A Timeline of the Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively ‘It Ends With Us’ Legal Battle

• The First Hints of Conflict: “I Happen to Have a Few Dragons” (April 2023)

  

  After years of development, the pieces for the movie finally come together. Sony boards to distribute and co-finance, while Lively is cast as Lily. She and Baldoni work on building rapport ahead of filming via long text messages and conversations. However, creative tension builds early on.

  According to Baldoni’s complaint, Lively suggests script changes for a rooftop scene at the beginning of the film, and invites her director to her New York City residence on April 12, 2023, to discuss.

  Baldoni is surprised to encounter Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds and friend Taylor Swift, with the two megastars praising the actress’ version of the scene. The filmmaker feels pressured to accept the changes, according to his lawsuit, and texts Lively afterwards that he didn’t need the duo to weigh in, as he likes her take on the scene.

  On April 14, Lively texts Baldoni that Reynolds and Swift are her “dragons,” referencing the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen. “If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons,” the text reads. “For better or worse, but usually better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for.”

  The back-and-forth over the scene rewrite also lead Baldoni to send Lively a six-minute-plus voice message at 2 a.m. to apologize for anything he did to upset her. At the end of the recording, Baldoni says, “You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob, and you’re listening to me ramble at 2 in the morning.”

• Allegations of “Improvised Physical Intimacy” (May 15 – June 8, 2023)

  

  Cameras start to role on It Ends With Us on May 15, 2023 amid the WGA strike.

  On May 16, 2023, Lively experiences what she describes as her first instance of sexual harassment on the set, when Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath arrives “unannounced at Ms. Lively’s hair and makeup trailer while she was topless and having body makeup removed by makeup artists,” according to her lawsuit. Baldoni claims in his suit that Lively was not topless, and “any suggestion that Heath ‘stared’ at her inappropriately is not only blatantly false.”

  In another instance, Lively alleges that during filming, Baldoni “improvised physical intimacy” such as a slow-dance sequence, where “Mr. Baldoni was caressing Mr. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles.” In January 2025, Baldoni attorney Bryan Freedman will leak behind-the-scenes footage of the scene in question, which they say disproves Lively’s allegations.

• Production Halts Amid Ongoing WGA Strike (June 15, 2023)

  

  Baldoni and Wayfarer pause production on It Ends With Us due to WGA strike picketers disrupting the shoot, as well as the looming SAG-AFTRA strike (which will start on July 14, 2023).

• Lively Sends Wayfarer Her Non-Negotiables (November 2023)

  

  On Nov. 9, 2023, Lively’s attorneys send Wayfarer a 17-point list of non-negotiable conditions that must be met before Lively returns to filming. This “Protections for Return to Production” document will become a smoking gun of the saga, as it heavily implies misconduct took place on set. Its points include “no more personal, physical touching of, or sexual comments by, Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath.”

  Wayfarer attorneys agree to the terms Nov. 15, but Baldoni will later call the claims in this document “unfounded” and as part of a scheme for Lively to take control of the movie.

• Lively, Baldoni and Wayfarer Attend an “All Hands Meeting”(Jan. 4, 2024)

  

  Lively calls for an in-person meeting on Jan. 4 with Baldoni, Heath, producer Alex Saks, producer Todd Black, Sony exec Ange Gianetti, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds in attendance.

  Lively and Baldoni later present different portraits of this meeting. Lively’s suit say “the parties discussed a list of twenty examples of the behaviors that gave rise to the ‘Protections for Return to Production’ document,” and that neither Baldoni nor Health denied Lively’s examples. Her suit also states that the men agreed “such behaviors would no longer take place.”

  Baldoni, in his suit, claims Reynolds berated him during the meeting, and that Lively’s suit “misleadingly suggests that the parties agreed to a list of 30 items during this meeting, many of the items listed in her complaint were entirely new, baseless, and never presented or discussed.”

• The Team Completes Principal Photography (Jan. 5 – Feb. 9, 2024)

  

  The second phase of principle production resumes. Both parties say filming occurred without incident, with Lively crediting the protections being put in place from her document.

• The Lively Cut vs. the Baldoni Cut (February – May 2024)

  

  There are dueling narratives on what happens during post-production.

  Baldoni alleges that Lively demanded access to the editing room, ultimately working on her own cut of It Ends With Us after threatening to not promote the movie otherwise.  “Faced with Lively’s escalating threats — ranging from potentially delaying the Film’s release to outright refusing to promote it — Wayfarer, once again, reluctantly conceded to her demands, allowing her to continue editing with her personal editor,” Baldoni’s complaint states

  Lively maintains that Baldoni’s claim that “Lively ‘bullied’ her way into edit room” are false.

  What is undisputed: Lively works with her own editors, including a veteran of Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine, on a cut that Sony ultimately allows her to take to Book Bonanza on June 14, 2024. Her suit states, “The Sony cut is the film that was chosen to be released in theaters. Ms. Lively led the Sony cut, with their support, working in close collaboration with Sony and Colleen Hoover.”

• Lively’s Premiere vs. Baldoni’s Premiere (Aug. 6, 2024)

  

  It Ends with Us premieres in New York, where Baldoni does not take photos with the rest of the cast. According to his suit and supporting documents, he and Wayfarer were asked to throw a separate party and were kept from interacting with Lively and the rest of the team. Baldoni calls this a humiliating culmination of his years of work on the project.

• Lively-Baldoni Rift Revealed (Aug. 8, 2024) 

  

  Following weeks of speculation on TikTok of a rift between Lively and Baldoni due to their lack of joint press events and photos together, The Hollywood Reporter reported on the feud between Lively and Baldoni, though its scope was not yet public.

  Still, It Ends with Us becomes a bona fide hit when it launches Aug. 9, opening to a much better than expected $50 million, on its way to $351 million globally.

• Public Sentiment Turns Against Lively (August 2024)

  

  In the weeks after the film’s release, the public sentiment turns on Lively as some accuse her of not taking the film’s domestic violence subject matter seriously during the press tour. Lively claims in her suit that Baldoni and his team, including veteran PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, “formulated a retaliatory plan” to smear the actress, including by hiring mysterious figure Jed Wallace. She also accuses Baldoni of not sticking to the previously-approved marketing plan. Baldoni maintains that the plan was defensive to “Reynolds’ and Lively’s ongoing threats” — and that any public sentiment turn against Lively was organic.

• Lively Goes Public (Dec. 21, 2024)

  

  Lively files a complaint accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and orchestrating a campaign to smear her. The bombshell coverage from the New York Times sends ripples throughout Hollywood. Wayfarer and Baldoni’s public relations representatives, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, are also named in the complaint, which includes dozens of emails and text exchanges as evidence to her claims that his team engaged in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

  Lively later formally files a lawsuit on Dec. 31, 2024. That same day, Baldoni files a suit against The New York Times for libel, accusing the newspaper of conspiring with Lively’s public relations team to advance an “unverified and self-serving narrative” using “cherry-picked and altered communications stripped of necessary context” while ignoring evidence that contradicted her claims.

• Baldoni Sues Lively and Reynolds (Jan. 16, 2025)

  

  As the legal showdown escelates, Baldoni files a $400 million suit against Lively, Reynolds and Leslie Sloane, the actress’ public relations representative at Vision PR, alleging extortion, defamation and claims related to breach of contract, among several others. He’s joined by Wayfarer, and its chief executive Jamey Heath, as well as Nathan and Abel. In response, Lively’s attorneys write in a statement, “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.”

• First Court Hearing in Legal Battle (Feb. 3, 2025) 

  

  Bryan Freedman, the Baldoni attorney who is also a skilled media operator, goes head-to-head in a New York City courtroom with Lively’s attorneys, over how much he can share with the press. (One federal court rule bars lawyers from making statements to the press that could prejudice a case.) U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman adopts this rule as an order of the court “with some reluctance,” as he does not want the case to devolve into “satellite litigation” over statements made by the attorneys. A trial date is set for March 2026.

• Lively Claims Two Actresses Also Complained on Set (Feb. 18, 2025)

  

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