Topics: Hollywood, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Ryan Reynolds, Podcast, Social Media, Mental Health, Court, California, Los Angeles
Justin Baldoni has revealed he sent a text message to his team after a year of 'emotional stress' amid the Blake Lively lawsuit in a new bombshell interview.
In case you missed it, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively have been embroiled in a legal feud since Christmas last year.
The Gossip Girl alum sued her It Ends With Us co-star for alleged sexual harassment on the movie set, during which she reportedly held a meeting with Baldoni, accompanied by her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to discuss the supposed toxic work environment.
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Lively said she requested 'no more sex scenes' be added to the movie beyond the initially agreed-upon script and claimed the Californian director had made comments about her weight.
In her raft of allegations which she discussed in The New York Times, the mom-of-four further claimed Baldoni, who also directed the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, and his company Wayfarer Studios, orchestrated a smear campaign to ‘destroy her reputation’.
Baldoni denied all of this and made a flurry of his own accusations against Lively and Reynolds, filing a countersuit for $400 million for claims ranging from civil extortion to defamation and more.
The director has also launched a separate lawsuit against The New York Times for Lively’s op-ed.
Now, speaking on the Gent’s Talk Podcast with host, Samir Mourani, a rather emotional Baldoni revealed he’s had an ‘intense year’.
The pair spoke about masculinity, and Baldoni says he refrains from using the term 'toxic masculinity'. He also opened up about the year he had.
Baldoni said he had sent a text message to his best friend, publicist and president of his company and told them that he wasn’t ‘in the best place’.
He explained: “I told them that I was exhausted that I haven’t given myself time to recover or time to heal. I had an intense year," he continued. “A lot of material success and a lot of emotional stress. It was very hard on me and my family."
The segment was filmed at the We Are Man Enough studio in Los Angeles in November last year, a month before Lively launched her legal complaint.
Baldoni continued: "I send this text this morning and i just said 'I love you both', I just need to you to know that I'm not in the best place."
He also touched on his mental health, saying: “I had anxiety.
"I realized that I just haven't given myself the time to heal from this year."
The podcast explains the interview was conducted as part of the It Ends With Us press tour, during which eagle-eyed fans spotted a potential rift between Baldoni and Lively.
A description of the episode further details Baldoni talks about 'the film, domestic violence, his relationship with his father, mental health, marriage and masculinity'.
The comments come as the 41-year-old and his legal team, spearheaded by attorney Bryan Freedman, also launched a website with two hefty jam-packed documents relating to the case.
This includes an updated draft of Baldoni and Wayfarer’s legal complaint against Lively, Reynolds and Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, and alleged email correspondence and text messages between Baldoni, Lively and other members of the production.
A New York judge, Lewis Linman, set a trial date for the Hollywood megafeud trial to commence in March next year while a pre-trial hearing determined the legal teams of the two parties were restricted in speaking to the press to limit potentially prejudicing the future jury.
UNILAD has contacted Lively's reps for comment.
