The pre-trial hearing between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is due to go to court tomorrow (3 February) and the It Ends With Us director has launched a website containing documents for his lawsuit.
Published yesterday (1 February), the website contains two publicly available documents which the courts have, his amended complaint against Lively and a 'timeline of relevant events' containing alleged texts and content that was filed alongside his lawsuit.
This timeline contains various message exchanges, some of them censored, which Baldoni's team alleges are correspondence between himself and others involved in the lawsuit including Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds.
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Baldoni's timeline begins on 1 January, 2019 when It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover is emailed by Baldoni about the possibility of making a film out of her book.
The final entry on the timeline is 29 January, 2025 where Baldoni makes claims about 'smear promo imagery' in the New York Times, which the actor and director is also suing for defamation.
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Also included are alleged texts between Baldoni and Reynolds, including messages which appear to show the Deadpool star calling Baldoni 'a wonderful collaborator with B' and 'a stand up person'.
Lively's attorney Michael Gottlieb told the Daily Mail the website was set up to 'influence proceedings and the public perception' of the case with 'inflammatory content'.
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He said: "He further has made it clear that his priority is to 'torpedo Blake Lively's career for good' by, among other things, creating a website to release strategically selected documents and communications between Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni.
"The planned website will release what Mr. Freedman self-servingly proclaims will be 'full unedited WhatsApp, text and email exchanges between Lively and Baldoni', although neither the media nor public will have any way of knowing which communications Mr. Freedman has selectively omitted from disclosure, including communications that Mr. Freedman and his clients may have deleted."
Lively's attorney claimed that the documents posted to the website would be 'incomplete, biased, and prejudicial by design'.
Also contained within the alleged timeline is a statement which is claimed to have been prepared on 12 August last year by Lively and Reynolds to be given on behalf of Baldoni, Jamey Heath and Wayfarer.
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The alleged statement reads: "It Ends With Us was a troubled production which we take full accountability for. We are very sorry to everyone we caused upset to privately and publicly.
"Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, the entire cast and crew led with professionalism every step of tile way, any negativity aimed at them is ours to own.
"We mutually agreed that the cast would be promoting the film separately and understood why. We have always said we are not perfect and even if unintentionally make mistakes, we will always own them.
"We hold ourselves accountable, it's not anyone's job but ours and that's part of being 'man enough'. We will practice what we preach. We are teaming and growing from the experience and we thank everyone for their patience as we find a better way to proceed.
"We are very proud of the film and the welcome arms that it's been received. Part of our work is to have uncomfortable conversations for public growth.
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"The film is doing that on screen and we are doing that off screen. Thank you to the cast crew and public for the opportunity to be imperfect and to be given the space to learn and grow."
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's lawsuits explained
Lively filed her first lawsuit against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, Baldoni's publicist Jennifer Abel, and others in December 2024, claiming he sexually harassed her on set and then issued a smear campaign after she spoke up.
A second lawsuit was filed alleging Baldoni engaged in inappropriate behaviour, which included a scene where their characters performed a slow dance.
Footage of the scene has since been made available to the public, which can be viewed above.
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The It Ends with Us director and actor has countersued Lively and her husband Reynolds for £326 million.
Baldoni has accused Lively and her husband of hijacking the production and promotion of the film.
It has also been claimed that Lively made false allegations of sexual and other harassment against Baldoni, dubbed as a 'smear campaign'.
Text messages Justin Baldoni says prove he's been defamed
In the lawsuit, Baldoni and his team provided nine alleged text messages, which he claims prove that his co-star has defamed him.
"How can we say somehow that we are not doing any of this - it looks like we are trying to take her down," Baldoni allegedly sent to his team as stories of harassment started to surface.
"OK please monitor," he added.
"Things I'm more worried about is that we are planting these stories which is not true obviously."
Also, Lively was said to have messaged him on 2 June, 2023: "I'm just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines."
Baldoni replied: "Copy, eating with crew and will head that way."
In another exchange, the director texted her: "Just hired intimacy coordinator who I LOVE. Will set you up to meet/FT with her next week for intro (thumbs up)."
Lively responded: "I feel good. I can meet her when we start :) thank you though."
This alleged exchange was included to counter claims from Lively that Baldoni would 'improvise' intimacy on set.
Meanwhile, Lively's lawyers called Baldoni’s lawsuit 'another chapter in the abuser playbook'.
"This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim," they said.
LADbible Group has contacted Blake Lively's representatives for comment.
Additional words by Anish Vij.
Topics: Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds
Joe Harker