Blake Lively was looking “forlorn” Sunday, during one of her rare public outings since she filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and effectively started a bitter, high-stakes legal drama that shows no signs of letting up.
The Daily Mail published images of a dejected-looking Lively at an upscale horse farm outside New York City, where she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, were watching one of their daughters compete in a horse show. Yes, it’s possible that the paparazzo happened to capture Lively in an off-moment, and she was otherwise in good spirits at the family event.
But the Daily Mail also quoted sources who say that Lively has begun to feel “creeping regret” over certain choices regarding Baldoni, her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star — including filing the lawsuit in late December and going public with her retaliation and “smear campaign” allegations against him in a viral New York Times report.
“She feels like her entire life has been turned upside down,” an insider told the Daily Mail.
As is well known, Baldoni didn’t take Lively’s allegations lying down. With his aggressive Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman, Baldoni hit back with a $400 million counter-suit, accusing both Lively and Reynolds of taking control of the movie he had spent years developing. Baldoni also accused the Hollywood power couple of defaming him by falsely labeling him a sexually harassing “predator.”
Since then, Lively has been dealing with some serious consequences. Her friendship with Taylor Swift has reportedly suffered, after Baldoni alleged that the pop mega-star was a witness to some of the “Gossip Girl’s” machinations. Moreover, much of the online discourse has turned against Lively. Increasingly influential content creators have been using their podcasts and YouTube channels to critique Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation claims. They’ve also surfaced her past history of feuding with co-stars, making inappropriate comments or being “tone-deaf” or imperious in her entrepreneurial efforts and media interviews.
“Blake is striving for normalcy in her life, but the past few weeks have been incredibly challenging,” an insider told the Daily Mail. “It seems like every move she makes is now under constant criticism.”
As the Daily Mail and other outlets have noted, Lively has kept a pretty low profile since the legal drama began, and has only gone out in public when “absolutely necessary.” She walked the red carpet at last month’s premiere of her new movie, “Another Simple Favor.”
Perhaps not necessary, though, was her appearance, with Reynolds, at the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” in February. The couple’s appearance sparked backlash after the “Deadpool” actor cracked a joke during a comedy bit that appeared to minimize his wife’s sexual harassment allegations. Last week, Lively also brought some unwanted attention to a friend’s Connecticut doughnut shop when she posted Instagram Story photos of herself, working in the kitchen — “my happy place” — in an apparent effort to appear down-to-earth and relatable.
During Lively and Reynolds’ Sunday outing, the embattled couple seemed to be trying “to keep a low profile” as the legal drama continued this week, the Daily Mail said. A trial is scheduled for March 2026, and legal experts predict that, at some point, the sides will want to settle to stop the continued release of information that could be damaging to both sides.
The news this week wasn’t that great for Team Lively. An actor who worked on the set of “It Ends With Us” issued a statement to Page Six and People Tuesday, strongly disputing Lively’s recollection of filming a scene in which she said Baldoni made her feel “extremely uncomfortable.”
In “It Ends With Us,” a drama about domestic violence, Lively plays a florist who falls in love with and becomes pregnant by a handsome neurosurgeon, played by Baldoni, who turns out to be abusive. Actor Adam Mondschein was hired to play the OB-GYN who delivered Lively character’s baby.
In Lively’s court filings, her lawyers said she was forced to film the birth scene under conditions that were “chaotic, crowded, and utterly lacking in standard industry protections for filming nude scenes.” They alleged that Lively had to film the scene while nearly nude from the chest down “with her legs spread wide in stirrups and only a small piece of fabric covering her genitalia.”
They furthermore said that Baldoni cast his “best friend” to play the doctor, instead of a qualified “local actor,” saying it was “invasive and humiliating” for Lively to have the face and hands of Baldoni’s friend in close proximity to “her nearly nude genitalia.”
But Mondschein has said he’s willing to testify that Lively’s costume for the scene actually “included a full hospital gown, black shorts and torso-covering prosthetic to make her appear pregnant in addition to whatever personal garments she chose.” Mondschein also said the filming was “entirely professional” and that he never saw Lively complain or express “discomfort.”
Moreover, Mondschein defended his own professional qualifications, telling Page Six: “Ms. Lively’s insinuations regarding my qualifications are offensive, as my bonafides are easily searchable online.”
Mondschein’s IMDB page shows at least 10 acting credits in movie and TV roles and that he has a master’s in fine arts degree from UCLA. He also told Page Six that he qualifies as a “local” actor as he and his wife are from New York, where “It Ends With Us” was filmed. “As such, I, like any actor accepting that contract, was required to cover my own travel and living expenses in connection with the job,” Mondschein said.