Baldoni claims Reynolds accused him of weight-shaming Lively
Justin Baldoni has claimed that Ryan Reynolds accused him of weight-shaming Blake Lively, and alleges The New York Times reported “false” allegations.
unbranded – Entertainment
Ryan Reynolds is attempting to extract himself from the web of lawsuits ensnaring his wife Blake Lively and her former co-star Justin Baldoni.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Reynolds moved to dismiss the legal claims brought against him by Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios.
Baldoni, who starred in and directed the ill-fated adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel “It Ends with Us” alongside Lively, has sued both the actress and her husband, claiming the pair used their fame and influence to defame and extort him.
His suit represents a counter-action to filings from Lively, which allege Baldoni harassed her and other female cast members on-set then carried out a highly coordinated online smear campaign to delegitimize her character in case she attempted to speak out against him.
Reynolds’ lawyers now say his involvement in the scandal was merely peripheral.
“What does Ryan Reynolds have to do with that (Lively and Baldoni’s dispute), legally speaking, other than being a supportive spouse who has witnessed firsthand the emotional, reputational, and financial devastation Ms. Lively has suffered?” his lawyers wrote in a memorandum supporting Tuesday’s motion.
“The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be,” a rep for Reynolds wrote in a statement sent to USA TODAY Wednesday. “A man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life.”
Baldoni’s lawyers, in their own statement Wednesday, told USA TODAY: “Mr. Reynolds’ exploitation of his enormous power in Hollywood continues, this time arrogantly asking to be dismissed from the case despite his publicly documented involvement extending far beyond just being a ‘supportive spouse.’”
In their filing, Reynold’s team accused Wayfarer, in particular co-founder Steve Sarowitz, of “polluting” the court docket with “hundreds of paragraphs of clickbait,” aimed at continuing to capture outside audiences but devoid of legitimate legal standing.
In Baldoni’s original suit, the actor and director alleged that Reynolds based his character Nicepool in “Deadpool & Wolverine” around Baldoni’s “woke feminist” brand and used the role to satirize and bully him.
Baldoni, who got his first break playing Rafael Solano on “Jane the Virgin,” has since made a name for himself as an author and outspoken critic of toxic masculinity.
Tuesday’s motion called Baloni’s claim “thin-skinned outrage over a movie character,” and argued it “does not even pretend to be tied to any actual legal claims.”
Reynolds’ lawyers said Baldoni’s claim falls into his suit’s “general allegation of ‘hurt feelings’ which in reality is nothing more than a desperate effort to advance the same curated ‘bully’ image that the Wayfarer Parties created and disseminated in the retaliation campaign they launched against Ms. Lively in August of 2024.”
The filing also touches on claims by Baldoni that Reynolds called him a “predator,” which amounted to defamation. Lawyers for Reynolds opted not to walk back that statement but instead argued that defamation would imply Reynolds did not truly believe Baldoni was a predator.
Arguing that Baldoni didn’t offer sufficient evidence of the specific instances in which Reynolds called him a “predator,” the actor’s lawyers said either way that it would be protected free speech if he believes it to be true − and he does.
“These first amendment principles ought to be obvious to — and even celebrated by — a group of litigants (Baldoni and Wayfarer) who have spent most of the past few months calling Mr. Reynolds and his wife ‘bullies’ and ‘liars,’” the filing said.
The filing then goes on to reference excerpts from Baldoni’s own books and podcasts to paint a picture of a man who allegedly, by his own admission, has engaged in predatory behavior.
“It would be perverse to permit Mr. Baldoni to build an entire brand — complete with a podcast, Ted Talk, and books — off of his confessions of repeatedly mistreating women, only to turn around and sue Mr. Reynolds for $400 million for simply pointing out in private what Mr. Baldoni has bragged about in public,” Reynolds’ legal team argued.
The motion to dismiss is just the latest in an ongoing game of legal chess between the Lively-Reynolds camp and Baldoni.
Since Lively’s claims of harassment burst into the fore following a tense promotion cycle for the film, the ex-co-stars have swapped increasingly hostile and salacious claims, with each side alleging the other made making the movie a nightmarish process.
The pair are headed to trial in March 2026.
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