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Blake Lively has requested "additional protections" for her close confidants amid her ongoing legal issues with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni. Both the stars' legal teams had previously agreed to have a protective order.
However, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds' attorney submitted a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman on February 20, 2025, requesting a stronger PO than the one assigned by the court. The letter noted that Blake Lively's friends and family, the people who spoke in her favor had "received violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications."
They also included an Attorney’s Eyes Only (AEO) category in the filing for the proposed PO. According to the letter, it applies to "Confidential Discovery Material of such a highly confidential and personal, sensitive, or proprietary nature that the revelation of such is likely to cause a competitive, business, commercial, financial, personal or privacy injury."
Justin Baldoni's legal team addressed the adversities faced by confidants of various parties in a statement on February 2, 2025. The statement noted that the team didn't "condone dangerous rhetoric targeted toward anyone" regardless of the situation.
"Anyone receiving violent messages by anonymous parties is abhorrent. When private parties were wrongfully accused by Lively and her paid team of wrongdoing, they received continuous death threats and visits to private homes where young children reside…. No one should have to face that, especially private parties who do not have means for security detail,” the statement read.
The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni started with the former filing a legal complaint against Baldoni on December 20, 2024. In the complaint, she accused Baldoni of s*xual harassment and running an online smear campaign to ruin her reputation.
Baldoni responded by filing an 80-page lawsuit accusing Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane. The It Ends With Us director accused them of extortion, invasion of privacy, and defamation.
Blake Lively's amended lawsuit accuses Steve Sarowitz of likening her and Ryan Reynolds to Hamas
Blake Lively filed an amended lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni on February 18, 2025, at the New York federal court. In the suit, the Gossip Girl star accused Steve Sarowitz, the co-founder and co-chairman of Wayfarer Studios of threatening her and Ryan Reynolds.
The lawsuit accused Sarowitz of threatening the couple that there would be severe consequences if they "ever cross the line."
A People Magazine report from February 19, 2025, noted that the publication had obtained the amended lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Sarowitz also allegedly claimed that the couple would be "dead to a lot of people" if they crossed the line.
"I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I'm done. Minimum. Not dead, but 'you're dead to me.' So that kind of dead. But dead to a lot of people," he reportedly said, according to the amended lawsuit obtained by People.
It Ends With Us had its New York premiere on August 6, 2025. It was also on the same day that Steve Sarowitz allegedly told an individual that he would spend $100 million to harm Blake Lively and her close ones.
The Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively trial is officially set to begin on March 9, 2026.
