Listen To Justin Baldoni’s 2 A.M. Apology to Blake Lively Over ‘It Ends With Us’ Rewrites in Lengthy Voice Note: “I Am a Flawed Man”

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In the ongoing dispute between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, a newly surfaced voice message reveals the ‘It Ends With Us’ director apologizing for how he reacted to Lively’s changes to the now-famous rooftop scene.

The six-minute message, first reported by ‘Daily Mail,’ shows Baldoni sounding eager to make amends for any tension caused by the rewrites. Though he mentions it was recorded at “two in the morning,” the exact date remains unknown.

I am far from perfect. I am a flawed man, as my wife will attest,” Baldoni says in the recording. “And I’m going to fuck up. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to put my foot in my mouth. I’m going to piss you off, probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. That is one thing I can assure you of. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

The dispute over script changes first came to light in Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. As part of the case, he shared text messages where Lively expressed frustration with his reaction to her edits.

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“I think you and I have been trying to build a relationship, which I think we’ve done successfully. I mean here we are — talking like this — me into my phone at two in the morning, but largely via text and voice note. And I will be honest with you, that is not my biggest strength. I love being with people and being in somebody’s, in somebody’s space and being face to face and I feel like that’s where I excel and definitely fallen short at times in our text and voice note exchanges so much to communicate and there’s so much happening and all that to say, I’m just really looking forward to spending time together and I think that’s going to really go a long way for our chemistry, which I believe is there — has been there from the start.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni clashed over major changes she made to the ‘It Ends With Us’ rooftop scene. Baldoni’s lawsuit, filed on Jan. 16, claims he was hesitant about the edits but thanked Lively for her passion, telling her the final version would likely be a mix of both their ideas.

Lively reportedly felt hurt by this response and went silent for days before emailing Baldoni, expressing that his comment “didn’t feel so great” and recalling past frustrations with other filmmakers dismissing her creative input. This lawsuit came shortly after Lively filed her own suit, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and a smear campaign after the film’s release.

In his voice memo, Baldoni sympathizes with Lively’s past struggles in the industry, calling out filmmakers and producers who dismissed her ideas, saying, “Those fuckheads.” He reassures her that he wants her experience working with him to be different.

He also acknowledges her close friendships with Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift, whom she calls her “dragons.” However, in his lawsuit, Baldoni claims he felt pressured to accept Lively’s changes due to the influence of her powerful inner circle.

Toward the end of the message, he jokes about rambling for over six minutes, apologizing and saying, “You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob” before sending his regards to Ryan Reynolds.

You can check out the full transcript below:

Hey, Blake it is 2 in the morning. Hopefully this does not wake you up. Whew. Wow. There’s so much I want to say to you and I hope that we can FaceTime or see each other in person soon, and get to talk more. But I’m just going to send you a few thoughts and hopefully it’s not going to be more than a few minutes but I don’t have the best track record — I don’t think either one of us have the best track record for our voice memos. I want to start with an apology. 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 and the way you framed it and how that made you feel. I just want to say thank you for sharing that with me. That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability and I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me. I’m really sorry. I fucked up. That was a fail on my part.

One thing you should know about me: I will admit and apologize when I fail. I am far from perfect. I am a flawed man, as my wife will attest. And I’m going to fuck up. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to put my foot in my mouth. I’m going to piss you off, probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. That is one thing I can assure you of. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. That must’ve felt terrible and I will for sure do better. That was not my best weekend and I should have given it more time.

And damn right, you got great friends. If that’s how you felt and they knew that — and fuck!— we should all have friends like that. Aside from the fact that they’re two of the most creative people on the planet, the three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy — force — all three of you, but I just wanted you to know that I didn’t need that because it’s really good and it’s going to make the movie sing like you said, and I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you. 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.

I think you and I have been trying to build a relationship, which I think we’ve done successfully. I mean here we are — talking like this — me into my phone at two in the morning, but largely via text and voice note. And I will be honest with you, that is not my biggest strength. I love being with people and being in somebody’s, in somebody’s space and being face to face and I feel like that’s where I excel and definitely fallen short at times in our text and voice note exchanges so much to communicate and there’s so much happening and all that to say, I’m just really looking forward to spending time together and I think that’s going to really go a long way for our chemistry, which I believe is there — has been there from the start. So I was stoked, damn excited when you wanted to do this film.

I felt it in the room when we met and, yeah, I think it does come from both of us being so fucking hardworking and having a vision and not settling, and I’m excited to have a creative partner in that with you. And it’s just really exciting. There’s so much more to say. There’s so much I want to say. Oh, and there’s one thing that I do need to say, which is I am so sorry you have been through what you’ve been through with these other filmmakers and producers or whoever the people were that you worked with. It just pissed me off. Those fuckheads. I’m just still blown away that this is the industry that we’re in and that you’ve experienced that as a woman. And I know I don’t need to say it, but that’s not at all going to be, or will be, and hopefully it’s not been the experience with me.

There’s nothing more exciting to me that I get to work with Blake Lively and have her all of her. I mean, that’s what I want. And so there’s been no hesitancy with me sending you the Final Draft file. I am totally fine with that. The only reason I didn’t send it today was because I was trying to implement and add your notes into my working draft, which is already, I’m all over that draft right now. So there’s a whole bunch of new stars that are going to be collated pages and I just haven’t had a chance to send it to you, but there’s no hesitancy. I’m happy to send it to you and I’m sorry that that has happened to you before and I hope after this experience there will be a new, I dunno, I hope it’ll be healing in some way because that’s all I want.

I want this movie to be healing. I want this movie to be commercial just like you and affect people and touch people. And I want to walk you through my whole plan and the work that we’re doing with the domestic violence partner that we found, No More. And just my vision. And I just know that this can be really, really special and it’s going to be special. And you’re the secret sauce and we are the secret sauce. And anyways, I have so much more to say. I’m going to stop rambling, because Jesus Christ, it’s been six minutes and 30 seconds, so fuck me. I’m sorry. You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble at two in the morning. I hope you’re feeling better, and give Ryan my love.

Thank you for sending me, that means the world to me, that you trust me with your feelings and your thoughts like that. And I can’t wait to spend more time with you. Okay, I’m cutting myself off. Goodnight.

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