When the It Ends With Us drama between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni first started up this summer, the pendulum immediately swung against Lively. She had gotten too big for her boots. Her promotion of the movie missed the mark. Her press tour outfits were ‘cringe’. Much ado about nothing, really. But it stuck, because she’s a woman, and people love any excuse to hate on a woman.
Then, when Lively filed a legal complaint against her co-star and director Justin Baldoni in December accusing him of sexual misconduct and orchestrating an organised smear campaign against her reputation, a mass outpouring of public guilt swung the pendulum the other way.
“Blake Lively is a stark warning of how easy it is to cast a woman as a villain”. “Justin Baldoni is no male feminist”. “Justin Baldoni and The Men Who Pretend to Care About Us,” read the headlines. Lively was vindicated. Baldoni was the devil. For a bit.
Now, less than a month later, it seems the tables have turned yet again in Baldoni’s favour. The former Jane the Virgin star filed his countersuit against Lively this month, accusing the actress of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy, seeking at least $400 million in damages.
But it’s not legalese that’s winning Baldoni his good PR back, it’s what his legal team is leaking to the public. Last week, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman shared raw, unedited footage from one of Baldoni and Lively’s romantic scenes on the set of It Ends With Us. In the scene, Baldoni and Lively are dancing as part of a montage sequence. Knowing that additional audio would be added over the scene, the two actors discussed their personal lives and relationships while still acting convincingly romantic.
The footage shows Baldoni leaning in to almost kiss Lively several times, nuzzling her neck, and touching her lip with his thumb, while the audio captures her repeatedly telling him it would be “more romantic” to “just talk.” At one point, Baldoni leans into Lively’s neck, saying she smells good, to which she responds, “Well it's not that, it's my body make-up.” Baldoni says the footage proves he did not sexually harass Lively. Lively claims the opposite.
And the general public, rather than exploring any kind of nuance in this footage, have come to their own, far simpler conclusion: that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni just wanted to hook up. “B.L looks absolutely smitten with Justin,” one X user commented. “Jesus she’s weak for him!” another said.
Raw video from #ItEndsWithUs reveals some very telling conversation between #BlakeLively and #JustinBaldoni.
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 21, 2025
Read the full story on why this particular scene is especially relevant to their ongoing legal battle: https://t.co/Nioc0QmtCS
🎥: Courtesy of Bryan Freedman pic.twitter.com/nzSdYu5KBO
Comments of this sort have flooded in following the release of the footage, with some declaring Lively’s legal case “toast” now that the footage has been released. Aside from this take being laughably rudimentary (“Actors on screen… acting in love! Actors must want to have sex… in real life!”) it's actually deeply insulting, debasing, and the worst nightmare of any woman who has ever raised any feeling of discomfort around a man.
Imagine having an issue with a male co-worker so troubling that you raise a case with HR, take it to legal action, and everyone around you says, “Are you sure you don’t fancy him?” Plus, sorry to break it to anyone who thinks they’ve really cracked the code, but this is also page three of the victim blaming handbook, wedged handily between “Were you asking for it?” (page 2) and “What were you wearing?” (page 4).
To me, the gaps between Lively’s genuine discomfort and her professional desire to not ruin a scene are plain as day.
An intimacy coordinator said much the same. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, intimacy coordinator Mia Schachter observed that there wasn’t any kissing in the It Ends With Us script for that leaked scene, but Baldoni appeared to be attempting to kiss Lively anyway. “The first thing is that he is trying to kiss her, and they clearly haven’t discussed that ahead of time, and she keeps pulling away and clearly doesn’t want to do that,” Schacter claimed.
The intimacy coordinator also observed, “I can just see [Lively] trying to stay lighthearted and in good spirits about it and not upset him or anybody, and not waste anybody’s time. But of course, she is trapped between a rock and a hard place. I can see her appeasing him and trying to keep a smile on her face.”
But nuance isn’t nearly as salacious, so it doesn’t take root. Ironic, really, considering how up in arms everyone was just last month when we all realised how easy it was to turn the tide against one of the world’s most beloved famous women. And yet, lawyers and representatives of the significantly less famous and powerful Baldoni have now seemingly succeeded in doing it twice.
Whatever the outcome in court, it’s clear the ability of Baldoni’s representatives in moving the needle should not be underestimated again. Lively might as well give up any remaining faith in the general public and pin the rest of her hopes on the outcome at court. Fool me once, and all that.
