When It Comes To Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively, It’s Clear Who’s Winning

Not solely was Baldoni her costar, however he was the director of the movie, which put him able of energy over the “Gossip Woman” alum. Vigorous has accused him of utilizing this energy to sexually harass and physique disgrace her on set. Baldoni, however, has accused her of attempting to wrestle inventive management of the movie away from him.

So who’s proper? Who’s unsuitable? With lawsuits flying on either side, it stays to be seen who’s going to win within the court docket of legislation, however within the court docket of public opinion, it appears that evidently Vigorous’s ship is slowly sinking.

The #MeToo motion might not be within the highlight because it as soon as was, however that hasn’t stopped girls from being sexually harassed on film units. However is that basically what occurred right here? Given the knowledge that has come to gentle, it appears that evidently Vigorous was uncomfortable on set and will have been justified in feeling that means. With out being there to witness issues firsthand, it is onerous for anybody to return to a conclusion about what actually occurred behind closed doorways.

Lots of people would say that, if she was so uncomfortable with Baldoni, she ought to have vocalized her considerations with him lengthy earlier than filming wrapped. And I agree with that. Is it honest to file a lawsuit after the film has already completed? If she was harassed the best way she claims, then sure, perhaps, if she was afraid of some form of retaliation, however the proof that has emerged to date does not appear to be a lady who was afraid to make use of her voice.

Baldoni’s crew has leaked a treasure trove of knowledge and even launched his own website titled “Lawsuit Information” that shares alleged textual content messages that embody himself, Vigorous, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. This case has spiraled so uncontrolled that even Vigorous’s shut buddy, pop star Taylor Swift, has been dragged into the lawsuit. In the end, although, it seems like Vigorous is the one which put her there.

Whenever you’re going to movie a romantic drama that offers with home violence, you want an intimacy coordinator on set. “It Ends With Us” had an intimacy coordinator, however in keeping with Baldoni’s amended criticism listed on his web site, Vigorous determined to skip the preliminary assembly the place they outlined the intercourse scenes within the movie and the way they might play out on display.

After she “declined” the assembly, Baldoni claims that he was put within the “lower than supreme place of getting to relay these notes to Vigorous in her penthouse” and used phrases like “goes down on her,” “orgasm,” and “foreplay.”

His attorneys declare that “These notes would later develop into the premise for Vigorous’s criticism, by which she states that Baldoni would speak about his personal intercourse life and insert gratuitous scenes with Vigorous’s character orgasming.”

After studying her lawsuit, it looks like this dialog was a part of her harassment declare, nevertheless it’s price noting that Vigorous made some unusual feedback about working with an intimacy coordinator earlier than. In an August 2024 interview with Access Hollywood, Vigorous addressed some odd feedback about being her personal intimacy coordinator on set. “That shouldn’t be occurring, by the best way. I simply need to be clear,” she stated when requested what it was like “being the intimacy coordinator on a few of these sexier scenes.”

“You shouldn’t be the intimacy coordinator. You must positively rent intimacy coordinators,” she added. “Which we did have, thank goodness.”

The interviewer then described a “attractive scene” the place Vigorous was instructing Baldoni the way to “pull” her in. When Vigorous requested the place the interviewer noticed the clip, it was truly writer Colleen Hoover who jumped into the dialog and stated she noticed it herself on Instagram. Vigorous appeared uncomfortable as she tugged on the ends of her hair and stammered a bit as she continued the interview.

In late January, behind-the-scenes footage of a romantic dancing scene surfaced on-line. The video, obtained by TMZ, exhibits them exchanging awkward banter whereas swaying forwards and backwards. This scene is vital as a result of it was instantly described in Vigorous as proof that Baldoni harassed her.

In response to the court docket submitting, Vigorous claimed that Baldoni “leaned ahead and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he stated, ‘it smells so good’… When Ms. Vigorous later objected to this conduct, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even interested in you.’”

Within the video, Baldoni makes an ungainly joke about his nostril being “so huge” after Vigorous calls consideration to it. Vigorous additionally tells him, “I’m in all probability getting spray tan on you,” to which Baldoni replies, “It smells good.”

It actually places Vigorous’s description of the scene in perspective.

In response to Baldoni’s lawsuit, Vigorous implied that she would “change her thoughts” about asking Taylor Swift to make use of her tune “My Tears Ricochet” within the film trailer until her calls for have been met. The calls for, on this case, have been modifying rights to the movie. Within the submitting, Baldoni included an alleged textual content change with a Sony govt, which learn:

“Blake is looking Taylor to approve the tune. She in fact simply reached out saying she is asking for time with [REDACTED] her editor. We all know it was conditional on signing contract, however asking if you’ll rethink so [REDACTED] can launch this trailer and Blake doesn’t change her thoughts re calling Taylor Swift.”

One other alleged textual content message exhibits Baldoni and Vigorous addressing a script change that Vigorous needed to make. The textual content messages handle a gathering that happened at Vigorous’s penthouse, with each Reynolds and Swift current.

Baldoni instructed her that he “actually” beloved the modifications that she made and felt that they made the rooftop scene in query extra “enjoyable and attention-grabbing” however famous that he “would have felt that means with out Ryan and Taylor.”

Vigorous then in contrast herself to a “Sport of Thrones” character, allegedly responding:

“I occur to have just a few dragons. For higher or worse, however often for higher. As a result of my dragons additionally defend these I combat for. So actually all of us profit from these beautiful monsters of mine. [Smiley-face emoji] You’ll too, I can promise you.”

It stays to be seen how Taylor Swift feels about being known as a “beautiful monster.” Conflicting experiences have emerged about their friendship, nevertheless it’s price noting that they haven’t been photographed collectively since October. Different experiences have indicated that Swift was never even supposed to be at the meeting, nevertheless it simply occurred to be occurring when Swift went to go to her buddy.

Vigorous’s try at selling the movie was met with memes for weeks after she handled the movie like a conventional rom-com and inspired followers to “Seize your ladies, put on your florals” whereas heading to the theater. Perhaps it’s just a little on the nostril to make a narrative a couple of woman named Lily who runs a flower store, however followers on-line felt that it was inappropriate to scale back a film about home violence to one thing extra Barbie-like.

In response to Baldoni’s amended criticism on his web site, Vigorous reached out to his manufacturing crew and requested them to take the blame for the destructive press that she obtained whereas selling the movie, which additionally included a resurfaced interview of her being rude to a reporter.

In response to Baldoni’s court docket paperwork, Vigorous and Reynolds “demand[ed]” that their assertion be launched on Baldoni and his firm’s behalf and that refusal to take action meant the “gloves will come off.” It is fairly clear that Baldoni’s manufacturing crew by no means launched the assertion, and the gloves have certainly come off.

So on the subject of Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Vigorous, who will come out on prime?

Kristin says, on the subject of the court docket of public opinion, Baldoni has the higher hand. He has been dropping his soiled laundry all around the Web for everybody to see (together with an awkward 2 AM voice memo) in an effort to vindicate himself from Vigorous’s claims. He needs to make it clear that her allegations don’t have any benefit, and, judging by what’s been uncovered to date, it actually makes Vigorous appear to be the aggressor.

On the similar time, Vigorous is married to Ryan Reynolds and it is uncertain that her profession – or his, for that matter – might be impacted by the lawsuit, which is presently not scheduled to start till March 2026. Baldoni already scored a authorized win on Monday when a judge rejected Lively’s request for a gag order, which implies that much more proof will in all probability floor within the coming weeks.

It may be troublesome for Baldoni to select up the items career-wise irrespective of which means his authorized battle unfolds, however he might stroll away from all of this proving that he didn’t harass Vigorous in the best way she claimed, and for him, that vindication may be sufficient.