A complete timeline of “It Ends With Us” costars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal battle

In the months since It Ends With Us debuted in theaters — finally delivering the much-anticipated adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling novel — rumors of a bitter feud have surrounded the project.

What began as whispers of behind-the-scenes drama has now erupted into a full-blown legal battle between the film's lead Blake Lively, and director-producer-star, Justin Baldoni. The actors have taken legal action against each other, with Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign, leading Baldoni to launch a countersuit, alleging defamation and extortion.

Whether you're looking for details, trying to keep track of all the lawsuits, or wondering where Deadpool fits into the feud, then look no further. Below is a complete timeline of the ongoing legal battle between Lively and Baldoni.

Jan. 26, 2023: Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively are cast in It Ends With Us

Hoover, the author of such best-selling titles as Verity and Ugly Love, delighted fans with a concrete update on the much-anticipated adaptation of It Ends With Us. On Jan. 26, she took to TikTok to reveal that Lively had been cast as Lily Bloom and Baldoni had been cast as Ryle Kincaid. (Hoover has since turned her page private.)

“Blake Lively, y’all. She’s my dream Lily," Hoover said. "And when I first met Justin Baldoni, who is directing the film for It Ends With Us, I immediately wanted him to be Ryle. I just thought that he had what it takes to play that character, and the good news is he’s gonna be Ryle.”

The story centers on Lily, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood with an abusive father to begin a new life in Boston. But after opening her dream flower shop, life veers off track when she falls in love with charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni) and begins to realize that his abusive behavior continues the harmful cycle she's spent her life trying to escape. Their toxic love is further complicated when Lily's childhood love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) reenters her life.

In addition to co-starring, Baldoni was tapped to direct and produce the film with his company, Wayfarer Studio. Lively also signed on to produce.

May 2023: Filming begins

​​Filming began and was swiftly halted in May 2023, due to the Hollywood Writers and Actors Guild strikes. It would remain paused for the duration, and production eventually resumed in January 2024.

August 2024: Justin Baldoni hires a crisis management team

As chatter of a feud between Baldoni and his castmates ramped up around the time of the film's Aug. 9 premiere, The Hollywood Reporter published a story on Aug. 13 reporting that the Jane the Virgin alum had retained the services of PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, who previously represented Johnny Depp during his legal battle with ex Amber Heard.

Texts revealed later in Lively's lawsuit show Nathan strategizing with Jennifer Abel, Baldoni's rep at communications and marketing agency Jonesworks, beginning as early as Aug. 2.

"You know when we send over documents we can't send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble. We can't write it down to him We can't write we will destroy her. We will go to this. We will do this," Nathan wrote to Abel on Aug. 2, according to exhibits included in Lively's suit filed Dec. 31, 2024. "He has to look at it as an information document for us to be armed with That's all. Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands. you know we can bury anyone But I can't write that to him."

By Aug. 4, Nathan was boasting about the placement of coverage she could secure via an editor at Daily Mail, according to the lawsuit. On Aug. 16, Nathan shared a link to a Daily Mail article posted that day with the headline "Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED? String of 'hard to watch' videos that have surfaced following 'tone deaf' Q&A to promote It Ends With Us could tarnish 36-year-old star's golden Hollywood image for good."

Aug. 6, 2024: Feud rumors circulate amid press tour

Rumors of an alleged feud between Baldoni and his leading lady emerged even before It Ends With Us arrived in theaters worldwide. During the film's New York premiere on August 6, eagle-eyed fans took note of Lively posing with husband Ryan Reynolds and various costars including Sklenar, while Baldoni was only pictured with his wife, Emily. It was later revealed that they weren't even in the same movie theater.

Fans also took note of the fact that Hoover, Lively, and several other cast members did not follow Baldoni on Instagram. Subsequent weeks would see Baldoni and Lively continue to do press separately, appearing on separate talk shows and at different events. Despite the perceived tension, Baldoni spoke highly of Lively's work on the film.

"Blake was involved in every aspect of the film once she came onto the project, from scenes and dialogue until the end, until now," Baldoni told Entertainment Weekly in August. "She's been involved in all of it, and she's been a powerhouse of a creative and a wonderful collaborator."

When asked about possibly reteaming for an adaptation of the book's sequel, It Starts With Us, Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight, “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That’s what I think.”

While Lively did not immediately return the favor, she did sing the praises of another man in her life: her husband.

"The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now," Lively said at the premiere. "He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine, and mine are his."

Aug. 9, 2024: It Ends With Us arrives in theaters

It Ends With Us debuted to mixed reviews from critics, but there was no questioning the film's financial success. The bonafide box office hit arrived to $80 million worldwide and continued to draw in its audience, eventually earning $350 million at the global box office. The film notably arrived on the heels of Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Lively's husband and friend, Hugh Jackman in the titular roles. Lively and her children even make cameo appearances in the film.

Aug. 10, 2024: Blake Lively is criticized for her promotional efforts

By this point in the press tour, fans were already criticizing Lively's approach to promoting the film, taking issue with her frequent mentions of her hair care line, Blake Brown, and soda company, Betty Buzz. One promo clip shared on TikTok included Lively telling viewers, “It Ends With Us is in theaters now, so grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it." In response, several commenters and social media users across platforms slammed her lighthearted remarks, questioning her levity in light of the film's heavy themes.

This peaked on Aug. 10 when Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa uploaded an interview with Lively from 2016 titled “The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job." The inciting clip sees Flaa telling Lively, who was pregnant at the time, “Congrats on your little bump.” Lively replies, “Congrats on your little bump.” (Flaa was not pregnant.)

When Flaa asked Lively about her character's wardrobe, Lively took issue with the question: "Everyone wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes?" Flaa replied that she would.

Aug. 20, 2024: Brandon Sklenar speaks out

Sklenar, who plays Atlas, broke his silence on the rumors surrounding the film with an August Instagram post.

“I wanted to take a minute and address all this stuff swirling online,” the actor wrote. “Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves. Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in its message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about. It is, in fact, the opposite of the point.”

He added that whatever “may or may not have happened behind the scenes” during the shooting of the movie, “should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film.”

Dec. 20, 2024: Blake Lively files a complaint

It Ends With Us eventually concluded its press tour and theatrical run, arriving on Netflix on December 9. Less than two weeks later, Lively lodged a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing him of sexual harassment on the film's set and coordinating an online smear campaign to damage her reputation.

The document, which also named Baldoni's Wayfarer Studios and producer Jamey Heath, claims, "Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, and Wayfarer engaged in harassing conduct and failed their obligations to investigate complaints of workplace harassment, to prevent inappropriate and harassing behaviors on set, and to provide avenues for cast and crew members to safely raise concerns to neutral parties so that they could be investigated and appropriately addressed."

Lively's complaint alleges that Baldoni engaged in "invasive, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior” on set, including unwanted and unplanned kissing, walking into her dressing room while she was undressed, making comments about his sex life and porn addiction, and degrading her with remarks about her age and weight. The document also claims that Baldoni employed a crisis public relations firm shortly before the film's premiere to establish a "sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan" in the event that allegations about the director's on-set behavior became public.

An attorney for Baldoni denied the allegations in a statement provided to EW, saying, "These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious, with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media."

He added, "It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives as yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation, which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film — interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.

Dec. 21, 2024: Baldoni is dropped by his agency after New York Times investigation

On Dec. 21, The New York Times published an in-depth investigation into Baldoni's PR machine, titled, "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine." The story reported that the public relations professionals deliberately set out to destroy Lively's reputation after she "complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her."

That same day, reports emerged that Baldoni had been dropped by his agency, WME.

Dec. 22, 2024: Hollywood stars come out in support of Lively

In the wake of Lively's complaint and the Times investigation, several stars rose to her defense, speaking out with messages of support for the actress.

Her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel shared a joint-statement to Instagram, writing, "As Blake's friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation."

Hoover also voiced support for the star, writing, "You have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."

Amber Heard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Schumer, and Paul Feig are among the other voices who publicly chimed in, as well as Lively’s sister and actor Robyn.

Dec. 23, 2024: Baldoni’s podcast cohost leaves show amid lawsuit

Liz Plank, one of the cohosts on Baldoni's Man Enough podcast, soon announced her exit from the show. Though she did not directly address Lively's allegations against Baldoni, she appeared to allude to them, writing, "We all deserve better, and I know that together, we can create it. I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened. In the meantime, I will continue to support everyone who calls out injustice and holds the people standing in their way accountable."

Dec. 24, 2024: Baldoni’s former publicist sues him over breach of contract

On Christmas Eve, Baldoni's former publicist, Stephanie Jones, filed a lawsuit against the It Ends With Us director alleging that her former employee Jennifer Abel conspired with Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer, and crisis PR fixer Melissa Nathan to execute a smear campaign against Lively without Jones' knowledge.

"Defendants Abel and Nathan secretly conspired for months to publicly and privately attack Jones and Jonesworks, to breach multiple contracts and induce contractual breaches, and to steal clients and business prospects," Jones' complaint read. "Behind Jones' back, they secretly coordinated with Baldoni and Wayfarer to implement an aggressive media smear campaign against Baldoni's film costar, and then used the crisis as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Jones and Baldoni, and to publicly pin blame for this smear campaign on Jones — when Jones had no knowledge or involvement in it."

Jones claimed that she fired Abel in August, discovered texts and emails related to her work with Baldoni, and turned them over to Lively's team after being served a subpoena, which is why the messages appear in Lively's 80-page complaint.

Dec. 31, 2024: Lively formally sues Baldoni, his studio, and his PR team

After going public with her complaint earlier in the month, Lively made things official by filing a lawsuit in New York federal court on Tuesday, Dec. 31, naming Baldoni, Wayfarer, and PR representatives Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel for subjecting her to “further retaliation and attacks” after she participated in The New York Times story.

“Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law,” said one of Lively’s attorneys.

That same day, Baldoni announced he was suing The New York Times for $250 million over its bombshell story about the alleged smear campaign. The 87-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses the Times of defamation, stating that the newspaper's "reliance on 'cherry-picked' and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."

The lawsuit adds that the news outlet "relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives."

Jan. 16, 2025: Baldoni files a countersuit against Lively and Reynolds

Baldoni next named Lively and Reynolds in a lawsuit, accusing the Hollywood power couple of hijacking the film and orchestrating a smear campaign against him. The lawsuit — which was also filed on behalf of his film studio, Wayfarer, and its chief executive, Jamey Heath, a producer on the film — requests at least $400 million in damages, alleging defamation, civil extortion, and breach of contract, among other accusations.

"This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team's duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team, and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new, and doctored information to the media," said Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman in a statement.

Lively's legal team issued a rebuttal within hours, writing, "This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender."

Jan 21, 2025: Baldoni shares a video in an attempt to disprove Lively's allegations

On Tuesday, Baldoni's legal team released footage from the set of the movie, claiming that that it would refute Lively's claims of sexual harassment against him. The video sees the actors slow dancing romantically for a slow-motion montage. During the scene, they seem to speak to each other as themselves, with Lively suggesting several times they be talking as opposed to kissing. At one point, Baldoni leans in to Lively and asks her, “Am I getting beard on you today?” Lively laughs and says, “I’m probably getting spray tan on you," to which Baldoni replies that “it smells good.”

The moment was cited among Lively's accusations in her lawsuit, where she claimed that Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good’... When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’”

A statement that precedes the footage claims, “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.”

Lively's legal team argued otherwise In a lengthy statement provided to EW, saying in part that “every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint."

The statement calls out Baldoni "repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character," all of which they say was improvised by him "with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present."

Lively's legal team also files a letter to the court, requesting that it enforce their two previous cease-and-desist letters to Baldoni's legal team and find Freedman in violation of Rule 3.6 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, "which prevents '[a] lawyer who is participating in . . . a civil matter' from 'mak[ing] an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter.'"

The letter from Lively's legal team concludes, "Given the imminent harm caused by Mr. Freedman’s misleading and selective statements and leaks, we respectfully request that this Court schedule a hearing as soon as possible to address the appropriate conduct of counsel moving forward in these two related matters."

Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman followed up on the action with a statement shared with EW on January 26: "The irony is not lost on anyone that Ms. Lively is so petrified of the truth that she has moved to gag it. The immense power that she wielded in Hollywood built on pure fear of her husband and their powerful friends came to an end the moment Ms. Lively planned a mass distribution of a disturbingly false and well calculated hit piece in The New York Times. Ms. Lively did this with the sole intent to ruin the lives of innocent individuals, and then went the extra mile to place blame on a fictitious smear campaign, all because she quite simply could not accept that the public had organically seen through her facade. When you accuse innocent individuals of something so disturbing as sexual harassment without thinking of the destruction it would cause to not only them, but the entire domestic violence community, this is where accountability for such mean spirited actions must be taken. We will always respect the court; however, we will never be bullied by those suggesting we cannot defend our clients with pure, unedited facts. All we want is for people to see the actual text messages that directly contradict her allegations, video footage that clearly shows there was no sexual harassment and all the other powerful evidence that directly contradicts any false allegations of sexual harassment and subsequent smear campaign. It seems that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Jan 27, 2025: Audio of Baldoni allegedly apologizing is leaked and a trial date is set

On Monday, Jan. 27, the Daily Mail obtained undated alleged communication between Lively and Baldoni, including a 7-minute voice note from Baldoni that began with an apology. The messages found in Baldoni’s complaint reference Lively's changes to the movie's infamous rooftop scene and allegedly include Lively claiming that Reynolds and her megastar friend, Taylor Swift, applauded her pages.

Per the complaint, Lively allegedly added, "They also know I'm not always good at making sure I'm seen and utilized for fear of threatening egos, or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don't give a s--- about that. And because of that, everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I have to stop worrying about people liking me."

In newly leaked audio, Baldoni allegedly responded with an audio message, where he can be heard apologizing.

"I'm really sorry. I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that," Baldoni says in the audio. "And the way you framed it and how that made you feel, I just want to say thank you for sharing that with me. That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability. I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that's how you feel and share that with me. I'm really sorry, I f---ed up."

The Jane the Virgin alum went on to call himself "a very flawed man, as my wife will attest," adding, "I'm gonna f--- it up, I'm gonna say the wrong thing, I'm gonna put my foot in my mouth, I'm gonna piss you off probably — but I will always apologize and find my way back to center."

After vowing to "do better," Baldoni saluted Lively and those in her corner. "Damn right you've got great friends… We should all have friends like that; aside from the fact that they're the two most creative people on the planet. The three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy; just a force, all three of you."

He again praised Lively's rework of the scene as "really good" and said it would "make the movie sing."

He concluded, "I'm excited to go through the whole movie with you. I'm just excited to spend time with you."

Representatives for Lively did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Later that same day, a New York federal judge told both sides to prepare for a March 9, 2026, trial, per the Associated Press. An initial conference between the two is set to take place within a week.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly