The messy saga between It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is facing yet another twist, this time in the form of a voice message Baldoni apparently sent to Lively amid the film’s production where he can be heard apologizing to his on-screen partner.
In a nearly seven-minute voice memo first published by TMZ on Monday, Baldoni, who also served as director for the movie, can be heard speaking about script changes that Lively, one of the film’s producers, had presented.
“Hey Blake, it’s two in the morning. Hopefully this does not wake you up. There is so much I want to say to you,” Baldoni began the message, which TMZ obtained in its entirety.
“I want to start with an apology,” he continued. “Man, reading the second part of your message, my heart sank. I’m really sorry. I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that. The way you framed it and how it made you feel, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing that with me.
“I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me. And I’m really sorry. I f–ked up. That is a fail on my part.
“I am far from perfect. I’m a very flawed man, as my wife will attest …. but I will always apologize and then find my way back to centre. That is one thing I can assure you of. And I’m sorry I made you feel that way, that must have felt terrible.”
In the recording, Baldoni also discusses the now-infamous meeting between the pair, when they met to talk about the movie’s rooftop scene. Lively had rewritten the scene with the encouragement of her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and friend Taylor Swift, and Baldoni can be heard seemingly acknowledging their input.
“Damn right, you’ve got great friends. F–K, we should all have friends like that, aside from the fact that they’re two of the most creative people on the planet,” he said, before adding, “The three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy. Just a force, all three of you.”
He also told Lively that he liked her script changes, calling them “really good.”
“I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you,” he said, laughing occasionally. “I’m just excited to spend time with you. I’m excited to be in your sphere and your presence and for us to share creative juices together although that sounds terrible.”
While their legal feud has been ongoing since December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation first in a complaint and then in a lawsuit about a week later, Baldoni claimed in a January court filing that he felt pressured by Reynolds and Lively’s “megacelebrity friend” to approve the scene revisions after a meeting at Lively and Reynolds’ home.
Baldoni sued earlier this month, accusing Lively and her husband of defamation and extortion and seeking at least US$400 million in damages.
Last week, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, released a 10-minute video that included one scene where the actors’ characters Lily Bloom (Lively) and Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) are slow dancing. (The scene was referenced in Lively’s lawsuit against her co-star, accusing him of “behaving inappropriately” and claiming he “ignored well-established industry protocols in filming intimate scenes.”)
The footage shows Baldoni, 40, and Lively, 37, filming a scene with no dialogue, speaking about their spouses and joking about his nose and her spray tan.
In a statement following the release of the footage, Lively’s team says that “every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter,” what Lively included in her lawsuit, filed on Dec. 20, 2024, about the specific scene.