Fat shaming to feuding: A detailed timeline of the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni fallout

Blake Lively is back in the headlines again after filing a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni for allegedly sexually harassing her and starting a smear campaign against the actress.

The lawsuit comes mere months after the much-anticipated release of It Ends With Us, starring both Blake and Justin.

However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the duo for a long time, with a rumoured feud starting during filming in 2023.

So, to break it all down, here’s a detailed timeline of the fallout between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

January 2023 – Blake and Justin announced as It Ends With Us leads

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To start the timeline, we’re going to go back to January last year when Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were both announced to be playing the leads in It Ends With Us.

It was reported that they were both excited to be working on the project, with Blake playing Lily and Justin playing Ryle, whilst also acting as the film’s director.

May 2023 – Film halted due to the writers’ strike

All appeared to be going well for the actors until the writers’ strike in May that year. The strike meant that filming was halted until January 2024, with the release date being pushed back twice until 9th August.

13th August 2024 – It Ends With Us press tour begins

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A year then passes in our Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni timeline, until the promo tour, and it was during this period that fans quickly noticing that Blake and Justin were avoiding each other.

During the tour, Blake posed separately from Justin, and the duo did not partake in interviews together – something many pointed out as unusual for a film’s two leading actors.

According to The Mirror, it was during this time when rumours spread of Blake feeling fat-shamed during a scene in which Justin picks her up, as he allegedly asked about her weight. However, it was noted that Justin was suffering from a back injury at the time and didn’t want to aggravate it.

On top of that, Blake supposedly felt more uncomfortable when Justin allegedly lingered longer than he should have during a kissing scene.

Whilst neither of them publicly spoke out about the feud, a source from the Daily Mail said they had clashed over Justin’s alleged “dismissive” attitude towards Blake’s “input”, with the source saying he took the suggested edits “personally”.

The source further said: “During scenes depicting abuse, Justin failed to consider Blake’s character’s perspective, instead focusing solely on what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint. His approach was very chauvinistic, creating a tense atmosphere on set.”

End of August 2024 – Blake faced backlash for her promotion of the film

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By the end of August, Blake had begun facing backlash from fans about how she’d promoted the film. She was called “tone deaf” for promoting her own brands and not putting a heavy focus on themes of domestic violence seen in the movie.

She was also accused of bullying Justin and being “rude” to fans on set. Furthermore, it was alleged that she had taken control of the film’s final edit with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, which reportedly led to Justin not being credited as producer. Justin has since said that Blake would be a better director for any sequels.

Following the criticism towards Blake, she was said to have removed herself from the spotlight, with a source telling the Daily Mail: “Blake is definitely saddened by the hate she is getting and is trying not to let it affect her, but it is.

“She thought this was her moment to shine, but is now looking at it like the end of her career. She’s fearing no one will want to work with her after this.”

However, another source told People that there was more to the feud than there seemed: “There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him.”

21st December 2024 – Blake files a lawsuit against Justin alleging sexual harassment

The feud then came to a head on 21st December 2024 when Blake filed a lawsuit against Justin accusing him of sexual harassment and coordinating a smear campaign against her.

In the lawsuit, which was shared in full by The New York Times, claimed Justin created a “hostile work environment” and that he’d walked into her trailer “uninvited” whilst she was undressed.

Blake also alleged that Justin added in extra sex scenes, showed her and other employees photos of nude women, talked about his sexual conquests, and spoke about the cast and crew’s genitalia.

The lawsuit further mentions a meeting held in January 2024 which was organised to discuss “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” on the film’s set. During this meeting, Blake outlined 30 demands which were to be implemented before filming resumed.

Blake has also alleged that Justin made comments about her dead father, saying he could communicate with him.

The lawsuit further claimed that a smear campaign was started by Justin and his PR team against Blake, and messages have revealed one of his PR representatives saying about Blake: “We can’t write we will destroy her. Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.

“You know we can bury anyone.”

Justin has denied the allegations, calling them “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.

In a statement via his lawyers, Justin claimed that Blake is trying to “fix her negative reputation”.

22nd December 2024 – Justin reportedly dropped by WME Agency

On 22nd December, Justin was then allegedly dropped by his talent agency, WME Agency, who also manages Blake Lively.

Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively and The Agency Group PR have been contacted for comment.

Featured image via Sony Pictures Entertainment

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