Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds Ask Court to Silence Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer After Releasing On-Set Video
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are asking the court to silence Justin Baldoni’s lawyer after the attorney released footage from the It Ends With Us set.
Us Weekly confirmed Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, filed a letter in court on Tuesday, January 21. According to docs obtained by Us, Lively and Reynolds want a protective order to stop Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, from engaging in “improper conduct” such as an alleged “harassing and retaliatory media campaign” against the couple.
Lively and Reynolds claimed that Freedman is violating court rules that stop a lawyer from addressing the press with statements that are not related to the case and might prejudice the jury. The letter alleged that Lively previously issued Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios a cease-and-desist letter and a second one to Freedman in December 2024.
Us reached out to reps for Lively and Baldoni, 40, for comment.
After Lively and Reynolds’ filing, sources close to Baldoni told Us it’s “grossly unfair to impose a gag order after Justin has been defamed by the New York Times in an article that they say has cost him three jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars.” (After Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in a December 2024 lawsuit, which he denied, Baldoni and other plaintiffs fired back by suing The New York Times, who broke the news.)
The insider adds that Baldoni wants to “release videos and text messages to prove the allegations are false” and notes that it’s “unbelievable” that Lively “would go on a takedown campaign against Justin and then immediately turn around and say she wants a gag order so that Justin can’t defend himself.”
The filing came one day after Baldoni’s lawyer released the video in an attempt to disprove Lively’s side of the story. The footage obtained by Us on Tuesday began with a statement that read, “Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr. Baldoni was behaving inappropriately. The following videos captured on May 23, 2023, clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism. These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”