A bitter legal battle that exploded in late 2024 is now pulling back the curtain on what went wrong behind the scenes of It Ends With Us. As part of the ongoing court fight between Justin Baldoni and Blake
Lively, private messages unsealed in recent filings show Baldoni venting about escalating tensions on set. The texts paint a picture of a project sliding into chaos as disputes over intimate scenes and on-set boundaries spiralled.
A Week That “Blew Up” Behind The Scenes
In a December 30, 2023, message to Danny Greenberg, his agent at William Morris Endeavour Entertainment, Baldoni said he had just come through a “really, really bad week.” According to People, the trigger, he wrote, was direct contact from Lively and a proposed private meeting at her home, followed by a clash over how the film’s sex scenes would be handled.
Baldoni said Lively, then 38, had “refused” to use a body double. He claimed the standoff grew serious enough that Sony executives and producer Todd Black stepped in. “That’s just setting me up for a trap,” Baldoni wrote. He added that Lively was still pushing for a body double to stand in for him.
He also complained that Lively rejected his storyboards and wanted both actors fully clothed during a moment he saw as central to the romance. “If you know the book, it’s just ridiculous,” he wrote. In the same thread, he called the situation “a gigantic clusterf—,” said he was giving her “95% of what she wants for peace,” and described working with “an actress who is rewriting the writer and director” as draining over the holidays.
The Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively dispute was clearly boiling.
Protections, Pushback And A January Meeting
Five days later, on January 4, 2024, Baldoni, Lively, Ryan Reynolds and studio reps gathered for an all-hands meeting. On the table: 17 protections Lively had requested before filming resumed after the strikes. Those measures had already been agreed to in writing in mid-November.
People reports that a source close to Lively pushes back hard, saying the texts came only after she detailed “the numerous ways that Baldoni and Heath had created a hostile work environment,” and after more than a dozen safety protections were agreed to. “The text chain underscores Baldoni’s retaliatory intent,” the source said, arguing the messages show private anger over safeguards he had publicly called “reasonable” and “essential.” The Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively tensions, the source says, were not one-sided.
Court Filings Bring Old Wounds Back
The December 30 exchange surfaced through a motion from WME seeking to keep parts of summary-judgment exhibits sealed, arguing they contained private internal communications irrelevant to legal analysis.
Those filings also point back to an alleged April 2023 confrontation on set. According to court papers, Reynolds tearfully confronted Baldoni over what he believed was “fat-shaming” of Lively, an exchange witnesses say was seen by Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman.
Greenberg later described the conflict. In a July 2024 deposition, he characterised Lively’s conduct as “extortion,” per transcripts in the case. The legal fight went public in December 2024 when Lively sued Baldoni and associates, including Jamey Heath, seeking $160 million over sexual harassment and retaliation claims. Baldoni denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit, dismissed in June by US District Judge Lewis J. Liman, as per People.
The next hearing is on January 22. Trial remains pencilled in for May 18. It seems like the Justin Baldoni Blake Lively saga isn’t cooling off anytime soon.
