Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds demand gag order on Justin Baldoni's lawyer after video release

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are hitting back at Lively's "It Ends with Us" co-star Justin Baldoni, after the actor's legal team released behind-the-scenes footage from the controversial film.

In a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, attorneys for the A-list couple accused Baldoni and his legal team of continuing their "harassing and retaliatory media campaign" against Lively with "almost daily media statements or other releases to the press," according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

The filing comes after Baldoni's attorneys released behind-the-scenes footage on Tuesday of an intimate scene Baldoni and Lively performed in the romantic drama. In an emailed statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday, Lively's legal team blasted the footage's release as a "stunt" by Baldoni's attorneys that reinforces "misleading media narratives."

Before Tuesday's letter, Lively and Reynolds' legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman in December 2024 requesting that he refrain from making "defamatory and retaliatory statements relating to Ms. Lively." Around this time, a cease-and-desist was also sent to Baldoni and his business associates asking them to halt "all unlawful conduct toward the Lively-Reynolds parties and their affiliates."

"Virtually every day since, Mr. Freedman has given television interviews, appeared on podcasts, issued inflammatory written statements, and leaked information ... to the Hollywood press and tabloid media," Lively and Reynolds' attorneys said Tuesday.

"Those statements not only continue the campaign of retaliation that was the subject of Ms. Lively's First Cease and Desist, but they contain numerous new false statements about Ms. Lively and others."

In response, Lively and Reynolds' attorneys are seeking an "appropriate protective order" to curb Freedman's non-litigation statements, as well as a hearing to "address the appropriate conduct of counsel moving forward."

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' attorneys: Media releases will 'prejudice' legal battle

Among the numerous media releases made by Freedman, Lively and Reynolds' legal team cite a video of behind-the-scenes footage from "It Ends with Us" released on Tuesday.

The nearly 10-minute clip shows the actors' characters, Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) and Lily Bloom (Lively), slow dancing during a scene referenced in Lively's December complaint against Baldoni, which preceded the actress's federal lawsuit.

As further evidence of an alleged harassment campaign, the couple's attorneys also referenced Freedman's previous announcement to launch a website relating to Baldoni's federal lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds. The website will reportedly contain "all correspondences as well as relevant videos that quash (Lively's) claims."

"As Ms. Lively's counsel have attempted, repeatedly, to caution Mr. Freedman, federal litigation must be conducted in court and according to the relevant rules of professional conduct," Lively and Reynolds' attorneys said.

"His conduct threatens to, and will, materially prejudice both the Lively Case and the Wayfarer Case by tainting the jury pool, because his statements are deliberately aimed at undermining the 'character, credibility, (and) reputation' of numerous relevant parties and likewise includes 'information the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be inadmissible as evidence in a trial,' thereby creating a substantial risk of prejudice not just for Ms. Lively, but for numerous other parties in the matters."

USA TODAY has reached out to Freedman for comment.

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively's legal drama, explained

The former co-stars both filed lawsuits on New Year's Eve rehashing their allegations of working together: Lively's federal suit mirrors a complaint filed in California and chronicled in a viral New York Times report, titled "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine."

The "Gossip Girl" alum alleges Baldoni engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct in and out of the workplace and orchestrated a smear campaign against her for addressing his purported behavior.

Meanwhile, Baldoni's $250 million suit challenged The New York Times' reporting on Lively's allegations, claiming the publication relied on "'cherry-picked' and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."

Baldoni also filed a $400 million federal lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds on Jan. 16, accusing the couple of defamation and extortion.

Contributing: Jay Stahl, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds demand gag order in Justin Baldoni case