Both Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively have been relying on alleged text messages to support their respective legal claims against one another.
The It Ends With Us co-stars have been locked in a bitter back and forth since late December, when the first of many lawsuits was filed.
Lively first sued the 40-year-old, who directed the film at the heart of the dispute for sexual harassment and alleging that he had attempted to orchestrate a 'social manipulation' campaign against her.
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On New Year's Eve, Lively then filed another lawsuit against Baldoni, this time at a federal court in New York.
As well as branding the claims 'categorically false' and filing a $250 million suit against The New York Times due to an article about the allegations, Baldoni fired back at the Gossip Girl alum with a lawsuit of his own.
In the 179-page document, the actor - as well as his production company Wayfarer Studios and others - laid out his complaint against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and others for damages equating to $400 million.
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He accused them of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, among other damning claims.
Deadpool & Wolverine has even been dragged into the fallout between the It Ends With Us leads, as Baldoni alleged that he was mocked with the 'Nicepool' character.
Lively's lawyers have since dubbed the lawsuit 'another chapter in the abuser playbook' and an 'attempt to turn the tables on the victim', although Baldoni's legal team maintain it is 'based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence'.
To support their claims in court, both stars have included a series of alleged text messages in their lawsuits.
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Here's all the communications which have been shared as part of the suits which have stunned Hollywood.
Blake Lively's lawsuit
In Lively's lawsuit, which was filed months after rumours of a rift between her and Baldoni first began, she claimed that her co-star's behaviour caused her and her family 'severe emotional distress'.
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Text messages between Baldoni, crisis publicist Melissa Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel were obtained by a subpoena.
As shown by The New York Times, Abel sent a text in which she stated that Baldoni 'wants to feel like she can be buried' in alleged reference to Lively.
Nathan allegedly responded: "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," adding: "We can't write we will destroy her."
She then sent another, which continued: "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."
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On 2 August, 2024, the complaint claims that Abel sent a text saying she was having 'reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with'.
"Just to get ahead of it," the message added. "She's putting us through hell."
Three days later, Baldoni allegedly sent the publicist a screenshot of a Twitter thread accusing another female celebrity of bullying women, writing: "This is what we would need."
Abel is said to have then told him that she had 'spoken to Melissa [Nathan] about this' and suggested they should 'focus on reddit, TikTok, IG'.
Another message then allegedly showed Baldoni asking: "What is the TikTok strategy? I'd like you guys to start posting me ONLY talking about domestic violence and clips and why this movie is so important."
From there, Nathan's team reported that they were 'starting to see a shift on social' in a message sent on 10 August, according to the Daily Mail.
The PR manager herself then went on to claim that the 'majority of the socials are so pro Justin and I don't even agree with half of them'.
The legal complaint lodged by Lively also claims that a meeting was held during production to address her grievances and demands for working on It Ends With Us, with her husband Ryan Reynolds, reportedly in attendance.
Some of these alleged demands included: “No more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”
Lively also allegedly demanded for Baldoni to not add 'sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing' outside of what she had agreed to prior to filming.
Another message from Baldoni reportedly saw him discuss 'using [the couple's] own words against them', as he wrote: "My partner asked about flipping the narrative from this leak this AM about Ryan saying script was a disaster and he saved the movie."
Justin Baldoni's lawsuit
Baldoni has hit back with a lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, their publicist, Leslie Sloane and her PR firm ,Vision PR, which was filed on Thursday (16 January).
In the lawsuit - which was seen by LADbible - nine text messages were included, as which the Jane the Virgin actor alleges are proof that he has been defamed by his co-star.
When stories began to surface regarding claims that Baldoni's camp were intentionally trying to tear The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants star down, he got in contact with his team.
Baldoni allegedly wrote: "How can we say somehow that we are not doing any of this - it looks like we are trying to take her down."
He then later followed this up by saying: "Ok please monitor. Thing I'm more worried about is that we are planting these stories which is not true obviously."
In another text exchange, Baldoni and his publicist were discussing a news article which speculated on the future of Lively's career, after describing a Q&A she did for the film as 'tone-deaf'.
The New York Times claimed in their public release of Lively's lawsuit that Baldoni's team was 'revelling' in damaging her image, while including a text exchange between his publicist and crisis publicist.
Abel was said to have wrote: "Wow, you really outdid yourself with this piece," before Nathan responded: "That's why you hired me right? I'm the best."
But in Baldoni's lawsuit, it was highlighted that prior to this, Nathan forwarded a message from a reporter telling her about The Daily Mail article before adding: "Damn. This is not fair because it's not me, everything now looks like it's me."
It was also explained that after Abel said that Nathan 'outdid' herself, she added an upside smiley face emoji, to symbolise sarcasm or that she was joking.
An unspecified member of Baldoni's team at The Agency Group then allegedly sent a text in response to social media backlash against Lively's comments about 'grabbing your friends and your florals' on the It Ends With Us press tour which read: "Like come on. We had NOTHING to do with that."
In another text message thread, Nathan sent a link to an article that revealed an 'unearthed' interview from Lively, which the media outlet said had portrayed her in an unflattering light.
Baldoni's claim states that she wrote: "This just ran - obviously none of us knew about this either. But once media goes in, they go in. And the best thing we can do right now is be quiet.
"Let's get through this week together. Then just move on and back to regular planning with Instagram posts and thoughtful ideas and messages. The content creators are on fire, and Justin, she handed it to them all on a plate."
Other texts from 2 June, 2023, submitted as part of the lawsuit see Lively tell Baldoni that she is 'just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines', to which he responded: "Copy, eating with crew and will head that way."
The messages were included in Baldoni's lawsuit to counter the sexual harassment claims, as she willingly asked him to come into her personal space, at least once, after claiming invasions of privacy.
He also responded to claims that he showed photos of his wife naked, saying that it was actually a birthing video.
Text messages also allegedly show him telling Lively: "Just hired intimacy coordinator who I LOVE. Will set you up to meet/FT with her next week for intro," and a thumbs up emoji.
She responded: "I feel good. I can meet her when we start :) thank you though!"
This alleged exchange was included to counter claims from Lively that Baldoni would 'improvise' intimacy on set.
As the premiere approached, Baldoni allegedly sent a text in a group chat which read: "Long story but we won't be in the same room - I was asked to not even come to premier. I can figure it out."
He claimed that Lively cut her own version of the movie, undermining his influence on the film as director - and addressed his treatment at the premiere in a leaked voice recording.
One of the editors then claimed that they no longer wanted to go to the premiere in a text exchange, before Baldoni confirmed he was now going to attend, but claimed he would be kept away from Lively while there.
Baldoni is alleged to have wrote: "Well, if you decide to change your mind last minute, let me know and let's figure it out together.
"I'm just gonna be there that's just different timing and holding areas and theatres and all the things you can imagine. It's still our film."
The editor then responded saying: "It would be very hard for me to sit and watch the 'final' film for the first time at the premiere. Just cheer for us when our names come up! Sending all love."
LADbible has previously reached out to Lively and Baldoni's representatives and Wayfarer Studios for comment.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, US News
Olivia Burke