The legal battle between "It Ends With Us" stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is heating up again, and this time, it's all about emotional distress, medical records, and who gets to tell their side of the story first.
Blake Lively is attempting to walk back two major claims she made against director and co-star Justin Baldoni, claims of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. But don't cue the credits just yet; this legal drama is still in full swing.
© WireImageBack in December 2024, Lively sued Baldoni following their work on "It Ends With Us," accusing him of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her. The case quickly became a legal labyrinth, dragging in not just Baldoni but also Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, and, bizarrely, even Taylor Swift for a brief moment (we'll get to that).
© GC ImagesBaldoni's legal team, preparing to defend their client against claims of "severe emotional distress and pain, humiliation, embarrassment," requested access to Lively's medical records and therapy notes. That's when Lively made her move to drop the emotional distress claims and, presumably, protect her private medical information.
According to the documents filed, Baldoni's team says Lively's lawyers sent notice that she's withdrawing her emotional distress claims. But here's the catch: She didn't want to drop them "with prejudice," meaning she's not promising she won't bring them back later.
Baldoni's lawyers are having none of that. They want the claims dismissed permanently, and they're not hiding their skepticism. To them, this is a calculated dodge to avoid handing over sensitive therapy notes that could impact the case.
© Jose Perez/Bauer-GriffinOn the other hand, Lively's camp calls this move a strategic streamlining, a surgical focus on the claims that matter most. They say Baldoni's "press stunt" filing is just smoke and mirrors, meant to deflect from what they claim is a retaliatory counterattack.
"The Baldoni-Wayfarer strategy of filing retaliatory claims has exposed them to expansive new damages," Lively's attorneys told Variety, hinting that the battlefield has simply shifted. "Ms. Lively continues to allege emotional distress," they added—just not under those two specific legal claims.
This All Started With a Movie
The dispute goes back to the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel. Lively starred as Lily Bloom, a woman trapped in a cycle of domestic violence.
After the movie's release in the summer of 2024, Lively's lawsuit quickly pulled in more than just Baldoni. In January, Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
© GC ImagesEven Taylor Swift found herself briefly entangled after it was alleged she encouraged Baldoni to accept Lively's proposed script rewrites. Swift's team responded with a very Swiftian "absolutely not," and after some legal pushback, the subpoena was dropped.
Now, it's up to the court to decide: Will it let Lively drop her distress claims without turning over therapy notes? Or will it compel her to hand over private mental health records, claiming they're relevant to the case?
