Both Baldoni and Lively have filed lawsuits against each other – with the Gossip Girl star initially filing hers in December 2024, where she accused her It Ends With Us co-star of sexual harassment and conducting a ‘social manipulation’ campaign against her, before filing another lawsuit in federal New York court.
Lively’s lawyers have responded to the suit, claiming it is ‘attempts to turn the tables on the victim’, while Baldoni’s legal team have maintained it is ‘based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence’.
Both suits have provided alleged text messages as evidence, with one being shared by Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, with NewsNation.
Blake Lively alleges that Justin Baldoni acted inappropriately towards her on set (Katie Jones/Beauty Inc via Getty Images)
In the alleged exchange, the 37-year-old actress said: “I’m just pumping in our trailer if you want to work out our lines,” to which Baldoni replied: “Eating with crew and will head that way.”
The text chain allegedly took place on 3 June 2023, which the lawsuit claims is ‘after the alleged harassment and “uncomfortable” situations allegedly occurred’.
It then ends with Lively allegedly writing: “Take your time.”
These messages in particular were included to counter Lively’s sexual harassment claims, as she willingly asked him to come into her personal space at least once after claiming privacy invasions.
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer shared this text exchange publicly (Superior Court of the State of California)
Baldoni’s lawsuit further claims that ‘Lively’s intimate comfort with Baldoni continued as filming progressed’, adding: “Lively was so close and comfortable with Baldoni that she freely breast-fed in front of him during meetings. She took photos of him holding and soothing her crying baby in her penthouse.
“They laughed deliriously during late-night writing sessions. All of these events took place after the alleged sexual harassment. Lively’s accusations seemed to come out of the blue.”
The suit also claims that Lively ‘regularly breast-fed in front of Baldoni while they had meetings’.
When speaking of the text messages, Freedman said: “We’re going to do is like no one’s ever done in any kind of case.
“What you’re starting to see is a complete turnaround in the story. People will be questioning whether this is truthful or not.
“When Blake Lively says she was sexually harassed, because Justin Baldoni went into her trailer whilst she was breastfeeding, what she failed to talk about is the invitation she sent in a text message.
“It’s right there in a text message. [The New York Times] will have reviewed a thousand pages, why didn’t they find that one?”