It ends with a settlement? Think again.
Amid the legal saga involving the Justin Baldoni and his It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively, the Jane the Virgin alum’s lawyer Bryan Freedman shared why he feels the case is unlikely to be resolved before it goes to trial in May 2026.
“Justin has been destroyed by this,” Freedman said of his client during the March 12 episode of the podcast The Town. “This is a really serious thing and in this day and age, the only way that you can truly get back is to prove your innocence… That’s what we’re actively working [towards]. So that may only be able to be done in a courtroom.”
As host Matt Belloni suggested that high public interest and potential harm to both parties could motivate a settlement from both sides, Freedman held a contrasting view.
In response, the lawyer acknowledged your comparison of the situation to a circus, and he understood why you might think so. However, he wanted to clarify that the experience they were going through was not actually like a circus.
As Baldoni’s legal war with Lively—which includes lawsuits filed on both sides accusing the other of a smear campaign—rages on, the Gossip Girl alum and husband Ryan Reynolds applied for a protective order earlier this month to keep sensitive information out of the public realm. A judge subsequently approved a modified version of the order with a partial “attorney’s eyes only”—the highest level of confidentiality in legal proceedings—according to legal documents viewed by TopMob News at the time.
As a lifestyle expert, I’d say, “While I believed the demand was excessively burdensome and unwarranted, my legal team rejoiced at the decision, asserting that it would safeguard the unhindered exchange of discovery materials.
“With this order in place,” they said in a statement to TopMob News, “Ms. Lively will move forward in the discovery process to obtain even more of the evidence that will prove her claims in Court.”
For a full timeline of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s ongoing litigation, keep reading.
Four months after the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s book It Ends With Us debuted in theaters, Blake Lively filed a California Civil Rights Department (CRD) complaint against her costar Justin Baldoni and his associates on Dec. 20, according to The New York Times.
In the complaint obtained by TopMob News, Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios (Wayfarer), its CEO Jamey Heath, its cofounder Steve Sarowitz, Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel, her company RWA Communications, crisis communications specialist Melissa Nathan, her company The Agency Group PR LLC (TAG), contractor Jed Wallace and his company Street Relations Inc. were listed as defendants.
Lively alleged in her complaint that Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates “embarked on a sophisticated press and digital plan in retaliation” for her voicing her concerns about purported misconduct on set—with her saying she and other cast and crew members “experienced invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior” by Baldoni and Heath.
The actress added the alleged campaign against her caused “substantial harm” to her personally and professionally.
The accusations listed in the complaint include sexual harassment; retaliation; failure to investigate, prevent and/or remedy harassment; aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation; breach of contract; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligence; false light invasion of privacy and interference with prospective economic advantage.
The next day, The New York Times published a report about a retaliatory smear campaign Baldoni and his associates allegedly waged against Lively—citing her CRD complaint. In its article, the outlet quoted messages sent from Baldoni and his team—including publicist Abel and crisis communications specialist Nathan—that were part of her complaint. Readers could also scroll through the court documents on The New York Times‘ website.
“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct,” Lively told the outlet, “and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
After news of Lively’s complaint broke, Bryan Freedman—the attorney for Baldoni, Wayfarer and its representatives—slammed Lively’s allegations.
“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions,” he said in a statement on The New York Times website. “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”
Freedman also defended Wayfarer’s decision to hire a crisis manager, saying this was done before the marketing campaign of the movie.
“The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity,” he later added. “What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals.”
Talent agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) dropped Baldoni after The New York Times’ article was published on Dec. 21, Ari Emanuel, CEO of the agency’s parent company Endeavor, confirmed to the outlet.
However, WME denied that Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds was to blame for the agency’s parting of ways with Baldoni, which the It Ends With Us director later allege in his lawsuit filed against The New York Times (more on that below).
“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere. This is not true,” WME—which also represents Reynolds and Lively—said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 1. “Baldoni’s former representative was not at the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
In the days following Lively’s CRD filing and The New York Times article, several famous figures shared their reactions to her allegations against Baldoni—including It Ends With Us author Hoover.
“@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” she wrote on Instagram Stories Dec. 21, linking out to The New York Times. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
Jenny Slate, who played the sister of Baldoni’s character Ryle, also noted she stood with Lively.
“As Blake Lively’s castmate and friend, I voice my support as she takes action against those reported to have planned and carried out an attack on her reputation,” Slate said in a Dec. 23 statement to Today. “Blake is a leader, loyal friend and a trusted source of emotional support for me and so many who know and love her.”
“What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening,” she added. “I commend my friend, I admire her bravery, and I stand by her side.”
In addition, Brandon Sklenar—a love interest for Lively’s character Lily Bloom—shared a screenshot of the complaint published to The New York Times‘ website and linked out to the outlet writing, “For the love of God read this.”
Plus, Lively’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn wrote they “stand with her in solidarity.”
Liz Plank also announced her departure from The Man Enough Podcast, which she cohosted with Baldoni and Heath, on Dec. 23.
“I’m writing to you today to let you know that I have had my representatives inform Wayfarer that I will no longer be co-hosting The Man Enough podcast,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Thank you for trusting me with your hearts and stories, for holding space for mine, and for making this show what it was. I will miss you, the listeners, so much. I love what this community created together with every fiber of my being, and that’s because of you.”
While Plank did not give a reason for her exit from the podcast, it came days after Lively’s complaint against Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates.
“As this chapter closed for me, I remain committed to the values we’ve built together,” the author continued in her message to her followers. “Thank you for being here, for trusting me, and for being by my side for the last four years. We all deserve better, and I know that together, we can create it.”
She added, “I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened. In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable.”
Baldoni’s former publicist Stephanie Jones and her agency Jonesworks LLC filed a lawsuit against him, his company Wayfarer, his current publicist Abel and crisis communications specialist Nathan in New York Dec. 24.
“Defendants Abel and Nathan secretly conspired for months to publicly and privately attack Jones and Jonesworks, to breach multiple contracts and induce contractual breaches, and to steal clients and business prospects,” the lawsuit obtained by NBC New reads. “Behind Jones’s back, they secretly coordinated with Baldoni and Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear campaign against Baldoni’s film co-star, and then used the crisis as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Jones and Baldoni, and to publicly pin blame for this smear campaign on Jones—when Jones had no knowledge or involvement in it.”
Per Abel’s LinkedIn profile, she worked at Jonesworks until last summer. The lawsuit alleges Abel and Nathan “continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light,” and “defame and attack” her in the industry.
As for Baldoni and Wayfarer, who are no longer Jonesworks clients, the suit alleges they “repudiated their contractual obligations with Jonesworks and rebuffed Jones’s efforts to settle this dispute privately in arbitration.”
TopMob News reached out to the defendants for comment.
Lively’s attorneys told Variety in a Dec. 23 piece that they obtained the texts featured in The New York Times article via a subpoena to Jonesworks. Freedman—who represents Nathan and Abel in addition to Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates—added to the outlet none of his clients were subpoenaed over this topic and that he intends to sue Jones for releasing messages from Abel’s phone to Lively’s attorneys.
Baldoni, Wayfarer, Heath, Sarowitz, Nathan, TAG, Abel, RWA Communications, Wallace and Street Relations filed a lawsuit against The New York Times Dec. 31.
In the lawsuit obtained by TopMob News, The New York Times is accused of libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract for its article about a retaliatory smear campaign the plaintiffs allegedly conducted against Lively after she voiced concerns about purported misconduct on set.
Saying the report was “false” and based on Lively’s CRD complaint, the plaintiffs denied the accusations and alleged messages cited in the article and complaint were taken out of context.
“Despite its claim to have ‘reviewed these along with other documents[,]’ the Times relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative,” the lawsuit says, “lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives.”
They also allege “it was Lively, not Plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.” She has denied this.
The New York Times said it plans to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
“The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead,” it stated to TopMob. “Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”
That same day, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer, Heath, Sarowitz, production entity It Ends With Us Movie LLC, Nathan, Nathan’s company TAG and Abel in New York.
According to the court documents obtained by TopMob News, she is suing the defendants for sexual harassment; retaliation; failure to investigate, prevent and/or remedy harassment; aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation; breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence infliction of emotional distress and false light invasion of privacy.
The allegations in the lawsuit were first detailed in the CRD complaint Lively filed earlier that month.
In response to the lawsuit Baldoni and his associates filed against The New York Times—which does not list Lively as a defendant—her attorneys noted in a statement to TopMob that “nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims” in her CRD and federal complaints.
“This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal,'” they continued. “As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false.”
In Baldoni and his associates’ lawsuit against The New York Times, the plaintiffs expressed that they “are not done.”
“There are other bad actors involved,” the court documents state, “and make no mistake—this will not be the last lawsuit.”
In a Jan. 2 interview with NBC News, Baldoni and Wayfarer’s attorney Freedman said they “absolutely” plan to sue Lively.
The headlines about Baldoni and Lively haven’t stopped there.
For instance, social media users have speculated that her husband Reynolds trolled Baldoni in his movie Deadpool & Wolverine through the character Nicepool.
Reynolds has not publicly commented on the rumors; however, Baldoni’s lawyer Freedman shared his reaction.
“What I make of that is that if your wife is sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of Justin Baldoni,” Freedman said during an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show posted to YouTube Jan 7. “You don’t make fun of the situation. You take it very seriously. You file HR complaints. You raise the issue and you follow a legal process. What you don’t do is mock the person and turn it into a joke.”
Meanwhile, Lively’s attorneys say there have been more “attacks” against her since her lawsuit.
“Ms. Lively’s federal litigation before the Southern District of New York involves serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation, backed by concrete facts,” her lawyers said in a Jan. 7 statement to TopMob News. “This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation. As alleged in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.”
“While we go through the legal process, we urge everyone to remember that sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry,” they added. “A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied. Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim.”
Lively’s lawyers said “these concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.” They also noted “media statements are not a defense” to her claims and that they’ll prosecute her claims in court.
Baldoni, Heath, Wayfarer, publicist Abel, crisis communication specialist Nathan and production entity It Ends With Us Movie LLC filed a lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s firm Vision PR in New York Jan. 16.
According to the suit obtained by TopMob News, the plaintiffs accused all the defendants of civil extortion, defamation and false light invasion of privacy. As for Lively and Reynolds specifically, she is accused of breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and they’re both accused of intentional interference with contractual relations and economic advantage as well as negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
In the suit, the plaintiffs denied Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign against her. They also accused her of seizing control of It Ends With Us and working with Reynolds, Sloane, Jones and others to “tar and feather Plaintiffs in the press” after she received backlash for her marketing of the film. (Lively said in her filings she promoted the movie in accordance with Sony’s marketing plan.)
Plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit the defendants worked with The New York Times “to put out a blockbuster news report as devastating as it was false.” The outlet stands by its report.
In part of a statement to TopMob, Freedman said, “Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth.”
In a statement to TopMob News, Lively’s legal team characterized his lawsuit as “just another page in the playbook of an abuser.” Essentially, they claim that this is a common pattern: when a woman presents solid proof of sexual harassment and retaliation, the accused tries to shift the blame onto the victim. This tactic is often referred to as DARVO – denying the allegations, attacking the accuser, and reversing the roles of the victim and the offender.
She also claimed that he reacted by counter-accusing her after she brought charges against him, asserting that Baldoni aims to change the conversation, suggesting that Lively took creative control and estranged the cast from Mr. Baldoni instead.
“The evidence will show,” it continued, “that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sony’s cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success.”
Her team went on to slam Baldoni’s reaction to her allegations of harassment.
“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing,” her lawyers added. “In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”
Baldoni’s legal counsel released behind-the-scenes footage from the filming of It Ends With Us, saying that the actor’s actions in the video “clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization” of him.
“The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another,” Baldoni’s attorneys said in a statement. “Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.”
However, Lively’s legal team believes the video “corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described” in her lawsuit and that “every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance.”
“The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk,” they told TopMob News in a statement. “Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.”
The couple issued a letter to the judge overseeing their case, requesting that Freedman—the head of Baldoni’s counsel—be placed under a gag order amid their legal proceedings to “avoid improper conduct.”
A seven-minute voice memo Baldoni allegedly sent to Lively during It Ends With Us‘ production was published online. In it, the director appeared to reference the movie’s rooftop scene Lively had rewrote and how the changes were presented to him during an alleged meeting with Reynolds and their pal Taylor Swift.
He shared with Lively that it’s not just their creativity that makes them great friends, but rather the incredible dynamic the trio share. It’s simply astonishing!
In the recording, Baldoni also seemingly apologized to the actress for his lukewarm reception to her script, saying, “I f–ked up. One thing you should know about me is that I will admit and apologize when I fail.”
One month after Lively filed a formal lawsuit against Baldoni, a court date was set for March 9, 2026.
Baldoni’s team amended his Jan. 16 counterclaim to the U.S. District Court against Lively, Reynolds and Sloane to include The New York Times, according to documents obtained by TopMob News.
In the amended document, Baldoni accused Lively and her team of spending months “colluding” and “feeding falsehoods to the New York Times.”
The filing—which is separate from the $250 million lawsuit against the NYT—alleged that the newspaper “‘cherry picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
Baldoni established a website that provides details about his lawsuit against Lively, including the first amended complaint submitted by Baldoni’s legal team on January 31 and a chronology of significant events. The timeline document contains claimed screenshots of text conversations between Lively, Reynolds, and Baldoni.
The website was unveiled a month following when Freedman announced that they intended to make public every single text message exchange between the two parties.
In a January 2nd interview with NBC News, Baldoni’s lawyer expressed that they desire transparency and want all relevant documents to be available. They believe individuals should base their judgments on tangible evidence such as receipts.
Lively’s attorneys filed an amended complaint claiming that two other women who worked on It End had come forward feeling uncomfortable by Baldoni’s behavior on set.
“Ms. Lively was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni,” the complaint, obtained by TopMob News, claimed. “The experiences of Ms. Lively and others were documented at the time they occurred starting in May of 2023. Importantly, and contrary to the entire narrative Defendants have invented, Mr. Baldoni acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time. He knew that women other than Ms. Lively also were uncomfortable and had complained about his behavior.”
The amended complaint did not include the names of the two witnesses that Lively claimed would testify, because of the potentially unsafe environment created by the Defendants’ retaliation campaign, which has led to threats, harassment, and intimidation.
In a statement to TopMob, Freedman accused the complaint of being filled with “unsubstantial hearsay” and alleged that the unidentified persons were “clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims.”
After Baldoni accused Sloane of propagating “malicious stories” that portrayed him as “a sexual predator” as well as orchestrating a “smear campaign” under Lively’s direction, Sloan filed a motional of dismissal from the lawsuit.
In the documents obtained by TopMob News, Sloane’s attorney alleged that there was no “basis” for the accusations made against their client and that she was simply “dragged” into the lawsuit as a “smoke and mirrors exercise to distract from” Lively’s accusations.
Lively brought onboard CIA’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Shapiro to “advise on the legal communications strategy for the ongoing sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit occurring in the Southern District of New York,” a member from her litigation team Willkie Farr & Gallagher told Variety on Feb. 28.
Shapiro—who worked for the CIA from 2013 to 2015 under the Obama administration—went on to become Visa’s vice president of global security and communications and then Airbnb’s global head of crisis management. After three years at the rental company, he founded his own consulting firm, 10th Avenue Consulting LLC.
The New York Times, which is still embroiled in a $250 million lawsuit with Baldoni, filed a motion to dismiss itself from the $400 million lawsuit that also includes Lively, Baldoni and Sloane in documents obtained by TopMob News.
In their filing, the newspaper contended that Baldoni’s team was spinning a “single-perspective narrative that has generated much attention,” but insisted that “The Times should not be involved in this conflict.
Following The New York Times motion for dismissal, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the newspapers’ request for stay of discovery, according to documents obtained by TopMob News.
The filing, which requested that the judge temporarily halt parties from having to exchange information or documents, was granted as the judge looks over the newspaper’s Feb. 28 motion.
Liman stated in the March 4 document that the NYT has presented “solid evidence” and a “strong argument” suggesting that their motion to dismiss is likely to be granted based on its merits.
The judge further commented that it is unlikely that Baldoni’s team will face an unfair disadvantage during the court decision-making process if a stay is granted, as they await the resolution of the pending motion.
In a statement to TopMob News, a NYT spokesperson addressed the update, writing, “We appreciate the court’s decision today, which recognizes the important First Amendment values at stake here. The court has stopped Mr. Baldoni from burdening The Times with discovery requests in a case that should never have been brought against.”
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2025-03-17 23:56