On December 31, four months after the the release of the movie It Ends with Us, one of the film’s star actors, Blake Lively, filed a lawsuit against co-star and producer Justin Baldoni, his publicists, and his Wayfarer Studios production company for several reasons: sexual harassment, retaliation for reporting the violation, and for purportedly coordinating a campaign to ruin her professional reputation during the film’s release. This was just the beginning of a roaring turmoil.

According to the reported evidence, Lively has made several complaints against the toxic work environment during the shooting of the film. In fact, in early 2024, in the midst of filming, Lively assembled a meeting with Baldoni and several film producers demanding (according to the evidential documents) that Baldoni and James Heath stop “showing nude videos or images of women, including producer’s wife, to BL and/or her employees,” and also put an end to other inappropriate actions such as improvised kissing scenes, according to Vogue. Additionally, she also hired an “intimacy coordinator” to supervise the set. Furthermore, there are recorded documents that suggest an extremely inappropriate invasion of privacy committed by Baldoni and Heath, as “throughout filming, Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath invaded Ms. Lively’s privacy by entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding her infant child.”

As the legal complaints unfolded, Baldoni hired services from Melissa Nathan, a PR crisis specialist who worked for Johnny Depp when he portrayed his ex-wife, Amber Heard, to be abusive and erratic during the 2022 denigration trial. On August 2, a series of text messages between the studio, Baldoni’s publicist, and Nathan were unveiled in which the publicist claimed that Baldoni wants Lively’s reputation to be buried, according to The New York Times.  In response, Nathan reassured him that “you know we can bury anyone.” As Baldoni’s legal team progressed through the case, it has commented that the charge is “shameful” and is buried in “categorically false accusations.” Interestingly enough, however, the more evidence Nathan disclosed, the more appalled she became by the atrocities she helped unleash. According to The Guardian, she even commented how “the majority of socials are so pro Justin [when she didn’t] even agree with half of them,” noting that “it’s actually sad because it just shows you [how] people really want to hate on women.” Even though it is Nathan’s profession to defend Justin’s honor, she still manages to personally side with Lively and the strong evidence being provided.

Furthermore, the Gossip Girl actress is not the only person against whom Baldoni and his publicity team have been battling as of December 31, 2024; they also decided to sue The New York Times for defamation. Baldoni’s 87-page legal complaint—documented in the Los Angeles Superior Court—accused The Times for mainly depending on Lively’s unconfirmed perspective of the predicament. Furthermore, the It Ends with Us star actor also accused Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, of behaving aggressively towards him during a meeting in New York City. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the aggression was supposedly an allegation on Reynolds’s part as the conflict was seemingly triggered from Baldoni’s fat-shaming comment towards Lively. In compensation for the harm, Baldoni is suing The Times for $250 million. 

If suing for $250 million wasn’t enough, Baldoni’s legal team has also sued Lively and Reynolds for $400 million on the claim that “two of the most powerful stars in the world” abused their enormous power and influence to take over the film from the direction and production studio. In fact, Baldoni claims that Lively “set out to destroy Plaintiffs’ livelihoods and businesses” and that if they did not “bend to her incessant demands,” she would threaten them with the charge of despicable sexual misconduct. 

Baldoni’s plan to harm Lively’s reputation appeared to have been a success, as within days of the film’s release, the negative media actions and commentaries have increased tremendously, calling her “tone deaf,” a challenge to work with, and even a “bully,” according to The Times.

Fortunately, as more of the truth unveils within the trial case, the more one will start to realize how Lively’s motives to press this charge was not out of spite like Baldoni previously mentioned; instead, she is hoping that the “legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.” Unlike their newly released film It Ends with Us, this is a lawsuit that will not end imminently; in fact, it is just the very beginning.