By AP
New York: Justin Baldoni apologised to Blake Lively after they discussed changes she made to a scene in It Ends With Us, according to a newly leaked voice note he reportedly sent her.
Baldoni and Lively are currently in an ongoing legal dispute, where Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the making of the 2024 film. He has denied the accusations.
In a text exchange between the pair, released in Baldoni’s US$400 million ($640 million) defamation countersuit against Lively, she allegedly told Baldoni, her co-star and director, that she was disappointed by his initial response to her script changes.
The nearly seven-minute audio message, obtained by Daily Mail on Monday (US time), was reportedly sent to Lively in response to this exchange.
“I’m really sorry,” he told her in the April 2023 voice note. “I for sure fell short, and you worked really hard on that.
“I just want to say thank you for sharing that with me,” he continued. “That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability. And I just, I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in the It Ends With Us rooftop scene, referenced in his audio message.Credit: Sony Pictures
Baldoni then called himself a “very flawed man, as my wife will attest” and said he was willing to “admit and apologise when I fail”.
Meanwhile, a New York judge set a March 2026 trial date on Monday and moved an initial conference from mid-February to next week as the public feud between Lively and Baldoni continued to grow and accelerate.
And in a new and separate front in the series of legal battles surrounding the film that became a surprise hit last summer, Lively in a Texas court filed a request for a deposition of a man she says was central to turning online sentiment against her during its release and promotion.
The New York federal judge, Lewis J. Liman, told both sides in an order late on Monday to prepare for a March 9, 2026, trial.
Baldoni is in the middle of a legal dispute with co-star Lively.Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
He also moved an initial conference from mid-February to next week and told lawyers to be prepared to address complaints about pre-trial publicity and lawyer conduct.
Liman took the actions after Lively’s lawyers claimed in a filing on Monday that a lawyer for Baldoni was trying to taint potential jurors over lawsuits the actors had filed against each other.
The lawyers said Baldoni’s lawyer was trying to wreck Lively’s career and turn potential New York jurors against her by creating a website to release selected documents and communications between Lively and Baldoni.
The lawyers said lawyer Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni, was “engaging in this extrajudicial campaign to influence these proceedings and the public perception of legal filings to this court, and there already is a serious risk that his misconduct is tainting the jury pool”.
The movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.Credit: Getty Images
They added: “The endless stream of defamatory and extrajudicial media statements must end.”
Freedman said in a statement in response to Monday’s assertions that the “irony is not lost on anyone that Ms Lively is so petrified of the truth that she has moved to gag it”.
“We will always respect the court, however, we will never be bullied by those suggesting we cannot defend our clients with pure, unedited facts,” the lawyer said.
“All we want is for people to see the actual text messages that directly contradict her allegations, video footage that clearly shows there was no sexual harassment and all the other powerful evidence that directly contradicts any false allegations.”
In a letter to the judge last Thursday, Baldoni’s lawyer, Kevin Fritz, accused Lively of a publicity campaign that left Baldoni and other defendants the “objects of public scorn and contempt”.
He said the actions had damaged those she sued so that they were “exiled from polite society and suffered damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars due to Ms Lively’s scorched-earth media campaign”.
In the separate filing in Hays County, Texas, a precursor to another potential lawsuit, Lively asks for an order for a deposition from Jed Wallace, a crisis management specialist she alleges was behind much of the social media manipulation surrounding the film that turned public sentiment against her through posts on Reddit and TikTok.
Wallace and his Texas-based firm, Street Relations, were brought on as subcontractors by publicists working with Baldoni and his production company, the filing said.
“He weaponised a digital army around the country, including in New York and Los Angeles, to create, seed, manipulate, and advance disparaging content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums,” the filing alleges.
Wallace is identified in Lively’s federal lawsuit, but he is not a defendant.
Freedman, who the filing says is Wallace’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.
Lively sued Baldoni, his production company and others in New York in late December for sexual harassment and attacks on her reputation, and asked for unspecified damages. Baldoni sued earlier this month, accusing Lively and her husband, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion and seeking at least $US400 million in damages.
The judge said on Monday that he would probably combine the lawsuits for trial.
It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $US50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
Lively came to fame through the 2005 film, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, and bolstered her stardom on the TV series, Gossip Girl, from 2007 to 2012. She has since starred in films including The Town and The Shallows.
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy, Jane the Virgin, directed the 2019 film, Five Feet Apart, and wrote Man Enough, a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity.
AP with Sydney Morning Herald
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.