Blake Lively is expressing her disapproval of a recent cover of The Hollywood Reporter in light of her ongoing legal dispute with her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
“The Hollywood Reporter should be ashamed of itself,” a spokesperson for the actress told Us Weekly in a statement shared on Saturday, February 22.
She stated, “The framing in this picture is outrageously insulting as it plays into every sexist trope about women who dare file a workplace complaint, turning them into the aggressor, and suggesting they deserve the retaliation that comes their way.” Lively also criticized the story for allegedly downplaying instances of sexual harassment and retaliation by labeling them as ‘cultural misunderstandings’.
The controversial cover of the magazine portrays Lively, 37, wielding a slingshot and aiming a cell phone at Baldoni, 41, who is depicted running away while clutching a copy of Colleen Hoover’s book It Ends With Us – the source material for their upcoming film. Notably, Baldoni is also shown holding a slingshot in the image.
The cover is meant to depict the biblical story of David and Goliath, in which a young boy overcomes all odds with just a simple slingshot and a rock to defeat a giant.
In the background, Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, is depicted as his Deadpool character ‘Nicepool,’ who is rumored to be a depiction of Baldoni meant to mock the director. Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Fredman, is also depicted in the cover, standing behind Baldoni and opposite Reynolds’ Nicepool with his hands on his hips.
Like Lively, many readers online took issue with the publication’s depiction of the costars’ highly-publicized legal battle.
“The audacity to turn this whole case into a joke is fucking alarming. I stand with Blake Lively because I believe her… I don’t care if people say she’s not a perfect victim or whatever bullshit — it really doesn’t matter,” one person wrote via X. “Predators should be punished.”
“Incredibly inappropriate,” another posted. “You have a responsibility as a publication, but time and time again yours has trivialized sexual harassment and assault, among other horrible things.”
Lively named Baldoni, 41, in a December 2024 lawsuit, claiming that he sexually harassed her and allegedly fostered a “hostile work environment” on the set of It Ends With Us. She amended her complaint earlier this month, also detailing the “emotional impact” of the legal fallout.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” court docs obtained by Us read. “There are days when she has struggled to get out of bed, and she frequently chooses not to venture outside in public.”
“Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry-picked to the media,” Baldoni’s lawyer Freedman said in a statement to Us on Wednesday, February 19. “Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband.”
The statement continued, “Her underwhelming amended complaint is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims. Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.”
Baldoni has denied Lively’s allegations, filing a $400 million defamation suit in January that claimed the Gossip Girl alum was “determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story” to mask her reported “tone-deaf” promotion of the film. Lively denied the accusations.
The pair are scheduled to begin trial on March 9, 2026.
