Ryan Reynolds is defending the fiery texts he sent sticking up for his wife Blake Lively amid her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

Reynolds', 49, messages — in which he called Baldoni a 'dumb-dumb' and a 'predatory fraudster' — were recently unsealed as part of Lively's, 38, ongoing lawsuit against the It Ends With Us director, 42.

'Yes, Ryan got involved — what husband wouldn't support his wife and the mother of his children?' the actor's representative said in a statement to Puck News, as part of a report by the publication titled 'Is Blake Really Unhireable — and Can Ryan Escape the Blast Radius?'

'He saw his wife fighting daily to stand up against sexual harassment in a private and respectful way, only to face retaliation for doing so,' the spokesperson added.

'If anything, Ryan feels like he wasn't angry enough.'

'He passionately believes in and will stand up for the basic right to a safe workplace free of harassment and retaliation for his wife and others.'

'Then, now and always.'

The legal counter-punch

A spokesperson for Baldoni provided Daily Mail with a statement from his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, which read: 'As stated all along, and reflected in our clients motions, as well as in messages from Sony discussing Ms. Lively's behaviors, the evidence does not support the claims as a matter of law.'

'A simple read of the newly released message exchanges make the truth abundantly clear.'

'We remain confident in the legal process and clearing the names of all the Justin Baldoni parties.' 

Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Reynolds and Lively for comment. 

Meanwhile, a source told Puck News that Reynolds' comments in messages with agent Warren Zavala about executive producer Todd Black and Sony executive Ange Giannetti — whom he called 'ineffectual elderly people with no ideas or thoughtful communication skills' — make him look 'childish and petulant.'

The insider added that Reynolds — who reportedly confronted a tearful Baldoni about 'fat-shaming' his wife in 2023 — 'is very protective of his image. It's his worst nightmare to have this stuff exposed.'

Smear campaigns and slurs

In December of 2024, Lively named Baldoni in a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliatory conduct, and intentional infliction of emotional stress. 

The actress claimed Baldoni sexually harassed her in multiple ways — including body shaming her — and orchestrated a smear campaign to damage her reputation. 

Baldoni — who has previously accused Lively and Reynolds of using their combined star power to hijack his film — has denied the claims. 

Lively is seeking more than $160 million in damages, with the trial set for May 2026 in New York. 

Baldoni's countersuit against Lively and Reynolds — who have been married since 2012 and share four children — alleging defamation and extortion, has since been dismissed by the judge. 

It Ends with Us earned $148 million in domestic box office and $350 million globally — but whatever goodwill the film garnered has since been overshadowed by the allegations made by its stars. 

In a series of recently unsealed text messages from the lawsuit, Reynolds lashed out at 'dumb-dumb' Baldoni while claiming that his wife was responsible for the box office success of the movie. 

In one text exchange from July 2024 to a WME executive, Reynolds allegedly referred to Baldoni as a 'thoroughbred, predatory fraudster' and an 'inexplicably toxic mess.'

Shielding the star

He allegedly added in that text: 'I'd put Blake's reputation on trial any day of the week.'

'She's worked with... dozens of other mercurial, and abusive people.'

'In her experience (and mine) nobody has ever reached the empyrean heights of vile the way Justin Baldoni has.'

'His complete lack of not only remorse but self-preservation is a character study in malignant, lazy-lidded stupidity and darkness,' Reynolds reportedly wrote.

And in a chat with Zavala on August 9, 2024 — around the same time It Ends with Us had a stellar box office debut — the Deadpool star said of Lively, 'She WILLED this weekend into reality.'

'Baldoni and these other buckets of dumb-dumb-juice should be acknowledging the speculation and gossip themselves,' Reynolds said.

'They should be jumping in front of it in the most full throated, unqualified way. Now.' 

Reynolds complained about the actor-director and his associates not taking the public hit after initial reports of tension on the film set began to circulate, in court documents reviewed by Daily Mail in the litigation between Lively and Baldoni.

In the exchange, Reynolds speculated on strategies to shield his wife from bad publicity, stating she 'should not be subjected to some eye-roll-y narrative of the "controlling [expletive]", amid early reports of dissension during production.

The motherhood sacrifice

Reynolds said Baldoni and his team 'should be protecting' Lively, adding, 'They can and should accept the consequences of their actions and lean into the countless and willfully gross behavior before it leans into them.'

'They made a big [expletive] mess. Blake - under NO CIRCUMSTANCES - should be asked to clean up this sloppy, cliched [expletive] storm.'

Reynolds said he was 'super frustrated because this is a moment in which Blake should be celebrating,' as 'she made this unbelievable win happen.'

'She made this a win for Sony and by proxy, Wayfarer.'

Reynolds said that Lively '[expletive] refused to give up on the film' as she 'didn't sleep' and 'missed countless moments with her kids while sitting in edit rooms, scrapping and frame [expletive] dailies for every square inch of quality.'

The actor said his spouse 'slammed together a recipe for success despite working with ingredients she wasn't even able to choose.'

'All this while masterminding a world class marketing and promo plan for a movie that's punching so far above its weight I've lost descriptors to even describe what's happening.'

Reynolds said that Baldoni had tension with others involved with the making of the motion picture.

The 'tummy bug' jibe 

'Every cast member and key crew member (including Colleen) won't be in the same room as the guy,' Reynolds wrote. 

'All of them have at some point, over the last six months, unfollowed him on social media.'

'Not one person has said Justin's name out loud in any interview at any time.'

Reynolds was recently torched by fans over the 'cringe' lengthy email he wrote to It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover, which was also among the newly unsealed exhibits in the case.

He seemingly mocked Baldoni, writing, 'I heard you guys got a tummy bug and you're stuck in NY.'

'I can't think of anything worse. Although it might be your body ridding itself of any residual Baldoni.'

'I'd rather be puking in a gulag than hijacking performative feminism while practicing personal growth catchphrases in the mirror,' he added.

Fans were confused by Reynolds' close involvement in the film and the lengthy email, with many calling it 'cringe' and 'egotistical'. 

Hollywood's glossiest names have been dragged into the It Ends with Us fallout. 

The Affleck email 

In unsealed texts from Lively to her famous pal Taylor Swift, the actress allegedly called Baldoni a 'doofus' while Swift reportedly referred to him as a '[expletive].

Lively also appeared to have asked Ben Affleck for assistance in her feud with Baldoni during the making of It Ends with Us.

The newly released court documents also contain messages Lively and her husband Reynolds allegedly sent Affleck's best friend Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso, lambasting Baldoni for his 'enormous ego,' via Us Weekly.

Baldoni previously accused Lively and Reynolds of using their star power to smear him and hijack the domestic abuse movie, with Lively muscling in on production despite allegedly failing to read the book until filming was well under way.

The hijack allegedly went as far as relegating Baldoni and his family to the basement after arriving on the red carpet for the movie's premiere on August 6, 2024, because 'Lively demanded he not attend'.

'This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio,' Baldoni's lawyers previously claimed.

'Then, when Lively and Reynolds' efforts failed to win them the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat.'

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Justin Baldoni seeks to involve Taylor Swift legal case 

Blake Lively's efforts to redact the names of famous associates - such as husband Ryan Reynolds and one-time bestie Taylor Swift- in her In Ends with Us case are in vain, according to lawyers for Justin Baldoni.

In a new court filing on Monday, Baldoni's legal team stated their formal objection to a motion the actress previously filed looking to conceal the identities of public figures involved in the ongoing litigation. 

'Not one of [Lively's] requests meets the [court's] high standard for sealing at this stage,' Baldoni's team said in court filings reviewed by Daily Mail. 

Baldoni, 41, said in the court filing that they only reason the actress, 38, is hoping to have the records involving the famous people concealedis because it doesn't help their public images. 

Lively filed court docs requesting the redaction of certain names in the documents. She described husband Reynolds as 'an innocent third-party' in regard to production difficulties with the motion picture. 

Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Baldoni, Lively and Swift for further comment on the story. 

Attorneys for Baldoni pushed back on Lively's characterization of her husband as an uninvolved third-party, according to court filings reviewed by Daily Mail. 

They said that 'the claim that Reynolds is a non-party whose communications should be sealed is overly-restrictive and absurd.' 

Baldoni's legal team pointed to numerous instances in which they said Reynolds lent his cinematic expertise to the productionof In Ends with Us.

Reynolds personally rewrote the scene in the Colleen Hoover adaptation, Baldoni's lawyers said, and also was involved in a heated exchange with the director over remarks he made about Lively's weight. 

Baldoni's attorney said that Reynolds' clear involvement in the case makes him a prime person to be interviewed as a witness. 

Baldoni's lawyers said that Lively's efforts are part of a larger undertaking to conceal the names of people who she's accused of recruiting 'as advocates on her behalf against the Wayfarer Parties in her attempt to take over the film.'

Continue reading on the legal case here: 

Blake Lively made rare remarks on 'controversial wedding at slave plantation' 

Blake Lively made rare remarks about hers and husband Ryan Reynolds's controversial 2012 wedding during her It Ends With Us deposition, it has just been revealed. 

Lively, 38, and Reynolds, 49, married on September 9, 2012 at Boone Hall, a former slave plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. 

After facing backlash for their choice of wedding venue at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, the couple publicly admitted they were 'uninformed' and made a $200,000 donation to the NAACP in 2020.

Lively, who is suing It Ends With Us director/co-star Justin Baldoni, was grilled by his lawyer Bryan Freedman last July about the 'negative press' she and Reynolds received at the time. 

'It's true that you dealt with negative press with respect to being married on a plantation during, kind of, the height of Black Lives Matter; is that right?' Freedman asked, according to legal transcripts reviewed by Us Weekly. 

Lively admitted that she and her husband were wrong to pick the venue for the ceremony due its past history of slavery. 

'I feel like that negative press was deserved,' the mother-of-four said. 

'It's a mistake we have publicly acknowledged and done a lot of work to reconcile for ourselves and others.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Baldoni, Lively and Reynolds for further comment but has yet to hear back. 

In the July 2025 deposition, Lively said she took 'full accountability for that decision, as does [her] husband' Reynolds, implying that it was only being brought up to discredit her. 

'But I don't know what weaponization of the past has been a part of [Justin Baldoni's alleged smear] campaign.' Baldoni — who directed and co-starred alongside Lively in It Ends With Us — has denied the claims. 

She said of the backlash to the plantation controversy, 'I'm used to it after this many years in the industry,' adding, 'It's not something I've had to deal with often.' 

Reynolds in August of 2020 told Fast Company that the wedding venue will forever be something 'impossible to reconcile' for the couple. 

Click here to read more on the wedding: