| | |  | Blake Lively News & Gossip
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| | Travis Kelce unfollowed Ryan Reynolds on IG, because of Blake Lively's legal issues' | | Added 2 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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For a while now, we?ve largely opted out of discussing the daily/weekly legal issues involved with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?s multiple lawsuits and cases. Most of Lively and Baldoni?s issues are going to be dealt with in court, but that hasn?t stopped both of them from trying to play this out in the court of public opinion. It got exhausting in a hurry, the flurry of briefings and ?exclusives? to various friendly outlets.
Now, all that being said, we will continue to follow and discuss one particular thread, which is one of the juiciest gossip stories we?ve had in a while. That thread: that Blake Lively has apparently been leveraging her friendship with Taylor Swift for some time, and it took this Baldoni situation for Taylor to realize just how thoroughly Blake has been using her. Taylor distanced herself from Blake as soon as the lawsuits blew up and Blake?s texts came out, where Blake referred to Taylor as one of her ?dragons.? Taylor and Blake haven?t been seen or photographed together since, although to be fair, Taylor has been in the wind for months after her tour ended. There were some curious gossip stories back in February that Taylor basically hit pause on her friendship with Blake, and that Taylor absolutely does not appreciate being dragged into Blake?s mess. Last week, there were more stories about how Taylor will likely be subpoenaed and deposed, and then Blake?s damage control followed that. Well, a new wrinkle: Travis Kelce has unfollowed Ryan Reynolds.
Taylor Swift?s drama with Blake Lively seems to be heating up and Travis Kelce?s riding hard for his girl, hitting unfollow on the actress hubby Ryan Reynolds IG.
When you search for Travis, his name?s nowhere to be found on Ryans IG. Not sure when Travis smashed that unfollow button, but it?s pretty fresh and for what it?s worth, Ryan?s still following him.
FYI, Blake?s still got Taylor on her list, but not Travis. As for Taylor, she?s following literally no one at all.
[From TMZ]
Page Six followed up on TMZ?s reporting, saying that they?ve exclusively learned that Kelce ?unfollowed Lively?s husband, Ryan Reynolds, on Instagram because of the ?It Ends With Us? actress?s messy legal nightmare.? Page Six?s sources also said that Taylor feels like a ?pawn? in Blake?s situation. So, yeah, I think it?s a big deal. I have believed for some time that Taylor is purposefully withholding her ?endorsement? of Blake and Blake?s lawsuits, just as I?ve believed that Blake?s team has been furiously doing damage control on Taylor?s reluctance to be seen with Blake or seen on Blake?s side. And now this Travis is getting involved and sending a message that he?s also not fking with Ryan or Blake. It?s interesting.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Blake Lively wore Zuhair Murad at the Time 100 'most influential' gala | | Added 6 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Last week, Time Magazine revealed their Time 100 list of ?most influential people,? with several influential people getting their own covers. Blake Lively was on the list and she received her own cover. It was somewhat controversial, like Time was ?choosing sides? in what will probably be a years-long legal battle between Blake and Justin Baldoni. What was even more strange is that the Time essay about Blake highlighted her donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (as in, that was ?the reason? why Blake made the list). Well, last night was the Time 100 gala, and Blake was there with her husband and her mother. Blake wore a Zuhair Murad gown with emerald jewelry she looked fine. Ryan looked? odd. I?m getting a vibe, and that?s all I?ll say. You can read Blake?s speech at the gala here.
Blake and Ryan?s appearance actually came on the heels of some interesting reporting in People Magazine which I wanted to discuss. Several months ago, there was some interesting gossip that Blake and Taylor Swift?s friendship was on the rocks because Taylor didn?t appreciate Blake leveraging Taylor and Taylor?s name at work. As in, Blake used Taylor?s name as one of her ?dragons? to threaten Justin Baldoni professionally, and Blake also had Taylor come to her home to personally pressure Baldoni to use ?the Blake rewrites.? Taylor and Blake have still not been photographed together since this legal situation began. Well, Thursday afternoon, People Mag reported this:
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds famous friends, Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman, could be served with subpoenas as part of the It Ends with Us legal battle with Justin Baldoni, a source tells PEOPLE.
Anyone that had any knowledge of this situation will be subpoenaed, no matter of their celebrity status, the source says.
However, another insider says Swift and Jackman are not privy to anything going on, adding that claims they will be subpoenaed are smoke and mirrors and trying to distract from the allegations against Baldoni.
PEOPLE is out to attorneys for both Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, for comment, as well as representatives for Swift and Jackman.
[From People]
It?s not ?smoke and mirrors? Taylor was clearly present during a pretty significant and much-debated meeting between Blake and Justin, a meeting which caused a flurry of texts, threats and legal actions in its wake. I have no idea if Hugh Jackman was witness or party to anything like that, but Taylor absolutely was. Well, just after People published that story, they followed up with this (after obviously hearing more from Blake?s team):
Taylor Swift and Blake Lively?s friendship is weathering the storm. Swift ?was really hurt,? a source tells PEOPLE, after being implicated in Lively?s ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni over behind-the-scenes conflict on their movie It Ends with Us.
Lively, 37, referred to the pop star, 35, as one of her ?dragons in an alleged text exchange, according to a complaint Baldoni filed in January, which claimed that Swift had pressured him to accept rewrites on the movie. The latest development in Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. is the reported possibility that Swift could be among those served with subpoenas.
Blake knew she and Taylor would come back from this at some point and that their friendship wasn?t done for good,? the insider says of the legal difficulties. ?Taylor was really hurt by this situation, so she?s relieved they were able to recover from this and put it all behind them because it wasn?t something she took lightly,? they add.
[From People]
Taylor wasn?t ?implicated? though what Baldoni described was Blake leveraging her famous friends to apply pressure on him to accept her rewrites. He?s not suing Taylor, but Taylor is absolutely going to have to sit for a deposition and she might have to testify in court, regardless of whatever Blake is telling Taylor now. This second piece reads like Blake?s team furiously doing damage-control on the Taylor fallout, because Taylor still hasn?t agreed to do a ?we?re still BFFs? photo-op with Blake.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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| | Blake Lively wore Chanel & David Koma to promote 'A Simple Favor 2' in London | | Added 15 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are in London this week to promote A Simple Favor 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 2018 film. The sequel is exclusively on Amazon Prime and I don?t think they?re even giving this one a theatrical release? I?m including photos from the London photocall, the premiere/screening and some photos of Blake outside of a London hotel, smiling at the paparazzi on Tuesday.
Fashion notes: for the photocall, Blake wore head-to-toe Chanel, a black-and-gold cardigan, skirt and boots. Her purse is Chanel and she wore lots of jewelry and hair accessories. Just my opinion, but Blake?s style is always just a little bit ?off.? She?s always prided herself on styling herself and you can tell, because most stylists would have asked her to make some smaller adjustments along the way. Anna?s red look is Rixo London I?m not crazy about it.
For the screening, Blake wore a fringed David Koma trench coat. Anna wore Zuhair Murad! I have to admit, my favorite ensemble is actually the sequined denim look on Blake. I?m really obsessed with those jeans (not so much the matching shirt). As always, people are doing body-language analysis between Blake and Anna my take is that Anna and Blake are not BFFs whatsoever but they?re okay with each other and keeping it professional?
Obviously, we?ve tapped out on covering the daily minutiae of Blake and Justin Baldoni?s lawsuits, but they?re still fighting and all of the legal actions are seemingly on-going. A crew member recently went on the record with 60 Minutes Australia, and she said that Baldoni was a lovely boss and, in her opinion, Blake tried to take control of the film. _(?)_/
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
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| | Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds want people to know that they?re skipping the Met Gala | | Added 37 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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I tapped out of the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal situation weeks ago because everyone involved was driving me crazy. There?s been an insane amount of positioning in the trade papers, right-wing media and gossip media and I stopped caring it?s my hope that the eventual trial clears some things up, although Blake and Ryan Reynolds spent a good chunk of last week trying to get Baldoni?s lawsuits dismissed.
Meanwhile, I just want to be able to gossip about normal things re: Blake Lively. Like, remember her Preserve lifestyle business/site? Remember the ?Allure of Antebellum? editorial? Good times. I bring up Blake?s pro-Antebellum stance because it?s relevant to this interesting piece of gossip: Blake and Ryan are skipping this year?s Met Gala. TMZ, Us Weekly and People Magazine all got briefed on Blake and Ryan?s decision, which is weird, right? That they would make a point of telling multiple outlets that they would NOT attend this year?s Met Gala? I?m bringing this back to the pro-Antebellum stance because this year?s Met Gala theme is ?Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,? with Monica Miller?s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity being used as the inspo/source material for the theme and exhibit. LeBron James, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, ASAP Rocky and Pharrell Williams are all co-chairs this year. So the couple who got married on a South Carolina plantation doesnt want to go to a Met Gala with such a Black theme, huh??
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds will not be attending the 2025 Met Gala. An exclusive source confirmed the news to PEOPLE, sharing, Blake and Ryan haven?t gone since 2022, when they were co-chairs, and they will not be in attendance this year.
The theme of the 2025 Met Gala, which will be held on May 5, was previously revealed by Vogue as ?Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.? Per the outlet, the exhibit draws inspiration from Monica L. Miller?s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity and will feature garments, paintings, photographs, and more ? all exploring the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through present day. Miller will serve as a guest curator for the show with Costume Institute Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton.
The 2022 Met Gala marked Livelys 10th appearance at the annual fashion event in New York City. That year, she and Reynolds, 48, served as co-chairs alongside Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
[From People]
A source close to Blake and Ryan told TMZ that their decision to skip the gala has ?nothing to do with their legal war against Justin Baldoni, cause the decision to pass on the May event was made way before that drama unfolded.? Meaning? they made the decision after the theme was announced last fall??? LMAO. Another unnamed source sniffed to Us Weekly: ?She?s not a Kardashian that goes every year.? Good lord. I just can?t get over how they?re announcing their non-attendance this far in advance, and making sure everyone knows that they decided to skip soon after the theme was announced.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds turned up at the SNL 50th special on Sunday | | Added 73 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds attended the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary show on Sunday night. This is their first red carpet together since all of the Justin Baldoni lawsuits. I think ?body language analysis? has been hijacked by tabloid idiots, but I did find their body language and red-carpet moves very interesting. They made a point of posing separately and together and in many photos, they look the same as they always do. But something has shifted, imo. Blake and Ryan even approved of a ?joke? on the show:
Ryan Reynolds during #SNL50
?Ryan how?s it going? Great? why, what have you heard?? pic.twitter.com/8a4A6NIU2D
DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) February 17, 2025
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| | Blake Lively did not get a gag order on Justin Baldoni & his lawyers | | Added 86 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Over the weekend, Justin Baldoni and his lawyers launched the much-anticipated website. For weeks, they?d promised to publish all of the communications between Baldoni and Blake Lively, and relevant communications around the film. I have not gone through all of the documentation Baldoni has provided, but I?ve seen the coverage lots of texts from Blake which definitely chip away at her claims that Baldoni was being overly familiar or inappropriately flirty with her. Baldoni also included at least one text from Ryan Reynolds. You can see the website here.
On Monday, Blake?s lawyers and Baldoni?s lawyers were in court for another hearing. Top of Blake?s agenda was getting a gag order on Baldoni and his lawyers. She didn?t get that, but the judge did warn both sides to stop with the pre-trial PR war, and the judge also threatened to expedite the trial if both sides didn?t shut up.
A New York judge cautioned Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?s lawyers not to litigate their legal battle in the press as the two sides faced off in court for the first time since their clients sued each other. Lively, 37, is accusing her It Ends With Us costar and director Baldoni, 41, and others of damaging her reputation in the press after she reported sexual harassment on set. In turn, Baldoni has filed defamation lawsuits against her, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times. His lawyer, Bryan Freedman, is also running a PR campaign to fight back against her claims.
Livelys lawyers attempted to limit Freedman, asking the judge to stop him from speaking to the press in ways that could influence the jury. They also expressed worries about a website Baldoni and his team recently launched in an apparent attempt to bolster his accusations against Lively.
At the Monday, Feb. 3 pretrial conference at United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Liman addressed the issue. He threatened to expedite the trial if the parties do not rein in the public relations war outside the courtroom. The judge also instructed both parties to comply with the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which prohibit attorneys from making comments that could have a substantial likelihood of biasing a jury.
Freedman said his ?clients are devastated financially and emotionally.? The It Ends With Us actors are preparing to head to trial in March 2026.
Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, attorneys for Lively, said in a statement, ?We are pleased with the result of today?s hearing and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case. The court granted our request that all attorneys in the matter actually follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice a jury, they continued. This case deals with serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. We will hold the defendants accountable, and we are confident that once all the evidence is submitted in this matter, Ms. Lively will prevail.
Freedman told reporters outside court, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ?I couldn?t be more pleased with how the case was handled today. We?re going to move as quickly as possible and prove our innocence.
[From People]
Blake?s side is trying to put a happy face on the fact that they didn?t get what they wanted, a gag order on Baldoni and his lawyers. They also didn?t get Baldoni?s website shut down, although who knows, that might work in their favor (it doesn?t seem like many people are willing to dive into all of the documentation and annotated legal filings). To celebrate the lack of gag orders on either side, Blake?s team ran to People Magazine with another exclusive. A ?source close to Lively? told People that ?Blake is surprisingly calm and just tries to focus on family life. Shes in constant contact with her team. She sees the whole lawsuit drama as a necessary bump, but shes not letting it take away from her main focus, which is her children.?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Blake Lively wants a judge to issue a gag order on Justin Baldoni's legal team | | Added 98 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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On Tuesday, Justin Baldoni?s team released ?raw footage? from It Ends With Us, a ten-minute clip of Baldoni and Blake Lively shooting a ?slow dancing? scene at a crowded bar. The scene was supposed to be used in a montage about their characters falling in love. Blake cited the filming of that particular scene in her sexual harassment complaint and her lawsuit against Baldoni. Baldoni added context for what actually happened within his lawsuit, then he released the footage to prove his point. There were obviously a lot of interpretations about what the video actually showed, but that didn?t stop Blake?s team from claiming that her visible discomfort (within the 10-minute video) proved that this was one instance of Baldoni sexually harassing her. Team Lively must have been unsettled by the fact that so many people actually watched the video and debated what it really showed about her dynamic with Baldoni though, because it looks like Team Lively is trying to make sure that Baldoni isn?t allowed to provide any more context or evidence of Lively?s misrepresentations or exaggerations.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds want a judge to gag Justin Baldonis lawyer claiming hes making false statements about the case.
The megastars filed a letter in court Tuesday and, in it, they ask the court to issue a protective order to stop Baldonis lawyers led by Bryan Freedman from engaging in improper conduct including going on an alleged harassing and retaliatory media campaign against Blake and Ryan.
They say hes violating court rules that stop a lawyer from making statements to the press that are irrelevant to a case and might prejudice the jury. In it, Blake and Ryan specifically mention the release of unedited footage from It Ends With Us filming which Blakes team claims corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in her initial complaint back in December.
Remember, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and engaging in a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation. Baldoni has since filed his own $400 million lawsuit against Lively accusing her of defamation, civil extortion and other allegations.
Baldonis team released the behind-the-scenes footage from the movie to prove he never made harassing comments while Blakes team pushed back and said Baldoni never discussed or choreographed the intimacy here and, it made her uncomfortable.
Sources connected to JB tell TMZ they believe its grossly unfair to impose a gag order after Justin has been defamed by the New York Times in an article that they say has cost him three jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars. All Justin wants to do, the source says, is release videos and text messages to prove the allegations are false.
The source adds, it is unbelievable that Blake Lively would go on a takedown campaign against Justin and then immediately turn around and say she wants a gag order so that Justin cant defend himself.
[From TMZ]
I actually understand Team Lively?s point Baldoni and his legal team are absolutely waging a trial in the court of public opinion, and given the multiple lawsuits involved, I?m sure gag orders will eventually be issued (hopefully to all sides). That being said, Team Lively is mad that they?re losing in the court of public opinion, let?s be clear. Blake, Ryan and their team have been waging their own campaign to win over the public, establish their narrative and rebrand Blake. They?re the ones who went to the New York Times, they?re the ones who immediately ran to People Mag for a sugary, sympathetic cover story about poor Blake, they?re the ones who have loudly screamed ?DARVO? every time Baldoni pointed out an inconsistency or provided receipts to dispute Blake?s story. All of their efforts have been hampered by Baldoni refusing to just roll over. I?ve been asking this for weeks, but it?s still so striking to me did Blake honestly think that Baldoni wasn?t going to fight back? Did she really think that he would not defend himself?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, cover courtesy of People.
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| | Blake Lively's lawyer: This is not a he said/she said situation or a feud | | Added 113 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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On December 20th, Blake Lively filed her bombshell complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment and waging a ?social manipulation? campaign to destroy her. Her team provided emails and texts to the NYT, communications between Baldoni?s publicist and crisis manager, to authenticate Blake?s claims. Baldoni was also dropped by WME and his publicist. On New Year?s Eve, Baldoni and his team responded by suing the New York Times for $250 million. They?ve also promised to countersue Blake and release all of the texts & communications between Blake and Baldoni, but that hasn?t happened yet. Alongside all of these legal issues, there?s been a large-scale PR war happening across the trade papers, news outlets and beyond as regular gossip-watchers try to follow the ins and outs of the situation. Both Blake and Justin have fully engaged in the PR war. But according to a new statement from Blake?s legal team, Justin?s side needs to stop?
Blake Lively?s legal team is condemning what they call more attacks from Justin Baldoni. On Dec. 20, Lively, 37, who starred in Baldoni?s film It Ends with Us, filed a complaint against Baldoni and others, including his producing partners and publicists, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign to tarnish her reputation. Baldoni?s lawyer Bryan Freedman called the claims ?false, outrageous and intentionally salacious, and on Dec. 31, the actor-director also filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times over the newspapers Dec. 21 article about Livelys complaint, alleging it was the actress who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.
On Monday, Jan. 6, Lively?s legal team told PEOPLE in a statement that her ?serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation? are ?backed by concrete facts.?
?This is not a ?feud? arising from ?creative differences? or a ?he said/she said? situation,? her lawyers statement read. ?As alleged in Ms. Lively?s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer [Studios] and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set. And their response to the lawsuit has been to launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing.?
The statement continued: ?Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ?blame the victim? by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied. Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct.
?Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively?s legal claims, Lively?s legal team wrote. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.
[From People]
It?s true that Baldoni?s lawyer issuing briefings and threats is not a countersuit. It?s true that Baldoni?s team is trying to muddy the waters and cast doubt on certain aspects of Blake?s claims. But it?s also true that Justin Baldoni has every right to fight back and sue and wage a battle in the court of public opinion, just as Blake is doing. Did Blake think Baldoni was just going to roll over? Did she think that he would have no power to fight back? From what I?ve seen, there are absolutely issues that need to be dealt with in court, with both sides providing evidence and receipts.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment & 'social manipulation' | | Added 129 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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A few days ago, I finally watched It Ends With Us, and it is quite easily one of the worst movies I?ve ever seen in my life. A nonsensical plot, one-dimensional characters, actors who are incapable of acting their way out of a paper bag it was like a Lifetime movie with a bigger budget. The worst part was the ending, in which a victim of domestic violence uses logic to try to convince her abuser to leave her and their daughter alone and ? it works?? Yeah, that would totally happen in real life. All I can say is that this abhorrent film does not deserve the months of drama swirling around it. Everyone involved in IEWU should be deeply ashamed and they all should have made a pact to never speak of it again. Instead, we got months of drama over the summer, and now Blake Lively is suing Justin Baldoni, who directed IEWU and starred as Ryle Kincaid. Blake is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment and waging a PR campaign against her during and after the films promotion.
Blake Lively is suing her It Ends with Us costar Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment. Months after rumors of behind-the-scenes discord on the set of the adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel, the actress, 37, said in the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, that Baldonis alleged behavior caused her severe emotional distress. (Baldoni, 40, also served as It Ends with Us director.)
Per the outlet, the lawsuit states there was a meeting held to address Livelys claims and her demands for working on the film. It was attended by various figures, including Livelys husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Some of the demands that were addressed, according to the lawsuit cited by TMZ, included no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldonis alleged previous pornography addiction, no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crews genitalia, no more inquiries about Blakes weight, and no further mention of Blakes dead father.
No more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project, were other demands mentioned in the lawsuit, according to TMZ.
According to TMZ, the lawsuit states that Sony Pictures, who distributed the film, approved of Livelys requests. However, Lively claims in the lawsuit that Baldoni then took part in a social manipulation campaign to destroy her reputation soon after.
Bryan Freedman, Baldonis lawyer, tells PEOPLE in a statement that Livelys lawsuit was to fix her negative reputation. He also said that her allegations are false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.
Freedman added that Lively caused problems on set of the film, which is currently streaming, threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release. Representatives for Lively, Baldoni and Sony did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for comment.
[From People]
Some of Lively?s accusations against Baldoni were previewed months ago, when well-informed sources insisted that everyone on set hated Baldoni (for unspecified reasons) and that Blake was hurt that Baldoni asked someone how much Blake weighed (Baldoni apparently has a bad back). We were also told that Blake thought Baldoni ?lingered too long? during a kissing scene. I?ll admit, back in August and September, it felt like Blake and Ryan Reynolds were the ones targeting Baldoni. But if Baldoni was doing even some of the sh-t she?s now accusing him of, he absolutely created a toxic work environment. His on-set behavior was absolutely inappropriate, if any of this is true. It also feels like this might answer the questions I had about why Sony was going above and beyond to make Blake happy and give her everything she wanted, including allowing her to bring in her own editor to create a ?Lively Cut? of the film.
As for the social manipulation part of Blakes legal action more information came out in the NY Times, which I will cover separately. All Ill say in this post is that it looks like Blake has a really good case against Baldoni and his production company.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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| | Sony fully supports Blake Lively after she screened 'IEWU: The Lively Cut' in Texas | | Added 257 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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What does this Blake Lively stuff remind you of? For me, it?s sort of like the Hilaria Baldwin stuff in late 2020 and early 2021 suddenly, people were going back through all of Hilaria?s old interviews and doing deep dives on all of the Hilaria-was-never-Spanish lore. While Blake Lively never lied about being ?from Spain,? there is a similar deep-dive into the gossip history around Blake. Like? what was up with Blake and Leighton Meester on Gossip Girl? They apparently didn?t get along at all towards the latter part of the series, so much so they the would barely even speak to each other. The Mail is on the case go here to read.
Meanwhile, the current Blake situation is that we still don?t know exactly what went down between Blake, Justin Baldoni and the cast of It Ends With Us. Many people around the production maintain this idea that Baldoni and Lively?s larger falling out happened in postproduction, especially when Blake brought in her own editor to create IEWU: The Lively Cut. It was also clear (to me) that Team Blake had already started an increasingly loud whisper campaign about Baldoni, one which scared him enough to hire a crisis management team this week. Well, speaking of all of that, the Hollywood Reporter has an interesting piece about the studio giving a lot of full-throated support for Blake, especially after she screened IEWU: The Lively Cut to Colleen Hoover?s groupies in Texas in June.
In mid-June, star-producer Blake Lively traveled to Dallas to attend author Colleen Hoover?s Book Bonanza for a Q&A in the lead-up to the August release It Ends With Us. Lively surprised the 2,000-plus attendees when she announced they could screen a rough cut of the movie adaptation the following night. The screening of the movie ? the first of Hoover?s popular novels to hit the screen ? proved to be a stroke of marketing genius for Sony, which bought rights to release the movie from Wayfarer Studios, whose co-founder, Justin Baldoni, both directed and stars in the film.
?Colleen Hoover?s Book Bonanza and her fans sparked the fire that was the beginning of the cultural movement,? says Josh Greenstein, a veteran marketer and president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.
Absent, however, from the Dallas gathering was Baldoni. The version shown that night was Lively?s preferred rough cut of the movie.
By the time the movie opened Aug. 9, an ugly war had erupted on TikTok and other social media platforms pitting Baldoni and Lively against each other. Many took aim at Lively, despite reports that some cast and crewmembers, including Lively, felt uncomfortable over Baldoni?s behavior on set.
Sony is fully in sync with Lively. ?Blake, Colleen and so many women put so much effort into this remarkable movie, working selflessly from the start to ensure that such an important subject matter was handled with care. Audiences love the movie. Blake?s passion and commitment to advancing the conversation around domestic violence is commendable,? Sony Pictures Entertainment Chair-CEO Tony Vinciquerra told The Hollywood Reporter. ?We love working with Blake, and we want to do 12 more movies with her.?
Sony?s marketing campaign ? in staying true to Hoover?s book ? conveyed that It Ends With Us isn?t a story of victimhood, but a story of redemption. It traverses falling in love, becoming an entrepreneur, friendship and family, alongside pain and trauma. ?Lily is a survivor and a victim, but that doesn?t define her, as she is in charge of her identity and her story. These themes were important to the campaign,? says one source connected to the film?s rollout.
Sources have told THR that there was a fracture between Baldoni and Lively in the postproduction stage, wherein two different cuts of the movie emerged. Lively commissioned a cut of the movie from editor Shane Reid, who was an editor on Deadpool & Wolverine, according to multiple sources.
[From THR]
This reads to me like why Baldoni hired crisis managers in the first place, because he was afraid he was going to get squished by the studio taking Blake?s side and throwing him under the bus. Sony is obviously doing the most to stay on Blake?s good side, and not only that, Sony is seemingly doing a lot (here and behind-the-scenes) to keep the arguments from devolving into petty, personal attacks. It suits everyone involved if the story is ?Blake and Justin disagreed about which edit to use, that?s the big problem? rather than ?Justin fat-shamed Blake and gave her a lingering kiss? or ?Blake is a mean-girl bully.?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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