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Last summer, the It Ends With Us cast and crew were embroiled in a feud, according to multiple reports. It all started when TikTok users noticed that film star Blake Lively and her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, didn’t pose for pictures together at the August 6, 2024, New York City premiere. Rumors surfaced claiming that the cast distanced themselves from Justin, and fuel was added to the fire when Justin hired a crisis PR manager. At the end of 2024, Blake filed a lawsuit against Justin for alleged sexual harassment on the set of their movie. In early 2025, Justin responded by suing both Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Hollywood Life is breaking down the timeline between the drama and the legal battle between Blake and Justin, below.
Rumors of Tension Circulate
On August 14, 2024, TMZ reported that there was discomfort between Blake and Justin while filming a kissing scene. Insiders told the outlet that the A Simple Favor actress felt that the director “lingered” too long while kissing her on camera.
Sources also told the outlet that Blake felt “fat-shamed” by Justin while working on a scene in which his character, Ryle, lifts her character, Lilly, into the air. Justin reportedly has a history of back issues, and after he allegedly asked an on-set trainer how much Blake weighed, she felt that he was fat-shaming her, according to the outlet.
Page Six reported that an eyewitness recalled “tension” visible in Blake on the set of It Ends With Us.
“The tension was so obvious,” the source told the outlet. “Once [Blake] was done with the scene, she was really impatient, said, ‘Am I done? Can I go?’ and as soon as they said, ‘Yes,’ there was like a Blake-size hole in the wall [sic]. She was so outta there.”
Fans were asking whether or not Blake and Justin would work on the sequel, It Starts With Us. However, a source told Variety on August 27, 2024, that there is “no world where these two will work together again.”
“This is uncharted territory, and nobody has any idea of what a sequel could look like,” the insider added.
How Did Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni’s Feud Escalate?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers’ working relationship was impacted during post-production. The publication reported that two different cuts of the film were created, causing an alleged divide in creative differences.
As internet sleuths have noticed, Blake and It Ends With Us book author Colleen Hoover do not follow Justin on Instagram even though he follows them. And the social media activity isn’t the only area where the cast’s relationship allegedly went downhill.
PEOPLE reported on August 13, 2024, that the rumored tension with Justin involves the “principal cast” and Colleen.
“All is not what it seems,” an insider from the set told the publication. “There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Elisabeth McGowan Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him.”
Blake Lively Sues Justin Baldoni
On December 21, 2024, TMZ reported that Blake filed a lawsuit against Justin for alleged sexual harassment. The lawsuit stated that an all-hands-on-deck meeting was held on the set of It Ends With Us to address the alleged toxic work environment. According to the outlet, the meeting addressed the following demands: no more showing nude videos or images of other women to Blake; no more comments about Justin’s alleged previous “pornography addiction; no further conversations about sexual experiences in front of Blake and other people; no more mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia; and no more inquiries about Blake’s weight.
Another demand that was mentioned was “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project,” per TMZ.
TMZ further reported that It Ends With Us flopped at the box office because Blake and Justin disagreed on how to market the film. According to the outlet, Blake allegedly wanted the her character’s resilience to be the focus, while Justin allegedly wanted to make the focus more serious because the movie addresses domestic violence.
In response to her lawsuit, Justin’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, calling Blake’s lawsuit “shameful” that she 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.”
Justin Baldoni Sues ‘The New York Times’
On December 31, Variety reported that Justin filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times over its published story titled, “We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” On behalf of Justin and several other plaintiffs, Bryan filed a complaint alleging that the publication committed promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract.
In response, a NYT spokesperson said, “The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. 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. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
Justin Baldoni Sues Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds
On January 16, 2025, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, accusing them of hijacking It Ends With Us and destroying his reputation with false allegations of sexual harassment. According to Variety, the complaint read, “This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio … When Plaintiffs have their day in court, the jury will recognize that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will.”
