Justin Baldoni claims Blake Lively tried to ban him from ‘It Ends With Us’ premiere in ‘humiliating’ move
Justin Baldoni has claimed Blake Lively attempted to bar him from attending their film premiere, alleging his family was forced to wait in a basement until she left.
Movies
Don't miss out on the headlines from Movies. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Justin Baldoni has claimed his co-star Blake Lively attempted to ban him and his Wayfarer Studios team from their film’s August premiere.
According to the US actor’s $US250 million lawsuit against the New York Times, which he filed on Tuesday, Lively allegedly “initially refused to permit his attendance” at the It Ends With Us premiere in New York to “undermine” Baldoni’s role as director, executive producer and star of the project.
Lively and Baldoni were the lead stars of the Colleen Hoover adaptation, playing love interests Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid, respectively.
“Only after significant pressure did she [Lively] reluctantly agree to allow Baldoni and the Wayfarer team to attend, but under humiliating conditions,” per the court documents obtained by The Post.
“The Wayfarer team and their families, including Baldoni and [producer Jamey] Heath, were segregated from the main cast, barred from the exclusive after-party, and forced to organise their own event at additional cost,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Baldoni’s participation on the red carpet was cut short, and his family and friends were confined to a makeshift holding area in the basement before being escorted into a separate theatre after Lively’s departure.”
Baldoni’s legal filing further claims, “Not only had Lively stolen the Film, but she also robbed Baldoni and his team of any genuine opportunity to celebrate their hard work.”
Rumours of a feud first surfaced around the time of the August premiere, with Lively posing on the red carpet with husband Ryan Reynolds and her co-star Brendan Sklenar. Baldoni, for his part, posed solo, in a highly-unusual move between a film’s two leads hot on the publicity trail.
Baldoni, 40, claims the alleged snub was one of several moves by Lively, 37, that “systematically sidelined [him] from the marketing of his own Film.”
The director also names Reynolds in the lawsuit.
“Baldoni and [Wayfarer Studios] grew increasingly fearful of what Lively and Reynolds were capable of, as their actions seemed aimed at destroying Baldoni’s career and personal life,” the documents claim.
In addition to claiming Reynolds berated him in an “aggressive” confrontation for allegedly “fat-shaming” Lively, the actor also accused the Deadpool & Wolverine star in court docs of persuading Baldoni’s agent to drop him as a client.
Baldoni’s former agency, WME — which also reps Lively and Reynolds — denied the allegation in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.
“In Baldoni’s filing there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent at the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ premiere. This is not true,” the agency said.
“Baldoni’s former representative was not at the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ premiere nor was there any pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any time to drop Baldoni as a client.”
Page Six has reached out to Reynolds’ rep for comment.
Lively’s legal team previously responded to Baldoni’s lawsuit against the Times in a statement to Page Six.
“Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint,” which was filed on Tuesday.
“This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice ‘not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,’ and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.’ As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively [Tuesday], that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false.”
They added, “While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively’s complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer’s allegations in court.”
Baldoni’s legal filing against the Times for alleged libel and false light invasion of privacy coincided with the Gossip Girl star formally filing a lawsuit against him for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages.
Baldoni previously denied the similar allegations Lively made in her separately filed California complaint.
This story originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Justin Baldoni claims Blake Lively tried to ban him from ‘It Ends With Us’ premiere in ‘humiliating’ move
Have your say in the 2025 AACTAs
From Nicole Kidman to Jacob Elordi, here is how you can vote for your favourite stars for the 2025 AACTA Awards.
Feud detail we all missed in Reynolds movie
A theory about ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ has exploded on social media, centring on a compelling argument one of the characters is mocking Justin Baldoni.