NEED TO KNOW
- Blake Lively was questioned by Justin Baldoni’s lawyers on July 31, and Baldoni chose to be in the room for her deposition
- Lively’s lawyers filed a motion to the judge claiming that Baldoni’s team is trying to “force” the release of the 292-page transcript from her deposition
- The actress is not “afraid” of the transcript coming out, her lawyers said, but they want it disclosed within the proper “legal process, governed by the rules of evidence”
Blake Lively’s legal team is accusing Justin Baldoni’s attorneys of using the court system to launch a public smear campaign in their ongoing legal dispute tied to the film It Ends With Us.
In a motion filed Monday, Aug. 4, Lively’s lawyers asked a federal judge to strike a 292-page rough draft of her deposition transcript from the court record currently filed under seal, saying Baldoni’s team uploaded it to the public docket with “no plausible legal reason to do so.” According to the filing, only two pages of the transcript were actually cited, yet the full, unreviewed draft was published.
“There is no conceivable legal purpose to file the whole transcript,” Lively’s attorneys wrote. “Particularly given that it has not been reviewed, corrected or finalized.”
They called the move a “manufactured excuse to force the transcript into the public domain as fodder for the Wayfarer Defendants’ media campaign,” adding that it was “a tactic [that] perfectly demonstrates the counsel-as-PR-agent role.”
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The filing alleges that Baldoni’s legal team is trying to provoke Lively into defending why her transcript should remain sealed, in order to push “a false narrative that Ms. Lively is afraid of her deposition testimony becoming public, which is entirely untrue and deeply harmful.”
“Ms. Lively affirmatively pursued this litigation with the full intention and desire to have her testimony heard in a legal process, governed by the rules of evidence — which publicly filing this rough draft transcript in this manner substantially undermines,” her lawyers write in the letter. “To suggest otherwise is part of an ongoing character attack that Mr. Freedman has been advancing to undermine Ms. Lively’s credibility and taint the jury pool.”
Baldoni, 41, attended the July 31 deposition in person, which was held at Lively’s attorney’s office in New York City. Judge Lewis J. Liman had previously issued a protective order giving Lively’s team control over the location and a right to be informed of attendees in advance.
Lively’s lawyers say media outlets published stories about Baldoni’s presence almost immediately after the deposition began, followed by tabloid reports that detailed Lively’s appearance and legal team. They argue those alleged “leaks” were no accident.
The actress, 37, has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, which he has denied. Baldoni previously filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. Those claims were dismissed in June, and Baldoni’s attorneys chose not to refile.
A trial is set for March 2026, with both Lively and Baldoni expected to take the stand.
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