When Justin Baldoni married his Swedish wife Emily, his vows began with an extraordinary apology for ‘anything I’ve ever said or done that has hurt you’.
The film director, 40, said he was sorry for his ‘faults, shortcomings, insecurities and my ego’ at their Midsummer Night’s Dream-themed nuptials just outside Los Angeles in 2013.
But as tears rolled down his face he promised to ‘cherish, listen to you, honour you and respect you’.
In response Mrs Baldoni, now the mother of his two children, responded by saying she would always love him and ‘stand firm by your side’ for the rest of their lives.
Today this love and support for her husband has never been more important as he finds himself at the centre of an extraordinary writ brought by Blake Lively that has made headlines around the globe.
Ms Lively claims that when filming Ends With US, Mr Baldoni fostered a toxic workplace environment including a number of highly damaging sexual allegations, which he vehemently denies.
But incredibly his wife Emily may be able to offer first-hand testimony because she starred in the movie, in an emotional scene with Blake herself. Their two children were also on the set their father is accused of corrupting, appearing in its final moments.
When the Baldonis married 11 years ago, the bride had told him and the congregation that she ‘would stand tall by your side. Feeling blessed to have a man who speaks for those who cannot or do not have the strength to. And a man who will go without sleep to make sure someone’s story is told’.
And high-fiving as they were legally married, she told him, crying: ‘Where there is love, nothing is too much trouble’.
In a key moment of the film Lily, played by Blake, is pregnant and has a scan where she realises that she has the strength to move on with her life after surviving an abusive relationship with Ryle, played by Mr Baldoni.
Playing the medic doing the scan was none other than his real wife Emily Baldoni.
Their two children Maiya Grace and Maxwell were also on set, appearing in the final scene of the film running through a farmer’s market.
Emily’s unerring support for her husband began in earnest when she agreed to let him use footage of his proposal to be turned into a rom com-style YouTube hit which helped his career and has 14million views and 163,000 likes.
The Proposal was written, directed and produced by Mr Baldoni involved him recording a boy band song, filming a mini-thriller where he gets the engagement ring and finally the proposal in the restaurant where they had their first date.
Her two pregnancies were also announced on YouTube.
Emily’s acting career began with a small role in the 2005 short The Elephant’s Room, and she appeared in a 2007 episode of How I Met Your Mother.
In 2019, she starred in Five Feet Apart, a drama directed by her husband.
She arrived in Hollywood from Sweden 19 years ago.
But she failed to have any major breakthroughs. Most recently she has been concentrating on her business, aimed at breastfeeding mothers.
The couple had their first date at Los Angeles’ Blu Jam Cafe in 2011, and in 2012, Justin proposed to Emily at the same location.
He shared the heartfelt moment in a nearly 30-minute video on YouTube, writing in the caption: ‘On April 13th I proposed to my girlfriend Emily at the restaurant where we had our first date.
‘I told her I was running late, had the restaurant open just for her, and set up hidden cameras all around her.
‘When she sat down at the table, there was a TV in front of her set to take her on a journey that would lead to the proposal of a lifetime.’
The couple married in California on July 27, 2013.
Emily reflected on their wedding day with Style Me Pretty, saying, ‘Our wedding day was on July 27, 2013, a beautiful summer’s day and evening at our dear friend’s stunning Corona, CA property.
‘My mother-in-law, Sharon, did all the decorating and turned the place into a Midsummer Night’s Dream, exactly what I had hoped for.
‘She put so much love in all the details, you could feel the magic of it all.’
Emily also portrayed Dr. Julie in It Ends With Us, the film central to Blake Lively’s lawsuit.
Before marrying Justin, Emily went by the name Emily Foxler, an adapted version of her birth name, Emily Malou.
The pair share two children, Maiya Grace, born in 2015, and Maxwell Roland-Samuel, born in 2017, often sharing glimpses of their family life on Instagram.
In 2017, Justin opened up to Makers, reflecting on his relationship with Emily: ‘I had made the same mistake so many times, searching for something in a package that I thought I would want.
‘When I met Emily, it was unlike all my other experiences. She had like a depth and a grace, and this quiet strength that I think I always dreamed of—and I just knew.’
In a recent Instagram post, Emily shared a sweet family moment with Justin and their kids, writing, ‘There are days when this is the best,’ though she also added that some days are ‘really hard.’
In a fun family moment, Justin recently revealed that their children made their acting debut in It Ends With Us.
‘They’re in the final scene in the farmer’s market. There are two kids that are running into the farmer’s market, and that was their kind of debut—I said, ‘Action,’ and then they ran off.’
Ms Lively’s lawsuit includes shocking allegations that Baldoni, 40, showed her explicit videos and images of other women, discussed his purported porn addiction, and made inappropriate comments about her weight, among other troubling remarks directed at the cast and crew.
In one particularly egregious detail, Lively’s legal team claims that Baldoni introduced ‘improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity’ into the film, including one involving an underage character, in a deeply unsettling manner before filming even began.
Baldoni is also accused of trying ‘improvised physical intimacy’ during a scene without prior discussion or choreography.
One incident allegedly involved Baldoni ‘discreetly biting and sucking on Ms. Lively’s lower lip’ during multiple takes, allegedly insisting on reshooting the scene repeatedly despite Lively’s clear discomfort.
The lawsuit alleges Baldoni made sexual inquiries, including asking Lively if she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, experienced simultaneous sexual climaxes— a question she claims she refused to answer.
These new allegations add to the already troubling claims against Baldoni, who has continued to deny all accusations.
“These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media’, his lawyer said.
Bryan Freedman, representing Justin and his production company Wayfarer Studios: ‘It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film; interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions’.
The lawsuit claims that before filming began, Baldoni ‘inserted improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film (including for an underage character) in highly unsettling ways.’
Among the alleged changes were a ‘scene in which Ms. Lively was to orgasm on-camera’ and a ‘detailed scene’ depicting Lily Bloom, the younger version of Lively’s character, losing her virginity—neither of which appeared in the original novel.
According to the complaint, these additions were made without Lively’s consent after she had already committed to the project.
When Lively raised objections, Baldoni allegedly defended the changes by claiming they were added because he was crafting the story ‘through the female gaze.’
While he ultimately agreed to remove most of the scenes, he reportedly fought to retain one depicting Lily and Ryle Kincaid, his character, climaxing together on their wedding night, stating it was ‘important to him because he and his partner climax simultaneously during intercourse.’
The allegations extend to the film’s producer, Jamey Heath, who is accused of compounding the toxic environment.
The lawsuit claims Heath pressured Lively to simulate nudity during a childbirth scene, despite prior agreements that no nudity was required.
The scene allegedly lacked standard industry protections, leaving Lively ‘mostly nude with her legs spread wide in stirrups and only a small piece of fabric covering her genitalia.’
Heath is also accused of showing Lively and her assistant a graphic, fully nude video of his wife giving birth, which Lively initially mistook for pornography.
Additionally, both Baldoni and Heath allegedly entered Lively’s trailer unannounced on multiple occasions while she was undressed, breastfeeding, or otherwise vulnerable.
The complaint details an incident where Heath entered Lively’s makeup trailer uninvited while she was topless.
Although Lively requested he wait until she was clothed, Heath allegedly stared at her despite her explicit request that he avert his eyes.
Another unsettling claim involves Baldoni improvising an intimate moment during a slow-dance scene.
According to the lawsuit, Baldoni leaned in as himself, not in character, and ‘slowly dragged his lips from her ear to her neck’ saying, ‘It smells so good.’
When Lively objected to his actions, Baldoni allegedly retorted, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’
Following a meeting in January 2024 between Lively, Baldoni, producers, and Ryan Reynolds, Wayfarer Studios reportedly agreed to have an intimacy coordinator on set for all scenes involving nudity or simulated sex.
The studio also assured that no further improvised kissing or physical intimacy would occur.
Meanwhile, bombshell text messages how how Baldoni’s crisis management team allegedly launched an smear campaign against Lively.
Lively’s team say messages included as part of the legal complaint reveal, ‘a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as ‘social manipulation’ designed to ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively’s reputation’, which they say began after she raised concerns about conditions on set.
Rumors of a rift between the movie’s leads began to swirl amid its press run, after eagle-eyed fans noted a frostiness between the pair on the red carpet.
But Lively was wary of Baldoni even prior to filming according to her legal complaint and claims they clashed over him trying to add ‘gratuitous’ nudity and sex scenes to the movie.
Relations soured even further during filming, and culminated in a HR meeting where various conditions were agreed to by Baldoni and his Wayfarer studio before Lively would consider resuming filming after the writers’ strike, the filings state.
Then sometime before August 2, Baldoni hired crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, whose previous clients have included Jonny Depp, as part of his PR team which also included publicist Jennifer Abel.
Many of the messages in the lawsuit, obtained by a subpoena, are between the women, including one exchange in which Nathan states that she can ‘bury anyone’.
The message was sent in reply to Abel’s text which says that Baldoni, ‘wants to feel like she [Lively] can be buried’.
‘Of course – but you know when we send over documents we can’t send over the work we will or could do because that could get us in a lot of trouble,’ Nathan responds, adding, ‘We can’t write we will destroy her’.
She followed up the message with another which reads, ‘Imagine if a document saying all the things that he wants ends up in the wrong hands.
‘You know we can bury anyone but I can’t write that to him. I will be very tough.’
Another back and forth on August 2 appears to show Nathan joking about murdering Lively.
‘I also sent you a present. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her and send her in a box to your house. It’s a congratulations present,’ the message from Nathan reads, to which Abel responds: ‘DAMNIT’.
Later that same day, Abel wrote that she is, ‘having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with’.
Meanwhile, Baldoni appears to have suggested that it would be beneficial if they could orchestrate a targeted social media campaign.
He sent a message showing a screenshot of a Twitter thread about allegations of bullying against Hailey Bieber with the caption: ‘This is what we would need’.
When reports began to emerge of tensions between Lively and Baldoni, it was suggested that the differences were merely creative.
Baldoni wanted to market the movie by spotlighting the domestic abuse which forms the heart of the story, while Lively felt it should be more hopeful and uplifting.
Lively was subsequently criticized for the ‘tone deaf’ way she promoted the film after she failed to mention domestic abuse in several interviews.
It is unclear if this reaction was engineered, but Baldoni’s messages appear to show he was at least ready to capitalize on the negative press.
‘What is the TikTok strategy?’ Baldoni writes in one message. ‘I’d like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestic violence and clips and why this movie is so important’.
But as the controversy around the film raged on, some of the more nefarious allegations Lively had privately levelled at Baldoni began to appear in the press.
They included that he made inappropriate comments about her weight and ‘lingered’ too long during kissing scenes.
The texts show how the crisis management team scrambled to try and ‘shift the narrative’ by reverting coverage back onto Lively.
On August 11, Abel sent Baldoni a message reassuring him that the stories were not a threat.
‘Very little pick up. Fans remain supportive of you and believe the issue of the ‘feud’ is because she took control of the movie,’ she wrote.
The day before, Nathan remarked to Abel that: ‘The majority of socials are pro Justin and I don’t even agree with half of them lol’. In another, Nathan revels in the ‘genius’ strategy.
‘Jen this went so well I am f***king dying. I have to call you in a bit bit and tel you how this went. It was genius.’
Further allegations about Baldoni’s unwelcome behavior are included in the legal complaint.
They include claims that Baldoni showed Lively an explicit video of his wife, barged into the star’s trailer while she was nude or breastfeeding, openly discussed his alleged porn addiction and made her and other female staffers uncomfortable with overtly sexual comments.
The issues were dealt with during a January meeting between Lively, Baldoni and several studio representatives where several changes were agreed including the addition of an intimacy coordinator on set.
‘Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount,’ Wayfarer acknowledges, according to the legal complaint.
However, a media strategy document apparently from the crisis management team also included in the legal complaint outlines how the team plans to protect Baldoni’s reputation, along with that of lead producer Jamey Heath and fwayfWayfarer.
The document outlines several possible talking points to boost Baldoni, but also discredit Lively.
They include her, ‘less than favorable reputation in the industry’, how she involved her husband Ryan Reynolds to ‘create an imbalance of power’.
In post-production, Lively brought in her own editor to recut a version of the film which was the one ultimately chosen for distribution.
In another message, Baldoni appears to suggest capitalizing on Reynolds’ involvement as another means of targeting Lively.
‘My partner asked about flipping the narrative from this leak this AM about Ryan saying script was a disaster and he saved the movie,’ the message reads before suggesting, ‘using their own words against them’.
The document also suggests some crew members allegedly lost their jobs due to Lively’s insistence on creative control.
Baldoni has refuted the claims through his lawyer Brian Freedman.
‘It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives, as yet another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film,’ he said.
‘Interviews and press activities that were observed publicly, in real time and unedited, which allowed for the internet to generate their own views and opinions.
‘These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.
‘Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.
‘It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.
‘The representatives of Wayfarer Studios still did nothing proactive nor retaliated, and only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity.
‘What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals,’ Freedman added.
Lively denied planting false or negative stories about her co-star or his company.
‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,’ she said.