Featured Image Credit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Topics: News, US News, Ryan Reynolds, Celebrity, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni
Kit Roberts
Topics: News, US News, Ryan Reynolds, Celebrity, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni
Ryan Reynolds has stood by messages about Justin Baldoni as a court battle with his wife Blake Lively continues.
A representative of the Deadpool star responded after texts leaked showing Reynolds accusing Baldoni of reaching 'empyrean heights of vile'.
In December 2024 Lively, 38, sued her co-star Baldoni, alleging retaliation and sexual harassment and seeking some $160 million in damages, with a trial scheduled in New York for May 2026.
Baldoni started a countersuit against both Lively and Reynolds in which he has accused them of extortion and defamation, which a judge dismissed.
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In the messages to his WME agent Warren Zavala, Reynolds made his feelings about Baldoni abundantly clear.
He reportedly wrote in August 2024, around the time of the It Ends With Us premiere when gossip about Lively was at fever pitch: "I'm super frustrated because this is a moment in which Blake should be celebrating. She made this unbelievable win happen.
"She WILLED this weekend into reality. Baldoni and these other buckets of dumb-dumb-juice should be acknowledging the speculation and gossip themselves.
"They should be jumping in front of it in the most full throated, unqualified way. Now."
He allegedly added in another message to a WME executive: "I'd put Blake's reputation on trial any day of the week. She's worked with ... dozens of other mercurial, and abusive people.
"In her experience (and mine) nobody has ever reached the empyrean heights of vile the way Justin Baldoni has.
"His complete lack of not only remorse but self-preservation is a character study in malignant, lazy-lidded stupidity and darkness."
And he allegedly said in a group chat with Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso that Baldoni was a 'sociopathic FAUXminist'.
Tell us how you really feel, Ryan.
Reynolds' representative shared a statement with Puck News on his behalf defending the messages, saying: "Yes, Ryan got involved - what husband wouldn’t support his wife and the mother of his children?"
The statement added: "He saw his wife fighting daily to stand up against sexual harassment in a private and respectful way, only to face retaliation for doing so.
"If anything, Ryan feels like he wasn’t angry enough.
"He passionately believes in and will stand up for the basic right to a safe workplace free of harassment and retaliation for his wife and others. Then, now and always."
Despite the countersuit being dismissed, Baldoni's lawyers still claim that he is a victim of defamation.
In a statement shared on January 21, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman said: "As stated all along, and reflected in our clients' motions, as well as in messages from Sony discussing Ms. Lively's behaviors, the evidence does not support [Lively's] claims as a matter of law.
"A simple read of the newly released message exchanges make the truth abundantly clear. We remain confident in the legal process and clearing the names of all the Justin Baldoni parties."
They added: "This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio."