Actress Blake Lively has made a move to retract two of the accusations she previously made against director Justin Baldoni. The ongoing legal battle began when Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024 following their collaboration on the film “It Ends With Us,” alleging sexual harassment and a smear campaign. In response, Baldoni’s legal team requested access to Lively’s medical records, including therapy notes, as part of their defense against her claims of experiencing “severe emotional distress and pain, humiliation, embarrassment,” as reported by Variety. Lively is now seeking to drop the claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to the same source. The court will ultimately determine whether to dismiss these claims or compel Lively to disclose information related to her mental well-being. When contacted for comment, Baldoni’s lawyers declined to provide a statement to Variety, as did both parties when approached by the BBC. Documents obtained by Variety revealed that Baldoni’s legal team confirmed the withdrawal of the claims in a filing on Monday. They stated, “Instead of complying with the Medical RFPs [Request for Proposal], Ms. Lively’s counsel recently advised us, in writing, that Ms. Lively is withdrawing her [infliction of emotional distress] claims.” Lively’s attorneys responded to Baldoni’s filing, denouncing it as a “press stunt” and asserting that they are refining and concentrating her case. They emphasized that while some of Lively’s original claims are no longer needed due to new damages claims under California law, she continues to allege emotional distress in relation to other aspects of her lawsuit, such as sexual harassment and retaliation. The conflict between Lively and Baldoni traces back to their collaboration on “It Ends With Us,” a film based on a popular Colleen Hoover novel released the previous summer. The legal drama intensified when Baldoni countersued Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy in January of this year. Notably, singer Taylor Swift was dragged into the legal saga, with claims that she had influenced Baldoni’s decision-making regarding script revisions by Lively. However, Swift’s representatives swiftly clarified that she had no involvement in casting or creative choices and had not reviewed edits or provided feedback on the film. After objections from Swift’s legal team, a subpoena targeting the singer was withdrawn approximately two weeks later, with Variety describing it as an “unwarranted fishing expedition.”
In a surprising legal twist, actress Blake Lively has retracted two significant accusations against director Justin Baldoni, reshaping the ongoing lawsuit stemming from their collaboration on the film “It Ends With Us.”