Amid the raging legal battle between Hollywood actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, a private voice note shared between the “It Ends With Us” co-stars on February 8, 2023, has been unsealed in court.
Recorded by Lively weeks before the filming for “It Ends With Us” started, the message captures her speaking calmly and candidly to Baldoni "as a friend" about feeling "overwhelmed" by the demands of back-to-back work projects and her responsibilities as a mother of four children whom she shares with husband Ryan Reynolds.
This rare look into their early rapport was made public on Friday as evidence in Lively’s multi-million-dollar lawsuit against her co-star and director.
"I'm talking to you as a friend at this point more than anything," Lively said in the message to Baldoni.
"The only reason I'm doing [that movie] first is because I gave them my word, and I wouldn't go back on that," she said in the voice message. "But having a week off in between, it's just a lot."
Also read: Taylor Swift’s texts to Blake Lively about Justin Baldoni leaked
Lively, in her messages, also shared her worries about returning to work without enough help at home. She spoke about feeling stressed about childcare and not being fully ready to leave her baby.
"I still don't have a baby nurse... Shooting in April, shooting in March is just too soon after having a baby and not sleeping and wanting to be in my best shape," she said.
During the filming of the romantic drama, Baldoni, according to reports, later sent Lively a voice note apologising after a discussion about the alleged changes she made to a rooftop scene in the film. In that leaked audio, Baldoni expressed regret over how things played out.
Lively later sued Baldoni, his publicist and the film's producers, in December 2024, accusing them of sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni has denied all the claims. Lively is also seeking more than $160 million in damages. The trial is set to take place in May 2026 in New York.
Earlier this month, a flood of court documents was released on Tuesday, containing allegations of inappropriate on-set behaviour by Baldoni, as reported by Lively and several of her co-stars from “It Ends with Us”.
Among them was singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s private text message sent to Lively in 2024 in which the pop star referred to Baldoni as a "b****".
The court papers also showed that a year earlier, Lively had shared her own anger in messages to Swift. She described Baldoni as the "doofus director" of her film and called him a "clown" who "thinks he's a writer now."
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