‘You Look Beautiful’ Baldoni’s Message to Blake Lively Revealed in Legal Battle
Justin Baldoni has found himself back in the headlines after a leaked voice note revealed that he called his It Ends With Us co‑star Blake Lively “beautiful” months before their now very public legal dispute began.
The message, obtained by TMZ, is said to date back to early 2023 when Lively sent Baldoni photos of herself during costume fittings for her character Lily Bloom. Baldoni, who also directed the film, appeared enthusiastic and complimentary in the audio.
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“Hey Blake, I hope the fitting was super successful,” he said in the message. “Thank you for sending those pictures, it was really cool.” He went on to describe seeing the photos during a meeting with department heads, noting they had a strong impact on him.
“I was in the department head meeting, and they came through, and I was waiting for them to load, and I legit got the chills when I saw it,” Baldoni added. “You look beautiful. It’s going to work so well.”
The leaked voice memo surfaced just days after another private exchange between the pair was unsealed as part of their ongoing legal battle. In that earlier message, Lively referred to Baldoni as a “friend” while discussing the film’s production schedule in February 2023, according to People.
“I hope you’re so well,” Lively said in the message, which focused on timings and work commitments around It Ends With Us. She also reportedly shared that her husband Ryan Reynolds had encouraged her to be open with Baldoni about her concerns, pointing to what she described as “such a great trust” between them at the time.
The Shallows actress explained she was speaking to Baldoni “as a friend more than anything” while juggling preparations for It Ends With Us and another project called Proxy. This came shortly after she gave birth to her son, Olin, in February 2023.
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In the messages, Lively suggested she did not “talk to [that director] like [she] talk[s] to” Baldoni and expressed hope that he would be willing to accommodate her needs as she returned to work following the birth.
Lively filmed Proxy from March to May 2023, before moving straight into It Ends With Us from May to June that same year. Production on the romantic drama later paused and resumed in January 2024 after the writers’ strike brought Hollywood to a standstill.
At the time, there was little public sign of tension between the two. It was not until It Ends With Us hit cinemas in August 2024 that rumours of a feud began to swirl, with fans noticing an apparent chill during promotional appearances.
Things escalated dramatically a few months later. In December, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment. Baldoni strongly denied the claims and filed a countersuit in January 2025.
That legal action, however, did not last long, as Baldoni’s case was later dismissed. Since then, the dispute has continued to play out in the public eye, with court filings and unsealed messages regularly making headlines.
The latest round of attention has focused on newly released communications involving several high-profile names, including Taylor Swift and Ben Affleck, adding yet another layer of intrigue to a saga that shows no sign of fading from the spotlight anytime soon.