On December 20, Hollywood actress Blake Lively filed a complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni alleging sexual harassment. The case gained more publicity when The New York Times wrote a bombshell article titled ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Campaign, alleging that Baldoni had used his PR army to bad mouth Lively during the film’s promotion in August 2024, which successfully made her a victim of cancel culture.
Baldoni retaliated On December 22, Hollywood actress Blake Lively filed a complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni alleging sexual harassment. The case gained more publicity when The New York Times wrote a bombshell article titled ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Campaign, alleging that Baldoni had used his PR army to bad mouth Lively during the film’s promotion in August 2024, which successfully made her a victim of cancel culture.
Baldoni retaliated by filing a USD 250 million lawsuit against the publication for “libel and false light invasion of privacy”, and also claimed that the text messages exposed in the Times investigative piece lacked proper context and were “cherry-picked” to suit Lively’s narrative.
The actor also sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, earlier this month for USD 400 million citing defamation and extortion.
Now, in a recent development, a court date has been set for the high-profile case that social media has deemed as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard 2.0. On March 9, 2026, a little over a year from now, Lively and Baldoni will settle their dispute in court, with pre-trails underway this year, the first of many scheduled for February 3.
Evidence piles up against Lively
Since the Lively-Baldoni rift, leaked text and voice messages, and behind-the-scenes clips have made way for internet sleuths to make judgements. In a behind-the-scenes footage where Baldoni and Lively’s characters Ryle and Lily are seen slow dancing, Baldoni can be seen on camera directing the dance. The video was released by Baldoni’s lawyer to refute Lively’s claim that Baldoni was “behaving inappropriately”.
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Two weeks ago, a voice memo of Baldoni talking about how Lively shunned him from the cast of his film leaked, claiming that he was “in a basement with his family and friends” because she did not want him near her. On Monday, January 27, it was followed with another leaked voice message of Baldoni apologising to Lively for not inputting her ideas in the script.
