Blake Lively faces tense exchange with Justin Baldoni's lawyer during deposition
Blake Lively had a heated exchange with Justin Baldoni's lawyer during her deposition amid the ongoing legal battle between her and her It Ends with Us co-star.
International media outlets like PEOPLE Magazine and E! News reported that Lively's deposition, which took place on July 31, turned tense with Baldoni's lawyer, when he asked her whether the "smear campaign" against her had ended. She responded with, "It doesn't feel like it's ended," which the lawyer followed up with, "It's still ongoing?" She responded, "It feels that way, yes."
Asked about who she believes is involved in the alleged campaign, Lively said, "Outside of what I know through attorneys, I believe that the defendants are involved." The attorney asked her, "Which ones?" and Lively said, "All of them. And I believe you are," as seen in the nearly 300-page court documents obtained by the media.
"I believe the act of a retaliatory lawsuit and the press that you have done and the statements that you have made about me and my character have felt incredibly retaliatory," she said.
Other than her It Ends With Us co-star, Lively's lawsuit named Wayfarer Studios executives Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis PR specialist Melissa Nathan as defendants.
Last Aug. 4, the 37-year-old actress had accused Baldoni's lead counsel, Bryan Freedman, of leaking her deposition details to the press.
“The transcript was ostensibly filed in support of their argument that there is no basis to assert that Bryan Freedman or his firm have participated in, fueled, and advanced a smear campaign against Ms. Lively such that their conduct has 'amounted to public relations work rather than that of an attorney,'" Lively's lawyers wrote in the filing obtained by Deadline.
For their part, Baldoni's team argued that potential leaks may have come from Lively’s side.
“Ms. Lively also fails to explain why any such ‘leak’ could not have originated from Ms. Lively, her husband [Ryan Reynolds], her multiple attorneys, legal or administrative staff from the law firm representing her (whose office she demanded host the deposition), or the catering staff employed thereby who served lunch," they wrote in the filing, per a PEOPLE report.
Ongoing legal battle
Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios, the producer of It Ends with Us, accusing them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction." Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth. Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child." Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
The New York Times later published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, which used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails that Lively obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
In response, Baldoni's camp has called the accusations in the report "categorically false." They later released a series of video takes during the production of It Ends with Us in an attempt to debunk Lively's sexual harassment allegations, which prompted Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to request a gag order.
On Feb. 3, Baldoni launched a website containing two documents: his $400 million 224-page amended complaint against Lively and Reynolds and a 168-page "timeline of relevant events," which included a compilation of screenshots as an additional exhibit to his amended complaint. It came two days before their first court hearing.
In June, Judge J. Lewis Liman dismissed some cases filed by Baldoni, which involved a $400 million (P22 billion) countersuit accusing Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist of extortion and defamation, and a $250 million (P13.9 billion) libel lawsuit against The New York Times over its Dec. 21, 2024 article titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.
According to the judge, Lively's statements to a California state agency regarding Baldoni's alleged harassment during filming were protected and could not be used as the basis for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios' defamation claim.
The trial for the Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. case is slated for March 2026.
