Justin Baldoni Alleges Blake Lively Tried to “Trap” Him by Rejecting Body Doubles in Newly Released Texts

Justin Baldoni has claimed that Blake Lively tried to “set him up for a trap” while they were filming the 2024 movie It Ends With Us, according to recently unsealed text messages obtained by Us Weekly.

The messages reportedly show Baldoni expressing concerns about working with Lively on intimate scenes without a body double.

The texts, filed as part of legal documents by Lively’s management company, WME, on January 5, detail conversations between Baldoni, 41, and his former WME agent, Danny Greenberg, from December 30, 2023. Baldoni, who directed and starred opposite Lively, 38, in the film, wrote about a tense on-set situation.

“Hey man, had a really really bad week,” Baldoni began. He claimed that Lively had emailed him directly to invite him to a private meeting at her house and had refused to use a body double for s** scenes.

“She’s refused a body double which now Sony [the film’s distributor] and Todd [Black, a producer on the film] have to jump in to make sure that happens because that’s just setting me up for a trap. Although she’s making me have one.”

In the texts, Baldoni also raised complaints about Lively’s influence on the production. “She’s rejected all my Story Boards for the s** scenes … she’s trying to keep all of … our clothes on for the big love scene, which is just ridiculous if you know the book,” he wrote. “The whole thing is just a gigantic cluster f**** and yet I’m doing my best to stay positive, although it’s been very draining on me and time-consuming over this break to be dealing with an actress who is rewriting the writer and Director.”

Baldoni’s body double on the film, Thomas Canestraro, told the Daily Mail in June 2025 that he felt “discomfort from everybody” while working on It Ends With Us.

Meanwhile, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, in December 2024. Her suit claims s***** harassment, retaliation, and a campaign to damage her reputation.

Baldoni has denied all allegations and filed a countersuit for $400 million, citing civil extortion, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy, among other claims. His countersuit also included Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane. A judge dismissed the countersuit in June 2025. Lively’s original case is set to go to trial in New York City in March.

Baldoni’s texts continued to describe his efforts to appease Lively on set. “I’ve gone through the whole script, I’m giving her 95 percent of what she wants for peace but this is just a brutal experience,” he wrote. He later added, “I’m doing my best to just stay positive and give her as many wins as possible to just finish this thing but it’s gonna be tough at some point Warren [Zavala, a WME talent agent] needs to know that she is destroying her reputation.”

He concluded that conflicts over creative decisions would likely continue during editing. “Where we will need the most help is during the edit because I’m not going to get everything she wants and I foresee that being a big issue.”

Five days after the texts, Lively, who also produced the film, held an in-person meeting on January 4, 2024. Baldoni, Black, Reynolds, Sony executive Ange Gianetti, fellow producer Alex Saks, and Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath were present. Legal filings from both sides offer differing accounts of what happened during that meeting.

This new batch of text messages gives a rare glimpse into the tensions behind the scenes of It Ends With Us, highlighting how creative and personal conflicts intersected during production.

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