Blake Lively claims other women raised concerns about Justin Baldoni on 'It Ends With Us' set in latest court filing

Blake Lively's lawsuit against her co-star Justin Baldoni has taken a new turn. Lively's lawyers have added nearly 50 pages to the amended complaint, further detailing her initial allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation against Baldoni. The amendment was filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, ahead of a deadline set by the judge.

The amended complaint states that other women working on the set of the film "It Ends With Us" also felt uncomfortable due to Baldoni's "unwelcome behavior" and confided in Lively. Lively's lawsuit also reveals that another female co-star reported concerns about Baldoni to the film's distributor, Sony. The complaint emphasizes that Lively filed the lawsuit because she was "one of the women" who Baldoni "100 percent" "made feel uncomfortable."

The lawsuit further states that Lively was not the only one who felt uncomfortable on set, and Baldoni and Wayfarer were well aware of this. After learning that he had made Lively and others feel "uncomfortable," Baldoni reversed his previous TED talks and "feminist" advocacy image. Lively's lawyers stated that the lawsuit contains substantial contemporaneous evidence showing that Lively was not the only one making allegations of misconduct on set more than a year before the film was completed, and also details threats, harassment, and intimidation against Lively and numerous innocent bystanders, all stemming from the defendants' retaliatory actions.

According to Lively's initial lawsuit, after Lively first reported her concerns about Baldoni's behavior in May 2023, "another female actor also reported her own concerns about Baldoni's unwelcome behavior to a representative of Sony and another producer of the film." Allegedly, after the Sony representative informed Baldoni of these concerns, he responded to the female actor in writing, acknowledging that he was aware of her concerns and would make adjustments. However, Lively's lawsuit claims that a week later, the female actor told Lively that she was increasingly concerned about the situation on set and found it difficult to communicate with Baldoni.

Lively's lawyers claim that instead of making adjustments on set to make women feel more comfortable, Baldoni retaliated against Lively by hiring a crisis PR team and launching a smear campaign to damage Lively's reputation. Baldoni's lawyers, when contacted by CNN, stated that Lively's amended complaint was "underwhelming" and "filled with unsubstantiated hearsay from anonymous individuals who are apparently no longer willing to step forward or publicly support her claims." Lively's lawyers stated in Tuesday's lawsuit that they did not name certain individuals in order to "protect innocent bystanders" from online harassment.

Lively has also added two new causes of action to the lawsuit, including defamation. She claims that Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, made defamatory statements about Lively in the media in retaliation for her "speaking out and filing a legal action against Mr. Baldoni." The lawsuit states that Freedman "routinely disseminates inflammatory content to the media, appears on any show that will have him, and stops at nothing, whether true or false, to discredit Lively and intimidate others from speaking out on her behalf."

The lawsuit stems from Lively and Baldoni playing an on-screen couple in the box office hit "It Ends With Us," which involves domestic violence. Lively first accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation last December, raising these allegations in a civil rights lawsuit. Lively claims that after she raised concerns about sexual harassment and workplace safety issues on the set of "It Ends With Us," Baldoni and his team orchestrated a smear campaign behind the scenes to damage her reputation on social media and in gossip tabloids.

The defendants in Lively's lawsuit include Baldoni, his business associates (including a publicist and crisis manager), and his production company, Wayfarer Studios. Baldoni has denied Lively's allegations. In his own lawsuit, Baldoni accuses Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of trying to damage his reputation and seize creative control of the film. He is also suing The New York Times for $250 million (A$393 million), claiming that the newspaper collaborated with Lively's team to publish a one-sided narrative in its article that first revealed Lively's allegations last December. The New York Times has denied Baldoni's claims and previously told CNN that they stand by their reporting.

Lively's lawyers told CNN on Tuesday that they will take action to dismiss Baldoni's "meritless lawsuit" against her and Reynolds and will "aggressively pursue discovery, which we anticipate will reveal shocking details of the depth to which the defendants stooped in their relentless efforts to 'bury,' 'destroy' and 'annihilate' Ms. Lively and her family." After The New York Times article and Lively's complaint against Baldoni were made public, he was fired by talent agency WME, which also represents Lively and Reynolds. Lively has also received rapid support from Hollywood, including from the actors' union SAG-AFTRA and Sony, the production company behind the film "It Ends With Us."

Last week, Ari Emanuel, head of WME's parent company and super-agent, said on a podcast that he fired Baldoni and supports Lively and Reynolds. "If what she claims in the lawsuit is true, what happened on social media, just because she complained to the studio that things were unhealthy on the set, and he was the director, this person was the producer, and they did what was alleged to her, they're very bad people," Emanuel said on the Freakonomics podcast. "I know Blake, I know Ryan, they're good people." Baldoni's lawyer, Freedman, responded to Emanuel's comments, saying in part, "Perhaps Ari would have a different perspective if he had met them in the five years he was their agent."

Rumors of a rift between Lively and Baldoni emerged during the film's promotion in 2024. But it is rare for it to escalate to the current situation of a public legal battle, as celebrities usually choose to resolve disputes privately to avoid the scrutiny of social media audiences that has occurred since Lively's complaint. Last week, lawyers for Lively and Baldoni asked the judge overseeing the case to avoid mediation, indicating that the parties do not intend to reach a settlement and instead intend to go to trial. The trial is scheduled for March 2026.

Earlier this month, Baldoni's lawyers launched a website containing legal documents related to the case, making it easy for the public to access hundreds of text messages between Lively, Baldoni, and Reynolds. At a hearing in February, the judge told lawyers for Lively and Baldoni to avoid making statements in public that could affect the proceedings. The judge told the lawyers that if the parties try to litigate the case in the media, he has the power to move the trial forward.

Last week, Lively's lawyers issued subpoenas to telephone carriers and internet providers to obtain Baldoni and his team's phone, text, and email records from the past two years, stating that this was to discover the depth of the defamation campaign against her. Baldoni's lawyer, Freedman, opposed the subpoenas, calling Lively's efforts to obtain Baldoni's massive phone records a "massive fishing expedition." Lively's lawyers said in a letter to the judge earlier this week that the records they are seeking are "targeted to key individuals and relevant time periods." The judge has not yet ruled on the subpoenas.