Justin Baldoni’s wife releases first statement since Blake Lively legal battle began

Justin Baldoni’s wife has shared her first public statement since her husband’s messy legal battle with Blake Lively began.

Justin Baldoni’s wife has broken her silence amid her husband’s heated legal battle with Blake Lively.

The Swedish actress took to Instagram to post a sweet tribute to Justin alongside a scenic photo of the family embracing each other in front of the ocean.

“Happy birthday my love. Celebrating the man, husband, and father that you are,” Emily wrote alongside a snapshot of the couple and their two kids – daughter, Maiya, 9, and son, Maxwell, 7.

“I’d choose you again and again.”

Baldoni, who turned 41, has been vacationing in Hawaii with his wife — whom he married in 2013 — and their two children.

In December 2024, Lively accused her It Ends With Us co-star and director of sexual harassment, alleging he made her uncomfortable on multiple occasions by inappropriately talking about his past porn addiction and walking in on her while breastfeeding without permission.

Baldoni’s legal team denied the allegations and claimed Lively’s bad publicity “was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.”

Lively went on to sue Justin for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages.

Baldoni alum then filed a $US250 million ($A397m) libel lawsuit against the New York Times for their coverage of Lively’s allegations.

Baldoni then also sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist for $US400 million ($A635m) claiming he had been defamed and extorted by Lively and her team.

MEGYN KELLY RIPS INTO BLAKE LIVELY

Conservative US commentator Megyn Kelly has called Blake Lively’s sexual harassment accusations against her “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni “absurd.”

During the January 22 episode of her talk show and podcast, the vocal Donald Trump supporter addressed the lawsuits being traded between Baldoni and Lively, basing her assessment on raw footage of the actors being filmed during a slow dance scene for the film.

While Kelly acknowledges there is no dispute as to what the pair said to each other while being filmed, she refuted Lively’s claim of sexual harassment.

“ … you can hear Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni interacting as themselves, knowing that this is all on video and that this is going to be used to create this dance scene. And no such moment is shown,” Kelly said. “Just watch it; watch it,” she urged viewers.

Kelly then aired a portion of the video, which shows the actors conversing before the moment Baldoni nuzzles his nose into Lively’s neck and comments she “smells good.”

“That’s her big harassment moment,” Kelly quips, claiming the pair both appeared “completely flirtatious” with one another.

In the video, when the actors embrace and put their heads together, Lively jokes she feels “so nosy,” referring to their noses touching, to which Baldoni replies, “I know. And my nose is so big.”

Lively then responds, “Yes. I was hoping we could address this. It’s not too late.”

The mum of four then seemingly suggests Baldoni undergo surgery, telling him to “shut down [production]” and “call an insurance month,” which suggests the Jane the Virgin star’s claims that Lively spoke negatively about his facial appearance.

In another take, Baldoni jokes that he is probably “getting beard” on his leading lady, to which Lively responds that she is probably getting spray tan on him.

He then replies, “It smells good.”

Kelly concluded: “I’m just saying this person is not an honest broker. I believe her less than ever. I actually disbelieve her fully now, and they should not be gagged. I will happily participate in releasing any further leaks that they have, because the truth should be out there. What does she have to fear if she’s telling the truth?”

The 10-minute video, shared by Baldoni’s legal counsel Bryan Freedman on Tuesday and obtained by The New York Post, opens with a statement outlining Lively’s claim that Baldoni was “behaving inappropriately” during that slow dancing scene.

Baldoni’s legal team released raw video footage from “It Ends With Us” to refute his co-star Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims.

Baldoni’s legal counsel claims the footage, which was filmed in May 2023, refutes Lively’s characterisation of Baldon’s behaviour.

“The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism,” the statement read.

“These are all three takes filmed in sequence.”

In the clip, Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40, slow dance in a bar for a scene in the movie, which was released in August 2024, as extras watch and cheer for a game in the background.

The actors appear in a slow dance scene.

In documents obtained by The Post, the “Age of Adaline” actor claims Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of the romantic drama during the filming of the same slow dance scene, which was being filmed for a montage in which no dialogue between the couple would be heard.

Lively alleges that during that scene Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good’ … When Ms Lively later objected to this behaviour, Mr Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you’.”

In the footage the actors can be heard engaging in small talk on their mics — even bringing up their respective spouses, Ryan Reynolds and Emily Baldoni.

At one point, the Gossip Girl star tells her co-star that she thought it was “more romantic” for them to talk while they danced.

The scene was for a montage of moments between the couple with no audible dialogue.

LEGAL DRAMA DEEPENS

Lively had a scathing response to the release of the raw footage.

In a statement provided to The New York Post, Lively’s legal team said the video “corroborates, to the letter,” her allegations of sexual harassment rather than vindicating him, as his team have claimed.

“Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,” the statement began.

“Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds have also asked a court to issue a protective order to stop Baldoni’s lawyers from engaging in “improper conduct”.

TMZ reports the latest move is an attempt by the power couple to gag Baldoni’s lawyer on the claim that he is he’s making false statements about the case and allegedly initiated a “harassing and retaliatory media campaign” against them.

The outlet reports Lively and Reynolds claim Baldoni is violating court rules that stop a lawyer from making statements to the press that are irrelevant to a case and might prejudice the jury.

Blake Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds is also involved in one of the lawsuits.

Lively also claimed that a meeting was held to address Baldoni’s behaviour, which allegedly included showing Lively “nude videos or images of women,” mentioning his past “porn addiction” and sexual conquests and requesting to add more sex scenes outside of the approved script.

She also accused Baldoni of working with his team to ruin her reputation by orchestrating a smear campaign against her.

Freedman slammed the claims on behalf of his client at the time, telling The Post’s Page Six in a statement: “It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations.

“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.”

Baldoni filed a $A638 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, her husband and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, claiming the Hollywood couple asserted control over the production of the film.

In the suit, Baldoni claimed Lively “continued to break character” during their slow dance scene and started to “speak as herself rather than as Lily, which was extremely confusing for Baldoni” before making jokes about his nose.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are suing each other over their movie It Ends With Us.

Baldoni’s lawyer, Freedman, told The Post, “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”

The lawyer added, “We know the truth, and now the public does too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide; documents do not lie.”

In response to the suit, Lively’s legal team told Page Six: “This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim.”

Last month, the “Five Feet Apart” director also filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times, claiming the newspaper “cherry picked and altered communications” without providing “necessary context” in their article about Lively’s sexual harassment allegations.

- with The New York Post

Originally published as Justin Baldoni’s wife releases first statement since Blake Lively legal battle began