• Rumors of a feud between "It Ends with Us" costars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni kicked off in August 2024.
• Months later, Lively filed a sexual-harassment complaint against Baldoni and accused him of a smear campaign.
• Baldoni fired back with a lawsuit against The New York Times and one against Lively, her rep, and Ryan Reynolds.

The "It Ends With Us" press tour in the summer of 2024 was overshadowed by rumors and speculation of a feud between lead star Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, her costar and director.

But while the movie survived the backlash and went on to become one of the summer's biggest hits at the box office, grossing $350 million worldwide, the "It Ends with Us" drama didn't end there.

In December 2024, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, setting off a cascade of subsequent lawsuits brought by Lively, Baldoni, and even tangential characters like Baldoni's ex-publicist Stephanie Jones, as the situation became increasingly tangled.

Here's everything we know about the situation.

Baldoni didn't interact with other cast members at press events, sparking feud rumors.

Fans suspected something was amiss when Baldoni and Lively didn't interact during the press tour despite playing partners in the film.

Lively did press events with costars Brandon Sklenar and Isabela Ferrer and author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the book the film is based on. Baldoni did most of his press solo.

When they both attended the New York premiere on August 6, they were not photographed together. Lively posed with her castmates, Hoover, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman, his "Deadpool & Wolverine" costar. Baldoni was photographed with his wife and some of the other producers who worked on the film.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the carpet at the New York premiere, Baldoni explained why he was stepping back from the limelight.

"This isn't my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for," he said." This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I'm just so grateful that we're here, five years in the making."

On social media, fans theorized about the potential drama between the two.

The speculation intensified after a user on the r/ColleenHoover subreddit noted on August 6, 2024 that Lively and Hoover did not follow Baldoni on Instagram. Fans also noticed that the film's other stars, including Sklenar, Ferrer, and Jenny Slate, did not follow Baldoni. Baldoni followed all of them except Hoover.

Business Insider could not verify whether they previously followed Baldoni.

Adding to this theory was a clip of Slate seemingly sidestepping a question about Baldoni at the movie's New York premiere. Asked about having Baldoni as both a scene partner and a director, she responded by not mentioning him and instead speaking about how "intense" it must be to do both jobs.

As speculation increased, fans turned on Lively.

Many fans began blaming Lively for the supposed feud, accusing her of trying to take over the film.

This theory was supported by Baldoni and Lively's interviews in the lead-up to the premiere.

On August 9, 2024, Baldoni told Today that Lively and Reynolds, who was not a producer on the film, contributed significantly to it.

"You can't summarize Blake's contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end," Baldoni said.

Baldoni also said he struggled to balance allowing collaboration and having his voice drowned out entirely.

"You don't have to listen to everybody, and that didn't happen all the time, but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much," he said.

Baldoni said Lively should take over as director to adapt the sequel to the "It Ends With Us" novel, "It Starts with Us."

Meanwhile, Lively told E! News on August 7, 2024 that Reynolds helped pen the opening scene of "It Ends With Us."

The film's screenwriter Christy Hal told People a day later that she wasn't aware that Reynolds had written some of the dialogue used in the final version of the script.

"When I saw a cut, I was like, 'Oh, that's cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing,'" Hall said. "So if I'm being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful."

Fans also criticized how Lively promoted the movie, choosing to focus on its lighthearted and romantic elements instead of its heavy domestic abuse plot.

Baldoni was the only cast member who consistently spoke about the domestic abuse element.

A clip of Lively making an off-color remark to a reporter in a 2016 interview resurfaced amid the 'It Ends With Us' drama.

As online sentiment toward Lively turned increasingly negative, journalist Kjersti Flaa released an archival clip of an interview with Blake Lively on August 10, 2024 titled "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."

"It actually took me a while to get over the experience," Flaa told BI in an email on August 19, 2024 of the interview, which took place years earlier.

"Every time I entered a room after this I got nervous that something similar might happen again," she wrote.

Lively's costar made a statement asking people to stop focusing on 'what may or may not have happened.'

Sklenar, who plays Lively's other love interest in "It Ends With Us," spoke out about the backlash in an Instagram post on August 20, 2024.

"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," he said.

"This film is meant to inspire. It's meant to validate and recognize," Sklenar added. "It is not meant to once again, make women the 'bad guy,' let's move beyond that together."

Representatives for Baldoni, Lively, Reynolds, Hoover, and Sklenar did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Months later, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign against her.

On December 20, 2024, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, inflicting "emotional distress," and conspiring to damage her public reputation.

Lively's complaint also named Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni's production company, and Jamey Heath, the company's CEO, as two of the 11 defendants.

In the complaint, Lively said an all-hands meeting about Baldoni and Heath's behavior on set was held in January 2023. She accused him of showing her nude videos and images of women, improvising kissing scenes or intimate scenes, and entering her trailer while she was naked.

Lively said Heath and Baldoni responded by hiring Melissa Nathan, a crisis PR representative, and Jed Wallace, a Texas-based contractor, both defendants in the complaint, to orchestrate a "multi-tiered" plan to "destroy" her public reputation and stop her or anyone else from speaking out about what happened on set.

She also said that the cast agreed to a marketing plan created by the film's distributor, Sony Pictures Entertainment, to avoid talking about the sad parts of the movie, which Baldoni broke away from.

"What the public did not know was that Mr. Baldoni and his team did so to explain why many of the Film's cast and crew had unfollowed Mr. Baldoni on social media and were not appearing with him in public," the complaint said.

Baldoni's attorney said Lively blamed Baldoni in hopes of improving her reputation.

Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, told BI in a statement after the complaint was filed: "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."

Freedman said Nathan was hired because Lively made multiple demands and threatened not to show up to set or promote the film if they were not met.

When asked to respond to Freedman, a representative for Lively referred BI to a statement shared with The New York Times on December 21, 2024: "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."

On December 24, 2024, publicist Stephanie Jones sued Baldoni, his film studio, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel, a former employee of Jones' PR company, for breach of contract and defamation.

In the suit, Jones alleged Baldoni and the PRs orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively while her company was working with Baldoni. Jones said this was done behind her back until August 2024, when Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios stopped working with the company and worked directly with Abel.

In the following days, Hoover and other stars reacted to the lawsuit.

Lively's costars from 2005's "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" — America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel — shared a joint statement supporting Lively after she made the complaint.

Hoover and Sklenar, who worked on "It Ends With Us," seemed to both throw their support behind Lively by sharing links to her allegations on their Instagram stories.

"@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," Hoover wrote in her story post. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."

Hoover has since deleted her Instagram, TikTok and Threads account.

Representatives for Hoover did not immediately respond to a comment request from BI.

Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency.

On December 21, 2024, The New York Times reported that Ari Emanuel, chief executive of the parent company that owns Baldoni's talent agency, William Morris Endeavor, said the agency had stopped representing him.

On December 9, 2024, before the complaint was released, Vital Voices, a nonprofit organization that supports women leaders, awarded Baldoni the Voices of Solidarity Award to honor his advocacy work for women.

On December 23, 2024, Vital Voices said in a statement on their website that they had rescinded the award.

"The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit — and the PR effort they indicate — are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award," the statement read.

Baldoni filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.

Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and others mentioned in a New York Times story that detailed Lively's accusations against Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the newspaper on December 31, 2024.

The lawsuit, obtained by BI, said the Times' story published on December 21, 2024 "relied almost entirely on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative" and accused the publication of "disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives."

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, contained screenshots of messages that it said contradicted the Times' reporting.

In a statement provided to BI after the lawsuit was filed, a Times spokesperson said the newspaper stood by its reporting and would "vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

"Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article," the statement said.

The outlet also published its full statement responding to the allegations.

In a statement provided to BI after Baldoni's lawsuit was filed, Freedman, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said Lively had orchestrated a "vicious smear campaign" and that the Times "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites."

Freedman also said that they would also sue other individuals "who have abused their power to try and destroy the lives of my clients."

In a statement provided to BI about Baldoni's suit, Lively's lawyers said: "Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint."

Lively filed her own lawsuit in New York.

The same day Baldoni filed his lawsuit against the Times, Lively filed a lawsuit against him, Wayfarer, and others in New York federal court.

Representatives for Lively said the lawsuit, which was obtained by BI, was based on the legal complaint Lively previously filed with the California Civil Rights Department. The lawsuit accuses Baldoni and his PR team of engaging in a campaign to retaliate against her for speaking out about sexual misconduct.

"Unfortunately, Ms. Lively's decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks," her lawyers said in a statement provided to BI. "As alleged in Ms. Lively's federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns."

Representatives for Baldoni and Wayfarer did not address the lawsuit filed by Lively when reached by BI.

Baldoni's lawyer accused Reynolds of teasing the actor with a 'Deadpool & Wolverine' character.

On January 7, Freedman told SiriusXM's "The Megyn Kelly Show" that his team planned to take further legal action.

Freedman also alleged Reynolds used his influence to help Lively take over "It Ends With Us" and to mock Baldoni on "Deadpool and Wolverine," via a new character in the film called Nicepool.

In the film, which premiered in July 2024 and was the second-highest-grossing movie of 2024, Nicepool, a version of Deadpool from an alternate dimension whose face has not been disfigured, jokes about a woman's pregnancy weight, claims to be a feminist and wears a man bun.

Freedman alleged this was based on Baldoni, who has a reputation for being a feminist and has been known to wear his hair in a bun in the past.

In the movie, Nicepool is eventually killed by Ladypool, a female version of Deadpool from an alternate dimension played by Lively.

"What I make of that is that if your wife is sexually harassed, you don't make fun of Justin Baldoni," Freedman said. "You don't make fun of the situation. You take it very seriously. You file HR complaints. You raise the issue and you follow a legal process. What you don't do is mock the person and turn it into a joke."

Baldoni's company Wayfarer sued Lively, her publicist, and Reynolds.

On January 16, 2025, Baldoni, his associates at his company Wayfarer Studios, and his publicists Nathan and Abel sued Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging they orchestrated a smear campaign against him.

Baldoni's lawsuit, which seeks $400 million in damages, alleges that Lively, with the help of Reynolds and Sloane, hijacked "It Ends with Us" by wresting creative control away from Baldoni, then worked to destroy his reputation and livelihood.

The suit, which contains many of the same details from Baldoni's defamation suit against the Times, also claims that Reynolds pressured the talent agency WME, which also represents Lively and Reynolds, to drop Baldoni.

The agency did so in December but a WME spokesperson previously denied Reynolds and Lively put pressure on the agency.

Freedman told BI that their suit was "based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team's duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni."

"Justin and his team have nothing to hide," the statement adds, "documents do not lie."

Lively's legal team said Baldoni's team's suit is another attempt to "shift the narrative" from one about harassment claims to one around battles for creative control.

"This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook," Lively's legal team said. "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."

Baldoni's team releases behind-the-scenes footage from the "It Ends With Us" set.

In Lively's complaint, Lively said Baldoni acted as himself instead of Ryle while filming a slow-dance sequence for the romance film.

"At one point, he leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, 'it smells so good,'" the complaint read. "None of this was remotely done in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no sound."

Her team alleged Lively later objected to this behavior and said Baldoni replied, "I'm not even attracted to you."

On January 21, Baldoni's production company and lawyer hit back by sending a nearly 10-minute behind-the-scenes footage of the cast filming the scene to outlets including the Daily Mail.

Baldoni's team said in a statement at the beginning of the video that the footage contains three takes filmed on May 23, 2023, and said these were the only versions filmed of the scene.

"Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism," they added.

The video also showed that the initial direction in the "It Ends With Us" script is that Baldoni and Lively's characters just dance together.

In the takes, Baldoni repeatedly moves in to kiss Lively, and Lively pulls away and says it would be better if they talked during the scene. At one point, Baldoni rubs his face on both sides of Lively's neck seemingly without warning, but the pair joke about it in the video.

The video has elicited a range of responses on social media. Some users thought Lively looked uncomfortable, while others believed Lively was attracted to her costar.

Lively's attorneys sent a statement to The Hollywood Reporter after the video was published, saying that the footage corroborated Lively's story because "every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present."

"The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively's discomfort," the statement said.

"They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent."

Lively's attorneys also said that Baldoni's choice to release the video to the media instead of presenting it to court was an "unethical attempt to manipulate the public" and a "continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign."

"While they are focused on misleading media narratives, we are focused on the legal process," her attorneys said.

Freedman responded in a statement to THR: "Prior to filing her lawsuit in court, Ms. Lively went to The New York Times in an effort to publicly destroy Justin Baldoni. When Mr. Baldoni exercises his right to publicly defend himself by putting forth actual facts and evidence, for Ms Lively and team this instantly becomes morally and ethically wrong."

The statement continued: "Ms. Lively wants very different standards to apply to her but fortunately, truth and authenticity apply to everyone and can never be wrong. Looking at the video and the evidence to come, I can understand why Ms. Lively would now, not want this to play out in public."