The Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Lawsuits, Explained: A Complete Breakdown of the Allegations, Key Players and Who's Said What

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have engaged in a war of words — and lawsuits — surrounding Baldoni's alleged misconduct on the set of their 2024 hit film It Ends With Us.

On Dec. 20, Lively, who stars in the movie as Lily, filed a complaint against Baldoni and others in California claiming sexual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign to "destroy" her reputation. She claimed that Baldoni — who directed, produced and starred in the film — exhibited “disturbing" and “unprofessional” behavior on set that led to a "hostile work environment." The complaint was also filed against producer Jamey Heath, Heath and Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, as well as its co-founder Steve Sarowitz.

Jed Wallace, an independent contractor, was also named in the filing, as well as Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, who are both publicists named in the alleged effort to harm Lively’s reputation.

“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,” Lively said in a statement to The New York Times.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's lawyer, told PEOPLE in a statement that Lively's complaint was to "fix her negative reputation," adding that her allegations are "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt."

The day after the filing, the investigation was reported in a The New York Times story titled "‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine."

Related: All of the Stars Who Have Publicly Supported Blake Lively Amid Her Sexual Harassment Complaint Against It Ends with Us Costar Justin Baldoni

Shortly after, Baldoni filed his own lawsuit on Dec. 31, suing the outlet for $250 million, alleging libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract. The New York Times defended its story, writing in a statement that the article was "meticulously and responsibly reported."

On Jan. 16, Baldoni filed another lawsuit suing Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane's PR firm Vision PR, Inc for $400 million, on claims of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.

Reps for Lively, Reynolds and Sloane did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

A number of Lively's peers and costars have spoken out in support of the actress, while Baldoni's team continues to deny the accusations. Here's a complete breakdown of the case — and a guide to all the players involved.

What did Blake Lively accuse Justin Baldoni of?

In her complaint, which was followed by a formal lawsuit filed in New York on Dec. 31, Lively alleged that Baldoni and Heath's behavior on set, followed by an alleged smear campaign, caused her "grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety," per the filing.

The actress alleged in the complaint that before the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name even began shooting, Baldoni “inserted improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film (including for an underage character) in highly unsettling ways.”

The "disturbing" conduct allegedly continued while filming, with Lively accusing Baldoni and Heath of entering her trailer “uninvited” while she was undressed or “vulnerable” — “including when she was breastfeeding her infant child,” the complaint alleges. The complaint further states that Baldoni “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved."

Lively alleged that a meeting was held with Baldoni, Heath and other producers — with Reynolds, present as well — where they hashed out a plan to improve working conditions on the set. Some of the key points Baldoni agreed to, according to the filing: an intimacy coordinator on-set when Lively was present, no improvised kissing and no more talk of his own sex life or genitalia.

Following the wrap of the movie, Lively claimed Baldoni and his PR team launched a public smear campaign against her, including screenshots of alleged text messages sent between Baldoni, Abel, his publicist, and Nathan, a crisis management expert.

Baldoni's lawyer, Freedman, said in a statement that representatives of Wayfarer Studios "did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity."

How did Justin Baldoni respond?

Baldoni first responded with a $250 million lawsuit filed against The New York Times for libel, among other claims. The plaintiffs — which include Baldoni, Heath, Sarowitz, Wallace, Nathan and Abel — claim that the outlet used “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."

Baldoni's lawsuit also refuted many of the claims made by Lively in her complaint, including some of the sexual harassment allegations. Countering one allegation, Baldoni said he was "invited" into Lively's trailer while she was breastfeeding, attaching a screenshot of an alleged conversation in which she said, "I'm just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines." He responded, "Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way."

In her complaint, Lively also detailed a situation in which Heath allegedly showed her a video of his wife giving birth to their child, sharing that she "thought he was showing her pornography and stopped him." Baldoni's complaint, meanwhile, called the video a "deeply personal one with no sexual overtone," and the framing of it as such "is outrageous and emblematic of the lengths to which Lively and her collaborators are willing to go to defame Plaintiffs," his lawyers wrote.

Further, Baldoni claimed that while Lively alleged his PR team planted negative stories about her in the press, he believes she is the one who did so about him, claiming that Lively's publicist "[planted] a false story alleging that there were 'multiple' HR complaints during production."

Baldoni also added that Lively allegedly "initially refused to permit" him to attend the premiere of It Ends With Us. "Only after significant pressure did she reluctantly agree to allow Baldoni and the Wayfarer team to attend, but under humiliating conditions," his lawyers claimed, including being "segregated" from the main cast and "barred" from the official after-party.

On Jan. 16, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, Sloane and her PR company directly. In the filing, he included a number of allegations, including that Lively never read the book upon which the movie is based and therefore made "wrongheaded creative decisions" that "reflected her fundamental lack of understanding of the book" and that she joked that Baldoni "should get plastic surgery" on his nose while filming a scene for the movie.

Baldoni's team further alleged in a statement to PEOPLE that they're "private individuals" who have now received death threats due to Lively's complaint.

Nathan and Abel claimed in the statement that they've also been on the receiving end of "abhorrent abuse and vile anti-semitic slurs hurled at us due to her decision to use us as scapegoats for her own choices promoting her film in which she made millions of dollars."

"With this filing, we lift our own curtain of what happens when the entitled weaponize power, fear and money to destroy, intimidate and bully those who get in their way," the statement concluded.

Who Are the Key Players?

Blake Lively

Lively signed on for the project in January 2023 and was first spotted filming in May 2023.

She sued Baldoni on Dec. 31, 2024, alleging he caused her "extreme anxiety" in the wake of her experience filming It Ends With Us, and the subsequent alleged smear campaign. Now, she hopes her legal action "helps protect others who may be targeted," she told The New York Times in a statement.

Justin Baldoni

Baldoni — who rose to fame on Jane the Virgin — had been attached to the book adaption since 2019.

Baldoni has been accused in a complaint of sexual harassment and initiating a smear campaign against Lively, though his lawyer has denied the allegations — which he called "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt" — in a statement.

The actor filed a lawsuit against The New York Times in which he claimed it was Lively who spearheaded a smear campaign against him, rather than the other way around. He filed another lawsuit on Jan. 16 against Lively, Reynolds, Sloane and her PR firm, suing them for extortion and defamation.

Ryan Reynolds

Lively's husband of over 10 years was immediately embroiled in the speculation surrounding the film's press tour after the actress revealed in August he had written a scene for the movie.

Lively's complaint alleged that Reynolds was "affected mentally, physically and professionally" by the "pain" inflicted on his wife and children. Baldoni, meanwhile, accused Reynolds of "berating" him at a "traumatic" meeting at the couple's New York City penthouse, stating that he had "'never been spoken to like that in his life,' " the complaint alleges.

He added that Reynolds allegedly "demanded" an apology for Lively and initiated the "humiliating berating" while "other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse."

Jamey Heath

Heath was a producer on It Ends With Us and is the CEO of Wayfarer Studios, which he founded alongside Baldoni and Sarowitz. He was also named in Lively's complaint and accused of “invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior."

Heath started co-hosting the Man Enough podcast alongside Baldoni and their former co-host, Liz Plank, in June 2021. However, Plank announced her exit shortly after Lively's complaint.

PEOPLE reached out to Heath for comment.

Steve Sarowitz

Sarowitz is the billionaire investor who helped start Wayfarer Studios and is also named in the filing.

Jennifer Abel

Baldoni's current publicist, Abel worked with TAG PR, a crisis firm, after Baldoni hired the group. Abel previously worked for Stephanie Jones' PR firm, Jonesworks, before leaving in August 2024.

In one alleged text exchange with Nathan exhibited in Lively’s complaint, she said, “I think you guys need to be tough and show the strength of what you guys can do in these scenarios. He wants to feel like she can be buried.”

Abel defended herself in a since-deleted Facebook post, writing that "there was no ‘smear’ implemented."

“No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it’s our job to be ready for any scenario," she wrote. "But we didn’t have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us."

Freedman, Baldoni's lawyer, added in a statement to PEOPLE, "What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals."

Melissa Nathan

Nathan founded TAG PR and is a crisis management expert, with past clients including Johnny Depp and Drake.

“We can bury anyone,” Nathan wrote to Abel in an alleged Aug. 2 text message included in Lively's complaint. In other texts, Nathan allegedly wrote, “We can’t write we will destroy her," and, “Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.”

In Baldoni's lawsuit against The New York Times, he alleged that Nathan's text messages were "spliced" and left out important context.

Stephanie Jones

Jones is Baldoni's former rep and the owner of Jonesworks. She is currently suing Nathan and Abel for allegedly creating a coordinated effort to undermine her and work together to start a smear campaign against Lively.

She alleges that Abel collaborated with Nathan on a “no-holds-barred strategy” to protect Baldoni from Lively's forthcoming allegations while simultaneously undermining Jones, per The Los Angeles Times.

Jones worked with Baldoni from 2017 to August 2024, when the actor and Wayfarer stopped working with Jonesworks.

Leslie Sloane

Lively's publicist, Sloane was accused in Baldoni's complaint of launching "a negative press push against” Baldoni, which she has denied.

“It’s clear that Mr. Baldoni and his Wayfarer Associates are suggesting that I originated press stories about HR complaints on set, which is false,” she told PEOPLE in a statement.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is Lively's close friend who was named in Baldoni's lawsuit. Baldoni claimed in the suit that the "Cruel Summer" singer was involved in backing Lively's rewrites of the script, alleging that when Baldoni didn't react positively to the changes, Lively  "went silent for multiple days" and later allegedly sent a text message that his reaction to her rewrite "didn’t feel great for me" or to, what Baldoni referred to as, "another megacelebrity friend."

Lively allegedly went on to compare herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi, calling Reynolds and Swift her "dragons."

"I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better," Lively's alleged text read. "Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. [Smiley-face emoji] you will too, I can promise you."

Colleen Hoover

The author of It Ends With Us, Hoover sold Baldoni the rights to her bestselling novel in 2019. However, she appears to have developed a close relationship with Lively as the two spent time together on the press tour for the film and the actress celebrated Hoover's birthday in December 2024.

The author spoke out in support of the actress following the news of the complaint, penning a message on her Instagram Stories.

"@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," Hoover wrote alongside a photo of herself and Lively hugging at a screening of the film. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."

Lively and Baldoni's It Ends With Us costars

Many of Lively's costars have spoken out in support of the actress, including Brandon Sklenar, who plays Lily's love interest and Jenny Slate, who stars as Baldoni's character's sister.

“As Blake Lively’s cast mate and friend, I voice my support as she takes action against those reported to have planned and carried out an attack on her reputation,” Slate said in a statement obtained by TODAY. “Blake is a leader, loyal friend and a trusted source of emotional support for me and so many who know and love her.”

Meanwhile, Sklenar urged his followers to read The New York Times' archive of the legal documents. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ THIS," he wrote on his Instagram Stories, tagging Lively's Instagram account.

What Happens Next?

On Dec. 31, Lively's attorneys filed a federal complaint against Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni and other parties in the Southern District of New York.

That same day, Baldoni sued The New York Times. Two weeks later, he sued Lively.

"We plan to release every single text messages between the two of them," Freedman previously said of Baldoni's plans to sue. "We want the truth to be out there. We want the documents to be out there. We want people to make their determination based on receipts."

After filing the lawsuit, Freedman said in a statement to PEOPLE: "This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media."

He continued, "It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth."

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