Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Justin Baldoni’s wife Emily has shared an Instagram post wishing her husband a happy birthday amid his legal battle against Blake Lively.
Lively, 37, is suing her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, 41, for sexual harassment and a campaign to “destroy” her reputation, months after the release of their box office hit.
Baldoni is countersuing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for attempting to “destroy” his reputation and career.
Emily, a business founder who shares two children with Baldoni, shared a photo of their family on Friday (24 January), writing: “Happy birthday my love. Celebrating the man, husband, and father that you are. I’d choose you again and again.”
It is her first social post for over a year, and the first time she has made a public statement about her husband since the Lively row erupted.
In the photo, Emily and Baldoni can be seen standing in front of the ocean and kissing, while embracing their children.
The bitter legal battle began when Lively filed a complaint detailing alleged sexual harassment by Baldoni during production and retaliatory efforts to smear Lively’s reputation afterwards via artificial social media activity and planted stories.
Lively’s complaint, and a subsequent New York Times report quoting numerous texts between Baldoni and his team, were met with strong denials from Baldoni and his producing partner, Jamey Heath.
On Tuesday (21 January), Baldoni’s legal team released a seven-minute long video showing Lively and Baldoni’s interaction while shooting a dance scene in the film, which was also directed by Baldoni.
Lively called the footage “damning” evidence supporting her allegations.
Read a full timeline of Justin and Lively’s feud here.
Their film It Ends with Us is based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover, and stars Lively as a florist, Lily Bloom, whose troubled relationship with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) is made worse when her ex-boyfriend Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) re-enters her life.
During promotion of the film, which has themes of domestic violence, Lively was called out for a “tone-deaf” approach to the movie, as some felt she failed to treat its heavy subject matter with the appropriate solemnity.
Her lawsuit alleges that fan backlash was part of a carefully orchestrated effort by Baldoni’s PR team, whose lawyers have counter-alleged that Lively’s lawsuit is likewise an attempt to “fix her negative reputation”.
