LOS ANGELES: Amid the legal battle between ‘It Ends With Us’ cos-tars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, a voice note has emerged in which Baldoni can be heard apologising to Lively. The leaked voice note was allegedly sent during production on It Ends With Us, British online newspaper The Independent reported.
The dispute between the two Hollywood stars went public after Lively filed a complaint against the ‘It Ends With Us’ male lead and director over alleged sexual harassment and a smear campaign.
The voice note obtained by TMZ, which lasts for almost seven minutes, is believed to have been sent after Baldoni questioned changes Lively made to a rooftop scene – months before their explosive lawsuit and Lively’s accusation of sexual harassment.
Baldoni’s response to the edits Lively had made to a pivotal scene in the drama led the upset actor to express her disappointment with her director and co-star, for which he said he was “really sorry”.
“Man, reading the second part of your message, my heart sank and I’m really sorry. I, for sure, fell short and you worked really hard on that,” Baldoni said in the voice note as reported by The Independent while citing TMZ.
“I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me. And I’m really sorry. That is a fail on my part.”
In the message, which Baldoni said was sent at 2am, he said he is “far from perfect”, adding: “I’m a very flawed man, as my wife will attest. But I will always apologise and then find my way back to centre. That is one thing I can assure you of. And I’m sorry I made you feel that way – that must have felt terrible.”
Also his voice message, first reported by Daily Mail, Baldoni addresses Lively’s message, in which she said that her husband Ryan Reynolds and friend Taylor Swift had approved of the changes she had made to the script.
“We should all have friends like that, aside from the fact they’re two of the most creative people on the planet,” Baldoni said. “The three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy. Force. All three of you.”
However, he said he would have always apologised for his response, regardless of whether Lively had mentioned Reynolds of Swift, stating: “I didn’t need that. It’s really good and it’s going to make the movie sing like you said and I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you.”
In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and organising a “smear campaign” against her in the months that followed the filming of It Ends With Us.
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Blake Lively also filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, accusing him of sexually harassing her on the sets of the film.
In response, Justin Baldoni filed a counterclaim against his co-star, accusing the actress of defamation, civil extortion, false light and invasion of privacy.
A New York court has set a trial date of March 9, 2025, to conduct proceedings on their lawsuits.
Baldoni has since sued the New York Times for libel over their reporting of her claims as well as Lively herself, accusing her and her Reynolds of attempting to “destroy” his own career and reputation in a $400m lawsuit.
