Another day, another development in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal battle. On the heels of behind-the-scenes footage of the It Ends With Us (IEWU) stars, Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, have put in a formal request for Baldoni’s lawyer to stay quiet publicly about the details of the ongoing case. 

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds request gag order for Baldoni’s lawyer

Lively and Reynolds are firing back at the It Ends With Us director/star’s own legal team. The couple, who have been married since 2012, issued a letter to judge Lewis J. Liman on Jan. 21, 2025, through their lawyers seeking a gag order for Baldoni’s head attorney Bryan Freedman, per E! News. 

The letter, in which the Lively legal team cited “improper conduct,” came shortly after a move from Baldoni’s own lawyers. They shared raw footage from the It Ends With Us set showing the Gossip Girl alum and Wayfarer Studios co-founder filming the movie’s rooftop scene. 

Meanwhile, Lively and the Deadpool & Wolverine star have stayed out of the spotlight, not attending awards shows and not updating their personal social media accounts. As for Baldoni, he’s been spotted on vacation in Hawaii and posing with fans for photos. 

In legal documents, Lively’s legal team alleged that “virtually every day” since the actor and producer filed her Civil Rights Complaint on Dec. 21, 2024, “Freedman has given television interviews, appeared on podcasts, issued inflammatory written statements, and leaked information (including, remarkably, documents as banal as document preservation demands to third parties) to the Hollywood press and tabloid media.”

Lively and Reynolds’ attorneys argued that Freedman’s statements “not only continue the campaign of retaliation that was the subject of Ms. Lively’s First Cease and Desist, but they contain numerous new false statements about Ms. Lively and others.” 

Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle began in December 2024

The gag order request is the latest in a long series of developments in Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle. It started in December 2024 when Lively’s civil complaint was outlined in The New York Times. She later formally filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, as well as others, on Dec. 31, 2024, alleging mental pain, lost wages, and anguish, in additon to sexual harassment claims. 

Since then, Baldoni’s fired back with his own countersuits. He’s suing The New York Times for $250 million, citing defamation. He’s also suing Lively, Reynolds, and their publicist for defamation, contract violations, and civil extortion in a $400 million suit. 

The legal proceedings are ongoing.