Blake Lively is on a mission to debunk a persistent claim. As the legal tussle with her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director Justin Baldoni rages on, the "Gossip Girl" alum's representative has vehemently denounced remarks made by Baldoni's former WME agent, Danny Greenberg, during a recent deposition. In those remarks, Greenberg characterized Lively's behind-the-scenes maneuvers on the 2024 film as "extortion." Her team vehemently asserts that this characterization is as far from the truth as one can get.
"The court has already dismissed their so-called 'taking over a movie' claim, and this selectively quoted deposition excerpt from Baldoni's erstwhile agent, before he was cut loose by WME, adds nothing new to the mix," a spokesperson for Lively stated in a comment to E! News on October 14. "In fact, the court's dismissal even took their allegations at face value for argument's sake—and still concluded that they don't constitute a valid claim under the law."
Lively's representative underscored that her ongoing legal clash with Baldoni is precisely that—a legal dispute—and "not a sensational headline grabber."
"This is merely a recycled distraction," the representative continued, "that has no bearing on the actual sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit that Baldoni and the Wayfarer Defendants are embroiled in."
In Greenberg's deposition, obtained by People on October 13, the agent—who parted ways with Baldoni after being dropped by WME last year—claimed that he had aided his then-client Baldoni in crafting emails to Sony, the distributor of "It Ends With Us," to address Lively's "persistent extortion and attempts to seize control of the film."
Regarding the terminology, Greenberg clarified to People that he didn't intend to imply criminal extortion but rather "was referring to a cumulative pattern of behavior" that Sony, Justin, and Wayfarer Studios had to "navigate" from Lively.
The legal seesaw between Lively and Baldoni has been in full swing since December, when the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" star sued Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, following a civil complaint she filed against him for sexual harassment on the set of the Colleen Hoover adaptation. She accused him of trying to tarnish her reputation through a retaliatory smear campaign.
Baldoni, in turn, filed a countersuit against Lively, as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds and the couple's publicist Leslie Sloane, the following month. He also launched a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after the publication ran a story detailing her complaint—though all those cases have since been thrown out by a judge.
A status hearing concerning Lively's case against Baldoni and Wayfarer is slated for October 26, with an official trial set to kick off in March 2026.
