Alert – Is there anyone left on Team Blake? As her bitter dispute with Justin Baldoni intensifies, fans – and even A-list pals – seem to be deserting her

As the weeks turn to months, there’s no sign of a resolution in the bitter Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni saga.

After accusations of sexual harassment on set (her against him) and counter-allegations of defamation and attempting to destroy his reputation and livelihood (him against her), claims that are set to see them face each other in court next year, it may have seemed that things had reached a stalemate.

But nothing could be further from the truth, with the damage continuing to ripple out behind the scenes.

In particular, many feel it’s turning into an own goal for actress Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

The couple made their first public appearance since the dispute turned legal at the Saturday Night Live 50 gala event in New York last Sunday.

When asked how he was doing by host Tina Fey, Reynolds responded, seemingly hinting at the legal battle, ‘Great! Why, what have you heard?’

But instead of a roar of conspiratorial laughter, there were uneasy grimaces from the crowd of celebrities, including a not-amused looking Kevin Costner and Cher. 

Afterwards, a source said: ‘Blake and Ryan were the talk of the entire evening, and many people avoided them.’ Another attendee was overheard asking, ‘Who told them to come?’

Many feel the ongoing lawsuit between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is turning into an own goal for the actress

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, says that they aren’t interested in settling and that his client, who is lying low in Hawaii presently, wants a ‘determination’

Blake pictured with her best friend Taylor Swift, who is thought to be the godmother to her four children

After spending an hour with friends, including actress Dakota Johnson, they went home before the official after-party got under way. Blake was dressed up as if for a film premiere, in a silver couture gown by Tamara Ralph, yet appeared jittery and nervous.

She had not been seen in public since September, and had posted on social media just once since filing her civil complaint against Baldoni in December, relating to his alleged behaviour on the set of the film It Ends With Us – about a couple in an abusive relationship, which he directed and also saw them playing the leads.

This awkward, largely mute appearance probably wasn’t the comeback she was hoping for.

As she wrote in an amended complaint, filed this week, the It Ends With Us affair has taken a heavy toll on her and her family.

The lawsuit says: ‘The emotional impact on Ms Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her but her husband and four children. There are days when she has struggled to get out of bed and she frequently chooses not to venture outside.

‘Mr Reynolds, too, has been affected. Worst of all has been the impact on their young children, who have been traumatised.’

Indeed, the news for the couple seems to be bad on every front. Legally, nothing Blake’s side has done seems to have moved the dial much since Justin Baldoni’s lawyers published a trove of texts and emails last month which suggested he had been ‘bumped off’ his film by the actress, who ended up editing it and getting him ejected from the premiere.

The hundreds of messages, going back years, seemed to show Baldoni trying hard to placate his leading lady as the relationship between them deteriorated.

Her filing this week adds some detail to her complaint that he sexually harassed her, but no killer blows. And there is a sense of her support ebbing away.

Colleen Hoover, the author of the book upon which the film was based, had seemed firmly on Team Blake.

In December, she issued a statement praising Blake as ‘honest, kind, supportive and patient’ then deleted her Instagram in January. When it was reinstated it had been scrubbed of all pictures of Blake Lively, whom she no longer follows.

Blake’s best friend Taylor Swift, thought to be the godmother to her four children, who allowed her to use one of her songs in the film and was referred to by the actress as one of the ‘dragons’ on her side, has kept her distance, too, at least in public.

And as the saga drags on, there are signs that Lively’s long-held ambitions for her haircare and alcoholic drink enterprises are being severely impacted too.

Her ‘Blake Brown’ range of hair products – expensive shampoos, conditioners and masks in curious hexagonal brown bottles – was launched in early August, at the same time as It Ends With Us was released.

While this wasn’t planned, she was accused of cynically using the film, about an abusive relationship, to promote her commercial interests.

Blake with her husband Ryan Reynolds at the 50th Anniversary of Saturday Night Live 

The news for the couple seems to be bad on every front. Nothing Blake has done has moved the dial since Baldoni’s lawyers published a trove of texts and emails last month which suggested he had been ‘bumped off’ his film by the actress

Barely six months on, there appears to be declining love for the brand. The products are not in any of the top 100 best-selling lists for hair care products, styling, shampoo, or conditioner on Amazon.com. They are also not mentioned in the top 100 hair masks – the USP of her brand.

This represents a significant fall – even according to Blake’s own lawyers. Her initial civil complaint, filed in late December, in which she cited a ‘smear campaign’ launched against her by Baldoni, led to sales at Target (the US supermarket chain) collapsing by up to 78 per cent. Others think they may have dropped by more like 90 per cent.

Blake Brown’s sales at Target totalled close to $5 million in the brand’s first three and a half weeks, and on launch day the brand had the five best-selling haircare items at the store. But by mid-September sales had plummeted. Experts say it’s usual for a 20 to 30 per cent dip after the launch, but not this kind of drop-off.

It was during this period that rumours escalated about a rift with Baldoni, after observers noticed they steered clear of each other on the film’s promotional tour. He appointed a crisis management team used by Johnny Depp, which Blake’s team say led to a slew of bad publicity.

Her lawyers said that the ‘sudden and unexpected media campaign’ created a ‘dramatic drop… completely at odds with the high satisfaction scores Blake Brown products received in consumer testing before launch or its initial success after launch’.

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, meanwhile, says that they aren’t interested in settling and that his client, who is lying low in Hawaii presently, wants a ‘determination’ – a court ruling.

He said: ‘We are not willing to do anything until Justin is cleared of being called a predator, a sexual harasser.’

He called Blake Lively’s revised complaint – which said that two anonymous women also had complaints about Baldoni’s behaviour – ‘unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons no longer willing to come forward’.

Blake’s lawyers admitted that the ‘sudden and unexpected media campaign’ created a ‘dramatic drop’ of bad publicity

And it seems that his clients – Baldoni, Wayfarer studios and their publicists – may even use the confident, jokey attempt at a comeback at the Saturday Night Live gala against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

He said: ‘I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation.’

He also indicated that people who used to speak up for Blake are now giving him sworn evidence in the other direction.

Unfortunately for the Lively-Reynolds machine, it seems unlikely normal service will be resumed any time soon.