Justin Baldoni has released a voice note he sent to Blake Lively in which he admits that he wants “to have all of her”.
The director, 41, is following through on a promise to release communications with the actress, 37, ahead of their competing lawsuits.
In a seven minute grovel to the actress, he can be heard apologising after a meeting to discuss changes to a scene from the film It Ends With Us, in which Baldoni directs and co-stars alongside Lively.
“I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that,” Baldoni told Lively in the newly leaked voice note before making the remarks.
Lively has accused the director of sexual harassment during the making of the 2024 film while Baldoni has launched a £320 million defamation lawsuit against Lively.
In text messages, the co-stars discussed changes to the romantic drama’s rooftop scene.
Lively allegedly told Baldoni she was disappointed in his initial response to her tweaks, and added that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and a close friend, later revealed to be Taylor Swift, applauded the changes.
Baldoni tells Lively that her changes made “it so much more fun and interesting”.
“I’m really sorry. I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that,” he is heard saying in the voice note.
“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. I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that’s how you feel and share that with me. I’m really sorry, I f—– up.”
He adds in the recording that he was willing to “admit and apologise when I fail,” calling himself, “a very flawed man as my wife will attest.”
He also vowed to “do better.”
Baldoni said: “Damn right you’ve got great friends if that’s how you felt and they knew that. We should all have friends like that; aside from the fact that they’re the two most creative people on the planet. The three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy; just a force, all three of you.”
He continued and praised Lively’s scene as “really good” and said it would “make the movie sing.”
“I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you. I’m just excited to spend time with you,” Baldoni is heard saying. He continued: “I’m gonna piss you off, probably, but I will always apologise and find my way back to centre. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I will, for sure, do better.”
Saying that he feels bad for her having worked with other filmmakers he calls “f***heads” he tells her, “That’s not at all gonna 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 all of her. I mean, that’s what I want.”
He goes on to say he and Blake are the “secret sauce” to making a great movie, and then finally, around six minutes and 30 seconds into the message, he cuts himself off and says, “I’m sorry. You probably have kids all over you, and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble.”
Lively in her lawsuit alleges Baldoni walked into her trailer while she was breastfeeding.
Since filing the countersuit, Baldoni’s lawyer has pledged to launch a website “containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that quash [Lively’s] claims.” “If they want to unethically gag the truth by threatening to wield their power in Hollywood, we will fight it every step of the way,” Baldoni’s team said in a statement, referencing Lively and Reynolds. “Defending ourselves is not retaliation, it is a human right.”
The trial for Lively and Baldoni is set to start on March 9, 2026, with a pretrial conference scheduled for February 3, 2025.
During the conference, New York federal judge Lewis J. Liman plans to merge the two cases and have the parties outline a briefing schedule in preparation for the trial date.
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