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Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni's legal battle recently took another dramatic turn. Blogger and media personality Perez Hilton, in a May 17 video uploaded on his YouTube channel, claimed that Lively was allegedly using her legal team to strong-arm media outlets in changing their coverage of the dispute.
According to an exclusive report from Hilton, a trusted media insider close to him, reportedly said that Lively's lawyers were demanding that news and media organizations reposition quotes and edit stories to cast the actress in a more favorable light amid her ongoing lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.
In the May 17 exclusive video, Hilton quoted his friend's claims verbatim.
"Blake's lawyer is calling up every news department and demanding changes in stories, and even wanting some of the quotes moved up in stories. They are blowing up writers, saying he's got a list of everyone reporting on this. Not quite threats, but definitely overstepping. They're freaking."
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Hilton also pitched in his thoughts.
"They're afraid. They're trying to manipulate and control the media. And this is not uncommon, but I don't think it's an effective strategy. And sadly, they haven't reached out to me because I can't be controlled, and I can think for myself," he commented.
More about the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
As reported by Deadline, in December 2024, Blake Lively sued Justin Baldoni, alleging he s*xually harassed her during the filming of their movie It Ends With Us and organized a smear campaign against her. Baldoni, who directed and starred in the film, denied the accusations and countersued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the couple's publicist Leslie Sloane for defamation and civil extortion.
According to Marca, on May 14, 2025, Justin Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, filed a sworn statement claiming that Lively's lawyers had threatened Taylor Swift, Lively's close friend, into making a public statement in support of her. Freedman alleged Lively's attorneys threatened to release private text messages between the two stars if Swift declined.
On May 15, the judge deemed Freedman's letter inadmissible in court, stating that it was "improper" and "irrelevant" to the case. As per Rolling Stone, Blake Lively's team filed a motion on May 20 that asked for sanctions against Baldoni's lawyers, arguing that their "frivolous claims" were a means of "harassing Ms. Lively and gaining favor in the court of public opinion."
The motion took issue with Freedman's idea that Blake Lively's deposition should be conducted at Madison Square Garden and "streamed for the world," calling it a "ghoulish taunt." It also alleged that Justin Baldoni's camp was placing media stories in an effort to destroy Lively, citing inflammatory archives.
"You can't file lawsuits in federal court that have no basis in law or fact to create a harassing media narrative, or in other words, their strategy from day one. The Baldoni legal team received notice of their sanctionable behavior weeks ago, but doubled down rather than withdrawing their frivolous and harassing claims. Now they'll face the consequences of treating federal court like a media playground," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, told the news outlet.
Blake Lively has yet to publicly respond to Perez Hilton's claims. As per Deadline, the trial between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is scheduled for March 9, 2026.
