Justin Baldoni claimed that Blake Full of life and Ryan Reynolds drafted a press release for him the place he’d take “accountability” for the unhealthy press round “It Ends With Us.”
Over the weekend, Baldoni, 41, launched a brand new web site with an amended model of his $400 million lawsuit towards the couple, in addition to a doc that outlines the timeline of occasions earlier than and after the film’s filming. Baldoni filed each the amended grievance and the timeline doc in court docket.
Within the filed timeline, Baldoni claimed that Full of life, 37, and Reynolds, 48, tried to power him into taking the blame for the “troubled production” of “It Ends With Us” and the destructive press that Full of life handled whereas she promoted the flick.
Full of life and Reynolds allegedly wrote the draft assertion in Aug. 2024, the identical month the film got here out, after they have been “furious” with Baldoni and his manufacturing firm, Wayfarer Studios, “for positioning them as promoting the Film as a ‘Barbie film’ while elevating Baldoni to speak on the more serious messaging.”
The alleged draft assertion mentioned, “IT ENDS WITH US was a troubled production which we take full accountability for. We are very sorry to everyone we caused upset to privately and publicly. Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, the entire cast and crew led with professionalism every step of the way, any negativity aimed at them is ours to own.”
“We mutually agreed that the cast would be promoting the film separately and understood why. We have always said we are not perfect and even if unintentionally make mistakes, we will always own them,” the alleged draft assertion continued. “We hold ourselves accountable, it’s not anyone’s job but ours and that’s part of being ‘man enough.’ We will practice what we preach. We are learning and growing from the experience and we thank everyone for their patience as we find a better way to proceed. We are very proud of the film and the welcome arms that it’s been received.”
The alleged draft assertion added, “Part of our work is to have uncomfortable conversations for public growth. The film is doing that on screen and we are doing that off screen. Thank you to the cast crew and public for the opportunity to be imperfect and to be given the space to learn and grow.”
Baldoni’s court docket papers additionally included an alleged screenshot of a textual content message alternate between his publicist, Jennifer Abel, and disaster publicist, Melissa Nathan, discussing the alleged draft assertion.
In accordance with the alleged textual content message, Abel referred to as Full of life and Reynolds’ request for Baldoni to launch the alleged assertion “unbelievable,” whereas Nathan insisted Baldoni must “lawyer up now.”
The court docket papers additional claimed that Abel and “It Ends With Us” producer Jamey Heath, each WME executives, participated in a name to evaluation the alleged assertion.
“Upon review, WME concurs with Wayfarer that the statement was vague, implies culpability without substance, and fails to address the issues at hand,” the court docket papers learn. “Furthermore, if the goal was to mitigate negative online attention directed at Lively, the statement would have the opposite effect. In response, Wayfarer, Baldoni, and Heath reject the demand, firmly refusing to issue any statement falsely assuming responsibility for non-existent issues.”
The Publish has reached out to reps for Full of life and Reynolds for remark.
Baldoni launched his web site to refute Full of life’s claims that he sexually harassed her on the set of the movie. The location incorporates alleged screenshots of never-before-seen texts between Baldoni and Full of life and Reynolds.
In Dec. 2024, Full of life sued Baldoni, Heath, Abel, Nathan, Wayfarer Studios, and extra. Along with her sexual harassment claims, she accused Baldoni and his group of orchestrating a PR smear marketing campaign towards her.
Baldoni, who has denied all of Full of life’s claims, countersued Full of life, Reynolds and their publicist, Leslie Sloane, on numerous claims together with civil extortion, defamation and false gentle invasion of privateness.
The “It Ends With Us” director can be suing the New York Instances for $250 million for libel and false gentle invasion of privateness, after the newspaper launched an article detailing Full of life’s sexual harassment claims.
Baldoni and Full of life’s trial is ready to start in March 2026.