Justin Baldoni claimed that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds drafted a statement for him where he’d take “accountability” for the bad press around “It Ends With Us.”
Over the weekend, Baldoni, 41, launched a new website with an amended version of his $400 million lawsuit against the couple, as well as a document that outlines the timeline of events before and after the movie’s filming. Baldoni filed both the amended complaint and the timeline document in court.
In the filed timeline, Baldoni claimed that Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, tried to force him into taking the blame for the “troubled production” of “It Ends With Us” and the negative press that Lively dealt with while she promoted the flick.
Lively and Reynolds allegedly wrote the draft statement in Aug. 2024, the same month the movie came out, after they were “furious” with Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, “for positioning them as promoting the Film as a ‘Barbie film’ while elevating Baldoni to speak on the more serious messaging.”
The alleged draft statement said, “IT ENDS WITH US was a troubled production which we take full accountability for. We are very sorry to everyone we caused upset to privately and publicly. Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, the entire cast and crew led with professionalism every step of the way, any negativity aimed at them is ours to own.”
“We mutually agreed that the cast would be promoting the film separately and understood why. We have always said we are not perfect and even if unintentionally make mistakes, we will always own them,” the alleged draft statement continued. “We hold ourselves accountable, it’s not anyone’s job but ours and that’s part of being ‘man enough.’ We will practice what we preach. We are learning and growing from the experience and we thank everyone for their patience as we find a better way to proceed. We are very proud of the film and the welcome arms that it’s been received.”
The alleged draft statement added, “Part of our work is to have uncomfortable conversations for public growth. The film is doing that on screen and we are doing that off screen. Thank you to the cast crew and public for the opportunity to be imperfect and to be given the space to learn and grow.”
Baldoni’s court papers also included an alleged screenshot of a text message exchange between his publicist, Jennifer Abel, and crisis publicist, Melissa Nathan, discussing the alleged draft statement.
According to the alleged text message, Abel called Lively and Reynolds’ request for Baldoni to release the alleged statement “unbelievable,” while Nathan insisted Baldoni needs to “lawyer up now.”
The court papers further claimed that Abel and “It Ends With Us” producer Jamey Heath, both WME executives, participated in a call to review the alleged statement.
“Upon review, WME concurs with Wayfarer that the statement was vague, implies culpability without substance, and fails to address the issues at hand,” the court papers read. “Furthermore, if the goal was to mitigate negative online attention directed at Lively, the statement would have the opposite effect. In response, Wayfarer, Baldoni, and Heath reject the demand, firmly refusing to issue any statement falsely assuming responsibility for non-existent issues.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Lively and Reynolds for comment.
Baldoni launched his website to refute Lively’s claims that he sexually harassed her on the set of the film. The site contains alleged screenshots of never-before-seen texts between Baldoni and Lively and Reynolds.
In Dec. 2024, Lively sued Baldoni, Heath, Abel, Nathan, Wayfarer Studios, and more. In addition to her sexual harassment claims, she accused Baldoni and his team of orchestrating a PR smear campaign against her.
Baldoni, who has denied all of Lively’s claims, countersued Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, Leslie Sloane, on various claims including civil extortion, defamation and false light invasion of privacy.
The “It Ends With Us” director is also suing the New York Times for $250 million for libel and false light invasion of privacy, after the newspaper released an article detailing Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
Baldoni and Lively’s trial is set to begin in March 2026.
