing Suit Against 'It Ends With Us' Director
Baldoni has since sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400million for defation.
Jan. 7 2025, Published 2:33 p.m. ET
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have insisted they were "forensic" in gathering powder keg allegations for the jaw-dropping lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.
The couple have told pals they will "prevail" and were "methodical in their research" before electing to file the bombshell action, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Baldoni has now actioned a $250 lawsuit against The New York Times, the outlet that first reported Lively's action, and he is preparing a second filing against Lively.
A source told us: "The countersuit news doesn’t surprise them. They knew from the get-go that Baldoni’s team was, very rough and ready as far as digging up and then throwing as much dirt as they could at her.
Deadpool star Reynolds said in a 2020 interview getting married at the venue in South Carolina was a 'giant f------ mistake'.
"They’ll be fighting fire with fire and calling out dirty tricks. Blake’s had so much support from within Hollywood for taking this stand.
"Ryan couldn’t be prouder of her. Right now, their focus is on taking care of each other. They’re united and it’s fair to say it’s brought them even closer together.
"There’s not a doubt in her mind that she’ll prevail. She and Ryan were methodical and forensic in their research."
Just days before Christmas, Lively, 37, filed a lawsuit that accused 40-year-old Baldoni, her It Ends With Us co-star and director, of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni's legal team recently released unedited footage from It Ends with Us in an attempt to dispute one of Lively's sexual harassment claims.
His legal team called the allegations "categorically false" and he filed his own lawsuit, against The New York Times, accusing the publication of unfairly damaging his reputation and ignoring evidence that contradicts Lively’s claims.
The paper plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit, saying: "Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.
"To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error."
Both lawsuits paint detailed pictures of what happened during filming of It Ends With Us.
Lively has accused Baldoni of crossing boundaries on set while he disputes her claims entirely.
Lively’s suit alleges a number of incidents in which Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath violated physical boundaries and made inappropriate sexual comments to Lively during shooting in spring 2023.
She claims that she complained at the time and the studio arranged a meeting to introduce safeguards on set, after which Baldoni and Heath signed a contract agreeing to Lively’s terms and agreed not to retaliate against her.
Reynolds, 48, also began to accompany his wife on set.
Baldoni’s suit claims no such terms were agreed to, that no document was produced from the meeting and that the list of terms The New York Times printed was misleading.
The New York Times has defended its reporting on Baldoni as accurate.
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Heath also claims that the naked video of his wife that he is accused of showing Lively was of a home birth that had "no sexual overtone".
In text messages published by The NYT, which it says were obtained by legal subpoena, Baldoni communicates with a crisis PR team he hired to shape the public narrative about him and Lively.
"He wants to feel like she can be buried," a publicist working with Baldoni wrote to Melissa Nathan, a crisis management expert who has represented Johnny Depp and Drake.
Baldoni claims the texts published by the newspaper were "cherry-picked" and some altered. They say all texts were quoted accurately.
