Amid the legal war between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, which is being waged with PR campaigns and social media, the latter has added fuel to the growing fire. In her latest court filing, the It Ends With Us star claimed she wasn’t the only woman on the set of the domestic abuse drama who was concerned with Baldoni’s behavior.
CNN reported the actor’s amended complaint against Baldoni, who’s best-known for his stint on TV’s Jane the Virgin (until now), added nearly 50 pages of further detail on Feb. 18, 2025. Amid the added context in the sexual harassment and retaliation case was the allegation additional women present during the making of the film were uncomfortable with regards to Baldoni’s actions.
According to the complaint, a female co-star reported worries about Baldoni to It Ends With Us‘ distributor, Sony. The amended suit reads, “Ms. Lively brought this lawsuit because she was one of the ‘women or two’ that Mr. Baldoni one million percent made uncomfortable” on the set of the film.”
Baldoni’s feminist persona was also mentioned: “Ms. Lively was not the only one who was uncomfortable on set, and Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer knew it. After Mr. Baldoni learned that he had caused Ms. Lively and others to feel uncomfortable, he turned his TED Talk and feminist advocacy on its head.”
As per the original complaint, the lawsuit alleges that after Lively first reported her concerns in May 2023, “another female cast member reported her own concerns regarding Mr. Baldoni’s unwelcome behavior” to a Sony representative and one of the movie’s producers. The Sony rep then reportedly brought the matter to Baldoni, who responded in writing to the cast member, “acknowledging that he was aware of her concerns and that adjustments would be made.” Lively’s suit also claims the woman “told Ms. Lively about her growing concerns with the conditions on set,” and that she found it difficult to talk to Baldoni.
Lively’s lawyers say that instead of making the adjustments he said he would make, Baldoni instead hired a crisis management team. Said team’s campaign to allegedly smear Lively and paint her as non-credible became highly publicized in an exposé by The New York Times, which reviewed private messages between Baldoni and his PR warriors.
Entertianment publicity professional Jennifer Abel was supposedly tasked with burying Blake’s reputation, which had already started to crumble in the face of rumored indignance and overstepping on set — though it’s impossible to say now whether public sentiment turned against her organically at first, or whether Abel’s work is to thank for the negative tide’s origin.
Abel may have posted a long rant on a Facebook group shortly after the Times‘ article broke. According to leaked screenshots of what appears to be her account’s post, she wrote, “What the cherry-picked messages don’t include, although not shockingly as it doesn’t fit the narrative, is that there was no ‘smear’ implemented.”
Abel continued, “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 our scenario, but we didn’t have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us.”
Lively’s amended lawsuit alleges the opposite; she says Abel and Baldoni conspired to ruin her image, similar to how we’ve seen other women who’ve spoken up about sexual harassment be treated. She believes the intention was to drag her through the mud using misinformation and misogyny as tried and true tactics. And, unfortunately for Lively, it was incredibly effective.
