Justin Baldoni spotted in public following sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni and his wife, Emily, presented a united front as they appeared together in public for the first time since his It Ends With Us co-star, Blake Lively, alleged him of sexual harassment.

The couple, who got married in July 2013 after dating for nearly two years, were spotted dropping off their children, Maiya, 9, and Maxwell, 7, at a family member’s home before heading to a meeting in Beverly Hills.

Following accusations by the 37-year-old Gossip Girl star of inappropriate behavior and retaliatory actions on set in an extensive 80-page legal complaint, the 40-year-old actor appeared tense, keeping a low profile and sticking close to his partner.

Despite the allegations against her man, Emily appeared supportive of him as she kept one hand on his back as they walked inside the same building. 

For their laid-back outing, Baldoni wore a plain grey t-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers and a backpack. 

Meanwhile, Emily matched in a grey crewneck sweater, light-wash denim bottoms and brown boots. 

Following Lively’s claims, Vital Voices rescinded the Voices of Solidarity Award that they honored him with just two weeks ago. 

The trophy is given to ‘remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls in the United States and around the world.’

The organization announced, ‘The Voices of Solidarity Award honors remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls. On December 9, 2024, we recognized Justin Baldoni with this award. On Saturday, December 21, we learned through news reports about a lawsuit brought by Blake Lively against Mr. Baldoni, his publicists, and others that is disturbing and alleges abhorrent conduct.’

‘The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit – and the PR effort they indicate – are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award. We have notified Mr. Baldoni that we have rescinded this award,’ the group stated of their decision.

In Lively’s bombshell lawsuit, she accused Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath of repeated sexual harassment. 

Among the most damning claims is that Baldoni ‘improvised’ kissing scenes to suck and bite on her lip.

She also alleges she was forced into nude scenes during which Heath’s friends were on-set. 

Over the weekend, Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency, WME. 

Baldoni’s legal team have since denied the allegations – and claimed the lawsuit was an attempt to salvage her reputation which suffered during press for their movie It Ends With Us.

The two stars both took on leading roles on the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel, but rumors of a rift between the pair ignited when they were not pictured on the red carpet and also didn’t do any interviews together.

The height of the drama took place in August shortly before the film was released in theaters.

Along with Blake and Justin keeping their distance from each other, they were also rumored to have had creative differences on set.

He was also unfollowed by the actress on social media, as well as other cast members and Hoover. 

Lively was also 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. 

Drama further arose when resurfaced interviews of the actress being ‘rude’ to reporters went viral on social media. 

Bombshell text messages have since come to light amid the lawsuit to show how his crisis management team allegedly launched a smear campaign against her. 

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: ‘D***IT’.

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.’ 

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.’

In August, It Ends With Us released in theaters and despite the drama, the movie was a box office success raking in around $351 million on a budget of $25 million. 

At the time, Blake was pictured arriving at Taylor’s mansion towards the end of August following backlash for plugging her alcohol brand Betty Booze during the promotion of the movie – which focuses on domestic violence.

She further received backlash after awkward interviews during press for the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel.

Past interviews were also resurfaced, such as one from 2016 when a reporter had congratulated Blake – who was pregnant at the time – on her baby bump.

Lively shared the same comment to the reporter who was not pregnant, and could not conceive children of her own.

In August, one source told People in regards to Baldoni that, ‘All is not what it seems. There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him.’

The insider added that Lively ‘wants to direct the next movie, sidelining him and securing the rights from Colleen.’

In the lawsuit, Blake also claimed Baldoni made inappropriate inquiries about her weight, comments about her dead father and sexual remarks about the cast and crew.

The situation became so unworkable that she and husband Ryan Reynolds demanded crisis talks during filming to put a stop to the behavior, according to the lawsuit.

Lively also requested: ‘No more adding of sex scenes, oral sex or on camera climaxing by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project,’ per the filings.

The demands were allegedly accepted by the studio, but the movie’s release was still hampered by a dispute between Lively and Baldoni about how it should be marketed, according to the lawsuit.

Lively claims that Baldoni’s team then engaged in a ‘social manipulation’ campaign to tarnish her reputation.

The lawsuit includes text messages from the director’s publicist to the studio which allegedly say Baldoni, ‘wants to feel like [Lively] can be buried, and ‘We can’t write we will destroy her.’

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman hit back at the lawsuit as, ‘false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt.’

He insisted the legal action is an attempt by Lively to ‘fix her negative reputation’ after rumors emerged of diva-like behavior on set.

This included, ‘threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release,’ according to Freedman.

The romantic drama follows Lily Bloom played by Blake Lively as she becomes embroiled in an abusive relationship with Justin Baldoni’s Ryle Kincaid.

One alleged point of contention was how the movie should be marketed, with Lively reportedly wanting to make the tale more upbeat in contrast to Baldoni, who felt it should be more focused on the abuse aspect.

Insiders revealed the concerning truth about the on-set tensions, telling DailyMail.com that Blake and Justin clashed over his ‘dismissive’ attitude to her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes that involved abuse.

Fans have since reacted to the actress’s sexual harassment lawsuit, with some siding with Lively and others coming to Baldoni’s defense.