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New York Post
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Keith Lee on hosting NYC food festival: 'I take it very seriously'
It's a festival worth its salt. Starring a who's who of culinary icons, Keith Lee's Family Style Food Festival is set to take over Industry City on Saturday, May 17, to assuage even the hangriest New Yawkas. 'I'm more than excited,' Lee, the martial artist-turned-foodfluencer whose 17 million TikTok followers can make or break a restaurant, told The Post. 'It's gonna be amazing, not even just from a food perspective, but from a culture perspective, and from a community perspective.' Produced in partnership with Complex, the festival is set to bring together the trendiest treats from across the city, all under Lee's trademark umbrella of shining a light on independent businesses. 5 Keith Lee, shown as a South by Southwest influencer panel in March, is 'more than excited' about his foodie gathering this Saturday. SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images That includes slices from Brooklyn's celeb favorite Lucali Pizza, sammies courtesy of Lower East Side legend Katz's Delicatessen and the viral Thai eats from Noho's Fish Cheeks, among a buffet of others. 'There's never really a way to include everyone, but we can try,' said Miles Canares, a founder of the festival alongside Ben Shenassafar and Bobby Kim of the Hundreds. It all began in 2019 with the idea of hosting a family-oriented food bacchanal. Complex acquired the festival last year amid larger plans for a food-focused publication. 5 Keith Lee (left) is joined by rapper Tobe Nwigwe for a food sampling at a 2024 festival in Las Vegas. 'It's gonna be amazing, not even just from a food perspective, but from a culture perspective, and from a community perspective,' he told The Post of his upcoming get-together. Julian Berman According to Canares, there's a cutthroat competition for a space at the highly sought-after snack summit. 'Our process of who to include is having a mix of institutions like Russ and Daughters, as well as hot spots,' says Canares. He points to Williamsburg's L'Industrie Pizza with its daily snaking lines, and Calvin Eng's Cantonese-American restaurant Bonnie's as two examples. Adds Lee, 'I get hundreds of messages a day.' The festival, which last had a successful stint in Los Angeles in 2024, is also known for limited-time collabs and mountains of merch. This year, they include a juicy Scallion Pancake Burrito with Char Sui (see: thick slices of Chinese-style pork) cooked up by LES stalwart Nom Wah Tea Parlor in partnership with Forsyth Fire Escape, the likes of which have been creating a buzz online. The mighty and meaty selections don't end there. Canares is especially salivating over a bountiful bagel sandwich courtesy of Greenberg's, stuffed with eggs, cheese and massive slabs of bacon from Hometown BBQ. Other noteworthy participants include a veritable UN of eats: Japanese delicacies from Raku and Vietnamese coffee courtesy of La Gaz, are among them. There are even bites from Georgia, the country, that is, in the form of Chelsea's Chama Mama. The pop-up Schmackwich, known for an ooey-gooey Wagyu chopped cheese, is also a member of the robust roster. 'They don't have a brick and mortar shop, but they have a team that has so much energy behind them,' says Canares. 5 Lee's event is produced in partnership with Complex and will bring together numerous city purveyors. WireImage Even the sips have major cred, with acclaimed watering hole Double Chicken Please (which was just named one of the 50 Best Bars in the world) also making an appearance. 'The food we feature is really a combination of who we feel like and who can create buzz,' Canares noted. 'There's a lot of restaurants who will have a trick or two up their sleeve.' When it comes to Lee, he's no stranger to rallying the masses to munch. The 29-year-old was a successful MMA fighter before becoming a breakout star on TikTok, thus far amassing nearly a billion likes thanks to his nonchalant reviews of tasty mom-and-pop operations nationwide, many of which he films inside the confines of his car. In the past couple of months alone, Lee's savory search has brought him everywhere from Texas and Chicago to London, where he shot a recent series of reviews. Lee even attended the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles as part of his scrumptious sojourn. 'I take food very seriously,' he says about his review methods, which are more sweet than sour, eschewing the Simon Cowell school of critique. 'I take people's feelings into consideration and I take people's hard work into consideration as well.' 5 Keith Lee says his culinary creation is about bringing 'buzz.' WireImage 5 TikTok creator Lee gets a taste of a British feast for a video. @keith_lee125/Tiktok Known to favor smaller operations off the beaten path (earning him the nickname 'The People's Champ'), his first viral hit came as a surprise — even to him. 'The moment I realized this was something bigger than just eating food was when I posted about a pizza shop that was about to close its doors,' Lee recalled. '24 hours later, I went to sleep and my mom woke me up at eight in the morning screaming and yelling and I thought it was an emergency.' It turns out, his mother saw the fledgling shop on the morning news — with a line out the door, thanks to Lee's video. But, there's also a flipside. Last November, eagle-eyed followers spotted something wiggling on sushi he scored from Seattle's FOB Sushi Bar. While Lee couldn't confirm or deny it was a worm, the public reaction was so intense that it led the eatery to temporarily close its doors. 'As long as I stay true to myself, there's no pressure at all because these reviews are exactly who I am in real life,' Lee said of his secret sauce to success. 'When you're not pretending to be something you're not, it's a lot easier to maintain your character than putting on a personality and having to take it off.' 'It's all based on the same thing I pride myself in, which is family,' said Lee, who has two kids with wife Ronni Lee, with a third on the way. As for his expectations of the festival: 'It's gonna be crazy.'
Buzz Feed
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
26 Pairs Of Celebrities Who Look Sooo Much Alike, It's A Little Uncanny
There are so many celebrities who have completely unique looks — once-in-a-lifetime beauties. But every once in awhile, a pair of celebs hit the scene and it's almost impossible to tell them a part. 1. " Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly." —u/ Haunting_Homework381 2. " Frankie Grande and Ethan Slater." 3. " Timothée Chalamet and Natalia Dyer." —u/ BoolImAGhost 4. "Jeremy Allen White and Gene Wilder." 5. "Charlotte Le Bon and Winona Ryder." —u/ ChileanRidge 6. "Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Will Ferrell." 7. "McKenna Grace and Kiernan Shipka." 8. "Josh Duhamel and Timothy Olyphant." Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images Jeffrey Mayer / WireImage Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images, Jeffrey Mayer / WireImage —u/ kjan1289 9. "Jean Smart and Kim Catrall." Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic Jim Spellman / WireImage Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic, Jim Spellman / WireImage —u/ MoonageDaydream24 10. "Kym Whitley and Jackee Harry." Robin L Marshall / Getty Images Robin L Marshall / FilmMagic Robin L Marshall / Getty Images, Robin L Marshall / FilmMagic —u/ the_ecdysiast 11. "Rachel Brosnahan and Evan Rachel Wood." Mindy Small / WireImage Theo Wargo / WireImage Mindy Small / WireImage, Theo Wargo / WireImage —u/ Glass-Coach-2521 12. "Henry Cavill and Matt Bomer." Han Myung-Gu / WireImage JC Olivera / Deadline via Getty Images Han Myung-Gu / WireImage, JC Olivera / Deadline via Getty Images —u/ quiet-panda-360 13. "Lili Reinhart and Brittany Murphy." Gilbert Flores / SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic Gilbert Flores / SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images, Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic —u/ romant1cs 14. "Tom Hardy and Logan Marshall-Green." Steve Granitz / WireImage Kevin Winter / Getty Images Steve Granitz / WireImage, Kevin Winter / Getty Images —u/ VinylHiFi1017 15. "Adelaide Clemens and Michelle Williams." Steve Granitz / FilmMagic Yui Mok - PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images Steve Granitz / FilmMagic, Yui Mok - PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images —u/ sabine_strohem_moss 16. "Millie Bobby Brown and Elizabeth Perkins." Matt Winkelmeyer / FilmMagic, —u/ Dapper_Card_1377 Gary Gershoff / Getty Images Matt Winkelmeyer / FilmMagic,, Gary Gershoff / Getty Images 17. "Javier Bardem and Jeffrey Dean Morgan." JB Lacroix / WireImage Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for AMC JB Lacroix / WireImage, Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for AMC —u/ groovygyal 18. "Victoria Justice and Nina Dobrev." Maya Dehlin Spach / FilmMagic Robert Smith / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Maya Dehlin Spach / FilmMagic, Robert Smith / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images —u/ Super_Bad6238 19. "Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt." Bob Riha Jr / WireImage Monica Schipper / FilmMagic Bob Riha Jr / WireImage, Monica Schipper / FilmMagic —u/ Real-Potato-4955 20. "Christopher Knight and Seth McFarland." Gabe Ginsberg / FilmMagic Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images Gabe Ginsberg / FilmMagic, Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images —u/ 22fitkitty 21. "Stanley Tucci and Mark Strong." Cindy Ord / Getty Images Mike Marsland / WireImage Cindy Ord / Getty Images, Mike Marsland / WireImage —u/ owange_tweleve 22. "Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly." Matt Winkelmeyer / WireImage Jason Mendez / Getty Images Matt Winkelmeyer / WireImage, Jason Mendez / Getty Images –u/ ThatGirl8709 23. "James Brolin and Christian Bale." Peter Bischoff / Getty Images —u/ Sm211 Lester Cohen / WireImage Peter Bischoff / Getty Images, Lester Cohen / WireImage 24. "Haley Lu Richardson and Zoey Deutch." Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images Cindy Ord / WireImage Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images, Cindy Ord / WireImage —u/ Hefty_Heron3028 25. "Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain." Rune Hellestad - Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic Rune Hellestad - Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images, Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic —u/ DoNotGoGentle27 26. "Kit Harington and Chris Abbot." Marc Piasecki / WireImage Frazer Harrison / Getty Images Marc Piasecki / WireImage, Frazer Harrison / Getty Images —u/ bistandards What do you think? Any surprises? Or any celebs you think should have been included in this list? Let me know in the comments!
Forbes
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Baldoni Vs. Lively Feud Explained: ‘It Ends With Us' Crew Member Says Blake Lively Tried To ‘Take Power' On Film Set
A storyboard artist who worked on 'It Ends With Us,' the blockbuster starring Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively that spurred a legal feud between its two leads, accused Lively of taking advantage of Baldoni to take control of the film, becoming one of few members of the production to speak directly on the feud. (Here are in-depth explanations for Lively's claims and Baldoni's claims.) Blake Lively attended the "Another Simple Favor" premiere Friday evening. (Photo by Michael ... More Buckner/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images) April 13, 2025'It Ends With Us' storyboard artist Talia Shire defended Baldoni in an interview with '60 Minutes Australia,' stating she felt Lively 'smelled [Baldoni's] kindness, mistook it for weakness and tried to take advantage and take power,' alleging Lively 'tried to' take control of the film, resulting in a 'massive compromise' of Baldoni's vision for the movie. April 8, 2025An actor who played a small role in 'It Ends With Us' as Lively's character's gynecologist pushed back against Lively's description of a birthing scene in her lawsuit as 'invasive and humiliating,' telling PageSix Lively wore a 'full hospital gown, black shorts and torso-covering prosthetic' and was not 'nearly nude' as she had claimed in her complaint. March 20, 2025In a counterclaim to Jones' December lawsuit against Baldoni and Abel, Baldoni alleged Jones attempted to undermine Abel's authority as a PR representative for Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company, claiming she suddenly terminated Abel from her PR firm, seized her phone and leaked texts to Lively's team, which the lawsuit says was done in response to Abel voicing her intent to leave Jones' firm and Jones' fear she would take Baldoni as a client with her. March 20, 2025In her motion to dismiss, Lively slammed Baldoni's 'vengeful and rambling lawsuit' as a 'profound abuse of the legal process,' urging the court to 'dismiss all claims against Ms. Lively with prejudice, deny leave to amend, and award Ms. Lively all relief sought,' including attorney's fees and damages for 'reputational and emotional harm.' March 18, 2025Reynolds filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's lawsuit, in which he is named as a co-defendant, alleging Baldoni's lawsuit does not prove Reynolds defamed him and is instead 'a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be.' March 7, 2025Lively attended the South by Southwest premiere of 'Another Simple Favor,' a sequel to the 2018 film 'A Simple Favor,' where she received a warm reception from the crowd and spoke primarily about her work on the film, though co-star Anna Kendrick dodged a question that appeared to allude to Lively's legal battle, and one protester held up a sign that said 'Justice for Justin Baldoni' outside the theater. March 6, 2025At a hearing Thursday, Lively's attorneys argued certain information should be treated as highly classified 'attorney's eyes only' material, which lawyer Sigrid McCawley said would help minimize the risk of 'irreparable harm if marginal conversations with high profile individuals with no relevance to the case were to fall into wrong hands'—apparently suggesting messages between Lively and celebrity friends may leak. The judge did not rule on the request Thursday. Though it's unclear which 'high profile individuals' McCawley was referring to, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman has previously suggested he could request Lively's friend Taylor Swift testify, after she appeared to be referred to in Baldoni's lawsuit. March 5, 2025The Los Angeles Times published an investigative report on Baldoni's career, citing multiple unnamed employees at his Wayfarer Studios production company, some of whom said he injected 'toxic positivity' and his Bahai faith into the workplace culture in a way that felt 'professionally inappropriate.' Representatives for Baldoni and Wayfarer told the Los Angeles Times there have 'never been any reported complaints regarding the workplace culture' and Wayfarer's work is rooted in 'various faiths and backgrounds.' March 4, 2025Lewis Liman, a U.S. district judge, said the New York Times' motion to dismiss Justin Baldoni's $400 million case against the newspaper provided 'substantial grounds,' suggesting the lawsuit—in which Baldoni accused the Times of working with Lively's team to smear him—could be dismissed. Feb. 28, 2025Shapiro, who formerly served as the CIA's deputy chief of staff between 2013 and 2015 before starting his own strategic consulting firm, will advise Lively's litigation team on legal communications relating to the lawsuit she filed against Baldoni in New York federal court. Feb. 20, 2025Attorneys submitted a letter on behalf of Lively and Reynolds asking a new, more extensive protective order be imposed that would shield 'personal, sensitive or proprietary information' from the public after claiming they and their allies have been victimized since the legal battle began. The letter goes on to say that it is "inevitable" that the release of more discovery in the case will further violate their privacy, expose them to threats and create "a climate of possible witness intimidation." Feb. 18, 2025Lawyers for Lively filed an amended complaint that included new accusations Baldoni's behavior made at least two additional, unnamed female cast members uncomfortable and that both of those women brought their complaints to Lively, who documented them in writing and reported them to higher-ups on the film (the complaint references Baldoni's 'unwelcome behavior' but does not specify exactly what he is accused of doing). The suit claims Baldoni was made aware of at least one of the additional cast members' concerns and responded to her in writing at the time, promising "adjustments would be made'—but alleges he instead launched a PR campaign to discredit any future claims made against him. Forbes reached out to Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, for comment on the new complaint Wednesday. Feb. 13, 2025Baldoni and Lively's letter to the judge, filed in New York federal court on Thursday, said mediation or reaching a settlement would be 'inappropriate' and 'premature' for this case, suggesting their legal feud could eventually head to trial. Feb. 12, 2025Hoover, who deactivated her Instagram account as the legal battle between Lively and Baldoni continued to play out, has wiped any photos with Lively or Baldoni from her account. Most posts related to the film at all have been deleted, including an post supporting Lively that went up shortly after she filed her initial lawsuit against Baldoni: "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt," she wrote. During promotion for the 'It Ends With Us' film, Hoover appeared to take Lively's side when a clear rift emerged among the film's cast and crew. Lively refused to promote the movie alongside Baldoni and the pair were never interviewed or photographed together during its highly publicized press tour, Hoover and most of Lively's co-stars, including Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar and Isabela Ferrer, appeared at her side rather than Baldoni's. Hoover still follows Lively on Instagram, but does not follow Baldoni. Feb. 11, 2025A three-year-old video interview of Blake Lively admitting to Forbes she's ruffled feathers in the film industry by attempting to have more 'authorship' over her projects has gone viral. In a resurfaced interview from the 2022 Forbes Power Women's Summit, Lively said just following direction as an actress "wasn't fulfilling for me" and that she's received backlash for stepping in and trying to be part of costume design, writing and other aspects of a project. She said she's had writers, producers and directors "welcome that and invite that," and others who resented her for stepping on toes. She also said she hasn't always upfront with her plans to step in to other parts of a project when she was hired as an actress, and that she 'wouldn't reveal that I actually need to have authorship in order to feel fulfilled... Sometimes that might have felt like a rug pull.' Feb. 8, 2025Filmmaker Judd Apatow joked about "It Ends With Us" at the 77th Annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards Saturday night, calling it "such a terrible movie" and referencing the Baldoni-Lively lawsuits. "I loved Wicked. I saw it four times in the first four days," Apatow added. "It was the highest-grossing movie musical of all time. Do you know that? Usually to make that much money, you have to sue Blake Lively." Feb. 7, 2025Comedian Chelsea Handler, who hosted the Critics' Choice Awards, also poked fun at the legal battle, which has played out dramatically in the media over the last six weeks. Handler thanked the pair for providing a "distraction" from heavier headlines: 'I want to personally extend my gratitude to Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively... I'm grateful. I think we're all grateful. And I think we're good. I think everybody in this room, no matter whose side you're on, we can all agree to accept that there's probably not going to be a sequel. It ends with us, guys." Feb. 5, 2025Baldoni's lawyer suggested in an interview with TMZ he could call on Taylor Swift—a close friend of Blake Lively's who may have been alluded to in Baldoni's lawsuit against the actress—to testify once the case goes to trial. After TMZ's Harvey Levin asked about deposing Swift, Freedman didn't rule out the idea, calling it a 'game time decision' and adding he would seek testimony from anyone who may have relevant information (Freedman also said Swift was present alongside Baldoni, Lively and Ryan Reynolds at a meeting about Lively's proposed script edits to 'It Ends With Us' that is referenced in Baldoni's lawsuit, though the suit only refers to the alleged attendee as 'Taylor' with no last name). Feb. 4, 2025Jed Wallace, owner of the crisis PR firm Street Relations, sued Lively in Texas federal court for defamation, alleging she falsely claimed in a civil rights complaint and her lawsuit that Wallace participated in an alleged smear campaign against the actress at the behest of Baldoni's public relations team, which he says caused him 'millions of dollars in reputational harm.' Feb. 4, 2025'A Simple Favor 2,' Lively's latest film, will open at the SXSW Film and TV Festival next month, Director Paul Feig said, after rumors the film had been shelved, partially due to the Lively/Baldoni legal battle. Feb. 3, 2025New York federal judge Lewis J. Liman told lawyers for Lively and Baldoni that he would move up the trial date, set for March 2026, if the case continued to be 'litigated in the press.' Liman ordered both sides to adhere to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which stops lawyers from making public comments that have a 'substantial likelihood' of tainting a jury, but stopped short of sanctioning Baldoni's attorney, Freedman, despite claims from Lively's team that he has gotten close to defaming her and has made 'extrajudicial statements' about her and her character. Feb. 1, 2025Baldoni's team published a website dedicated to supporting his lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds that links to to an amended complaint filed on Jan. 31 and contains a timeline of events outlining what he says happened on the set of 'It Ends With Us,' including corresponding text messages, emails and a statement Baldoni has said he was pressured into releasing by Reynolds and Lively that would have seen him take the blame for the "troubled production" of the movie (he refused to put out the statement). In addition to the statement, Baldoni released a text message exchange with Lively that showed she chose not to meet with the on-set intimacy coordinator he hired, leaving him to relay uncomfortable information from the meeting on his own. Jan. 30, 2025Lawyers for Lively and Reynolds said in a letter to Liman that they plan to move to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them at a pre-trial conference scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3. Jan. 29, 2025The Hollywood Reporter cited unnamed sources in reporting Baldoni has "lost three jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars' since Lively first filed suit against him in December and that an in-the-works "Pac-Man" movie project he was set to direct is now in jeopardy. Jan. 27, 2025Liman told Lively and Baldoni's lawyers to prepare for a March 9, 2026 trial date and set a pretrial conference to discuss, among other things, complaints from Lively's team about the conduct of Baldoni's lawyer. Lively's lawyers have claimed Freedman is trying to paint potential jurors by creating a website to release communication between the two actors and documents from set, and accused him of making an "endless stream of defamatory and extrajudicial media statements." Jan. 27, 2025 The Daily Mail first published a nearly seven-minute voice note it says Baldoni sent to Lively at 2 a.m. during the filming of "It Ends With Us," in which he allegedly apologizes for not being open enough to script changes she made, admits he is a 'a very flawed man' and makes a reference to her breastfeeding her then-newborn child. Jan. 21, 2025Baldoni's legal team countered Lively's claims that he acted inappropriately while filming a slow dancing scene for the film by releasing a 10-minute video from set that includes three takes of the same scene, which Baldoni's team says is the entirety of the footage shot for that scene, during which Lively alleged in a lawsuit Baldoni 'leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, 'it smells so good.'' The footage shows a similar interaction, where Baldoni is seen nuzzling Lively's neck, and she says, "I'm probably getting spray-tan on you," to which he responds, "It smells good." Lively's team says the footage fully corroborates her account, and 'any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively's discomfort.' Baldoni's lawyers said the footage proves both actors clearly behaved "well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.' Jan. 16, 2025Baldoni filed a federal lawsuit in New York against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane's firm Vision PR alleging his co-star "tormented" him, his family and his partners, falsely accused him of sexual harassment and used him as a "scapegoat" to dodge the negative press surrounding. He also pushed back on claims he sexually harassed her, instead claiming she "calculatingly devised" fake stories to destroy his reputation and livelihood, seized control of the film he was directing and set out to damage his career and Wayfarer Studios "if they did not bend to her incessant demands' (Here's more on Baldoni's lawsuit). Jan. 10, 2025Deadline reported Baldoni's former publicist Stephanie Jones, who sued the actor and a handful of others for defamation and breach of contract in December, has issued subpoenas to WhatsApp, Signal, website hosts Hostinger and Name Cheap, digital publishing platform AnyFlip and chatbot company Gab AI in attempts to discover who may have been behind posts and websites aimed at harming Lively and Baldoni's reputations. Jan. 10, 2025Feig, who directed Lively's upcoming film "A Simple Favor 2," responded to viral rumors the film had been shelved "indefinitely," partially due to the Lively/Baldoni legal battle, calling it "total BS" and confirming the film "is finished and coming out soon." Jan. 8, 2025In an interview with Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, TMZ founder Harvey Levin said about the co-stars' competing accusations about online campaigns to damage one another's reputation: 'Both sides tried to skew this story. We've been on the recipient end of that ... It has happened on both sides in the Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni war. Both sides.' Freedman responded by saying, 'That's good to know.' (In recent days, Freedman has denied Lively's allegations that she faced a smear campaign by Baldoni's PR team, claiming Lively's team was instead working to smear Baldoni.) Jan. 7, 2025Freedman appeared on Megyn Kelly's YouTube show to discuss Baldoni's plans to sue Lively 'into oblivion' and pushed back on several of the actresses' allegations, accusing Lively of not reading the source material for the film, refuting claims she was sexually harassed and accusing her of orchestrating her own smear campaign against Baldoni. The interview also included newly released sound from a voice note from Baldoni explaining that he was "sent to the basement" of the film's premiere because Lively "didn't want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast' (Here's more on what Freedman said on Kelly's show.) Jan. 3, 2025Freedman told NBC's "Today" he "absolutely" plans to file suit against Lively after she alleged she was subjected to "sexually inappropriate behavior" by Baldoni on the set of their 2024 film, but wouldn't say exactly what the countersuit would allege, though denied Lively's claim that Baldoni and his team launched a smear campaign against the actress. Jan. 2, 2025Glaser, the first solo female to ever host the Golden Globes, warned viwers in advance that she wouldn't be poking fun of Baldoni and Lively while on stage. 'I think the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni thing is such a hot-button thing right now that even a mere mention of it will seem like I could be on the wrong side of things, even though I would never be,' Glaser told Yahoo Entertainment. 'I also don't want to give (Baldoni's) name any — I'm mad I even know his name, to be honest with you, so I don't need to say it anymore.' Dec. 31, 2024Baldoni filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times for the paper's reporting on Lively's allegations, accusing the outlet of having "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites"—Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds (on Jan. 31, Baldoni added defamation allegations against the Times to his sweeping lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, and his attorney said he would drop the original suit against the paper). Dec. 31, 2024Lively formally filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against Baldoni, his publicist, Wayfarer Studios and other defendants for "retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns." Dec. 24, 2024Baldoni was sued by his ex-publicist, Stephanie Jones, over an alleged conspiracy to discredit her and steal her clients. Dec. 24, 2024Vital Voices, a nonprofit that focuses on empowering women, rescinded an award it gave to Baldoni, who has made a career expressing his support of women's stories and co-hosted a podcast about masculinity called "Man Enough," which his co-host pulled out of the same day. Dec. 21, 2024Baldoni was reportedly dropped by his talent agency. Dec. 20, 2024Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni invaded her privacy by "entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed," pressured her to lose weight four months after giving birth and coordinated a PR campaign with a crisis firm "designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation." Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We're launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day's headlines. Text 'Alerts' to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. The message, which was obtained by the Daily Mail and has since gone viral on TikTok, appears to be Baldoni apologizing for his reception to changes Lively proposed for a scene in "It Ends With Us." Baldoni says his reaction to the changes "fell short" and thanked her for telling him how she was feeling about his response, according to the newspaper. "I f***ed up, that is a fail on my part," he appears to say. "One thing you should know about me is that I am willing to apologize when I fail... I am a very flawed man, as my wife will attest." Baldoni then appears to talk for almost another five minutes, in which he says there is 'nothing more exciting to me' than working with Lively. The message does not specifically say which scene Baldoni is referring to but his lawsuit against Lively mentions tension over a rooftop scene in the film that Lively rewrote and presented to Baldoni as her own work before telling media outlets that her husband, Reynolds, actually wrote it. Baldoni directed and co-starred with Lively in 'It Ends With Us,' the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling book of the same name, which released last August. Rumors of a rift developing between Lively and Baldoni during post-production began to emerge around the movie's release, and were further fueled during the film's press tour when Lively appeared to avoid mention of Baldoni in interviews. Speculation emerged that there were disputes over creative control and sources told TMZ Baldoni had "fat-shamed" Lively by inquiring about her weight, telling an on-set trainer he wanted to avoid injury while lifting the actress in the movie. Baldoni and Lively were never photographed together while promoting 'It Ends With Us.' As rumors of a feud grew, Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, a crisis PR manager who represented Johnny Depp in his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard. According to texts published by The New York Times, Nathan suggested plans including 'full social take downs' by creating 'threads of theories' and planting pieces in the media of 'how horrible Blake is to work with.' Lively said the alleged smear campaign had caused 'severe emotional distress' for her and her family, prompting her to back out of hosting the 'Saturday Night Live' season 50 premiere. Lively's initial complaint included excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails, which were the main focus of the Times article at the center of Baldoni's lawsuit. The text messages were largely between Baldoni, his publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, and were obtained through a civil subpoena, Lively's complaint said. A lawsuit filed by Baldoni's ex-publicist Stephanie Jones, the founder of the Jonesworks publicity firm, days later revealed she was the source of the text messages, which were obtained from Abel's work phone. In her own lawsuit against Baldoni, Jones claimed Abel was fired for conspiring to steal clients from her firm and Jones later had Abel's company-issued phone 'forensically preserved and examined in detail.' Lively's team then obtained the texts through a subpoena against Jonesworks. The texts show discussions on how to coordinate a social media campaign against Lively, and how Baldoni wanted to feel like Lively "can be buried' under negative media. The messages show the trio talking about the 'shift on social' against Lively, and reveal that Baldoni was aware of the negative messaging against her. Messages from Baldoni also show him encouraging the P.R. team, flagging social media posts for them to use and, in one case, suggesting 'flipping the narrative' on a positive story about Lively and Reynolds, according to The Times. In other messages, he reiterates that the campaign needs to be untraceable. Around the time of the 'It Ends With Us' premiere, Lively was the subject of intense criticism online targeting how she promoted the film, the opportune release of her haircare line and other behaviors. In one promotional video, Lively encourages the audience to "grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see (the movie)." Fans instantly criticized Lively's upbeat tone and claimed she was attempting to promote the movie as a lighthearted love story, cheapening the movie's serious take on domestic abuse. Comments on the video attacked Lively—"shame on you and your PR team for turning a blind eye," one said—but praised Baldoni for how he handled promotion. Lively was also criticized for seeming to promote her newly launched hair-care line, Blake Brown, off the back of the film, but it was later revealed that the two were never supposed to launch at the same time. Production delays caused by Hollywood strikes in 2023 pushed the premiere of 'It Ends With Us,' then coinciding with the predetermined launch date of the brand. At the same time, Lively was freshly criticized for her reaction to an interviewer in a resurfaced 2016 clip. Lively's lawsuits claim the public's attacks were part of the smear campaign she says was orchestrated against her. A number of celebrities have come out to support Lively since she filed her initial complaint, including Hoover, Lively's 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' co-stars and actress Amber Heard, who claimed to be a victim of a similar social media takedown. Hoover, who The Times reported also refused to do press with Baldoni, posted to Instagram after Lively first made her allegations to call her "nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient." America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn, who starred alongside Lively in her 2005 breakout role in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," slammed the 'vindictive effort ensued to discredit her voice' and Heard said she has seen similar social media campaigns "firsthand and up close,' calling it "horrifying and destructive.' Actresses Kate Beckinsale and Abigail Breslin shared their own stories of harassment and retaliation in the wake of Lively's lawsuit, and director Paul Feig posted that Lively "did not deserve any of this smear campaign.' Lively's "It Ends with Us" costar Brandon Sklenar posted a link to the initial New York Times story and Jenny Slate, another co-star in the film, said she stands by her "loyal friend." Amy Schumer posted a story on Instagram that said, 'I believe Blake.' Political influencer Candace Owens posted in support of Baldoni after he was stripped of his Vital Voices award, writing that he should "have his day in court" before such drastic measures are taken.
Forbes
29-03-2025
- Health
- Forbes
15 Health And Wellness Books To Read In 2025
"Outlive" author Peter Attia, who wrote one of the best health and wellness books, speaks during the ... More SXSW Conference & Festivals in the Hilton Austin Downtown on March 8, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Everyone wants to feel their best, and many people see a direct link between that and health and wellness. Improving your health almost always betters your well-being, with the best health and wellness books providing the framework, tips and real-world know-how that you need to succeed. Some may be pursuing mental health solutions and looking for ways to navigate difficult situations or address struggles such as depression or lack of self confidence. Others may focus on physical wellness, wanting to clean up their diets or start or ramp up an exercise program. The health and wellness books on this list can help anyone reach their goals. Wellness is the intersection of physical, emotional and spiritual health. It is important because those things impact our daily lives in so many ways and can affect our happiness and will to push through tough circumstances. Health and wellness can be physical, such as reaching an optimal weight. They can be mental, such as building resiliency or navigating a mental illness. And they can be spiritual, such as finding ways to appreciate and give thanks for everything around you. Many self help books address health and wellness issues because they present strategies and approaches to physical, emotional and spiritual self-improvement. These rankings are based on critical acclaim, book sales and social influence. One of the most famous nutrition books ever written, The China Study examines the connection between what we eat and disease. Dr. T. Colin Campbell's research looks at the causes behind heart disease, diabetes and cancer and shows how a more common-sense approach to diet emphasizing plants can be beneficial. This book is best for those who want to reduce their risk of disease. T. Colin Campbell's The China Study is available from publisher BenBella Books. Acclaimed novelist Isabel Allende considers her own life in this memoir that addresses mental health and resiliency. She shows how personality traits built when she was a child helped her through three marriages, and she also opens up about sex—another aspect of wellness. Allende challenges women to 'light the way' for the next generation. This book is best for women looking to strengthen their mental health. Isabel Allende's The Soul of a Woman is available from publisher Penguin Random House. Isabel Allende, the literary legend, social activist and feminist icon speaks on stage during the ... More 2024 Texas Conference for Women at the Austin Convention Center. Sleep is an often-overlooked yet critical element of wellness. Over the past two decades, new research has made a case for why humans need sleep to thrive. When you get your shut-eye, your brain recalibrates your emotions and your nervous and immune systems. Sleep is tied to better cognitive and physical function. This book is best for those who don't get eight hours a night. Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep is available from publisher Simon & Schuster. No one understands the human gut better than physician Giulia Enders, whose New York Times bestseller explores the connection between digestive health and full-body wellness. She looks at what it really means to be lactose or gluten intolerant and how the gut impacts obesity and even depression. This book is best for those who want to add a mental aspect to a weight loss journey. Giulia Enders's Gut is available from publisher Greystone Books. Many of us think of food as pleasurable, and it can be. But what if we thought about it more as fuel and focused on making nutritional choices to enrich and invigorate our bodies? That's the premise of Michael Pollan's bestseller, which traces how Americans became unhealthy despite a national obsession with diet. This book is best for those considering a change in lifestyle, such as going vegan. Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food is available from publisher Penguin Random House. Another nutrition book advocating for smarter approaches to diet, How Not to Die delves into the 15 most common causes of premature death in the U.S., including cancer and diabetes. Michael Greger argues for food vs. pharmaceutical interventions while explaining that treating acute illnesses often takes precedent over preventing chronic disease. This book is best for those who want to learn about the concept of food as medicine. Michael Greger's How Not to Die is available from publisher Macmillan. Journalist Rachel Kelly had two major breakdowns within a six-year span. During her recovery and her subsequent struggles with depression and anxiety, she learned that reading poetry could help her through bad times. This fascinating book shows the ways she used poetry in recovery and also addresses stigmas about mental illness. This book is best for those looking for different approaches to treating mental illness. Rachel Kelly's Black Rainbow is available from publisher Hachette Australia. Hustle culture is not healthy, and wellness must by definition include respite. The Nap Mission founder Tricia Hersey argues that heralding productivity as the key to success is damaging. She instead encourages assigning value to humanity and pushing back on a system that leaves little room for rest. Hersey is a great storyteller, too. This book is best for anyone who feels exhausted. Tricia Hersey's Rest Is Resistance is available from publisher Hachette. Ruth Reichl, Tricia Hersey, Ania Trzebiatowska and Adrian Tomine speak during the 2023 Sundance Film ... More Festival. Hersey's "Rest is Resistance" is one of the best health and wellness books. Recovering from trauma takes a toll on our bodies. Bessel van der Kolk, an expert on trauma, presents evidence of how traumatic events can change the body and brain and impact capacity for self-control. Then he offers an overview of treatments that can help in recovery. The body has an incredible capacity to heal. This book is best for those looking for ways to deal with trauma. Bessel van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score is available from publisher Penguin Random House. Get healthy, live longer? The idea tracks, according to Peter Attia, whose Outlive has sold more than two million copies. He challenges mainstream thinking, arguing that traditional medicine is too reactionary and that prevention is the key to longevity. He covers everything from how exercise is beneficial to why doctor's office tests should go further. This book is best for those not looking for quick fixes who want to extend their long-term health. Peter Attia's Outlive is available from publisher Penguin Random House. Bottom Line Whether you want to learn proven ways to lower your blood sugar, fight depression or live to 100, these powerful books about health and wellness can give you a blueprint and inspiration in your fight. Dig in and start improving your life.
Forbes
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Baldoni Vs. Lively Feud Explained: Baldoni Sues Former Publicist For Allegedly Leaking Texts To Lively's Team
Justin Baldoni, his film production company and publicist Jennifer Abel sued Baldoni's former publicist, Stephanie Jones, in federal court—the sixth overall lawsuit in the Baldoni-Lively legal feud—alleging Jones 'maliciously' leaked texts to Blake Lively's team to give them 'ammunition' to 'support a false narrative' against Baldoni. (Here are in-depth explanations for Lively's claims and Baldoni's claims.) Blake Lively attended the "Another Simple Favor" premiere Friday evening. (Photo by Michael ... More Buckner/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images) March 20, 2025In a counterclaim to Jones' December lawsuit against Baldoni and Abel, Baldoni alleged Jones attempted to undermine Abel's authority as a PR representative for Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company, claiming she suddenly terminated Abel from her PR firm, seized her phone and leaked texts to Lively's team, which the lawsuit says was done in response to Abel voicing her intent to leave Jones' firm and Jones' fear she would take Baldoni as a client with her. March 20, 2025In her motion to dismiss, Lively slammed Baldoni's 'vengeful and rambling lawsuit' as a 'profound abuse of the legal process,' urging the court to 'dismiss all claims against Ms. Lively with prejudice, deny leave to amend, and award Ms. Lively all relief sought,' including attorney's fees and damages for 'reputational and emotional harm.' March 18, 2025Reynolds filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's lawsuit, in which he is named as a co-defendant, alleging Baldoni's lawsuit does not prove Reynolds defamed him and is instead 'a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be.' March 7, 2025Lively attended the South by Southwest premiere of 'Another Simple Favor,' a sequel to the 2018 film 'A Simple Favor,' where she received a warm reception from the crowd and spoke primarily about her work on the film, though co-star Anna Kendrick dodged a question that appeared to allude to Lively's legal battle, and one protester held up a sign that said 'Justice for Justin Baldoni' outside the theater. March 6, 2025At a hearing Thursday, Lively's attorneys argued certain information should be treated as highly classified 'attorney's eyes only' material, which lawyer Sigrid McCawley said would help minimize the risk of 'irreparable harm if marginal conversations with high profile individuals with no relevance to the case were to fall into wrong hands'—apparently suggesting messages between Lively and celebrity friends may leak. The judge did not rule on the request Thursday. Though it's unclear which 'high profile individuals' McCawley was referring to, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman has previously suggested he could request Lively's friend Taylor Swift testify, after she appeared to be referred to in Baldoni's lawsuit. March 5, 2025The Los Angeles Times published an investigative report on Baldoni's career, citing multiple unnamed employees at his Wayfarer Studios production company, some of whom said he injected 'toxic positivity' and his Bahai faith into the workplace culture in a way that felt 'professionally inappropriate.' Representatives for Baldoni and Wayfarer told the Los Angeles Times there have 'never been any reported complaints regarding the workplace culture' and Wayfarer's work is rooted in 'various faiths and backgrounds.' March 4, 2025Lewis Liman, a U.S. district judge, said the New York Times' motion to dismiss Justin Baldoni's $400 million case against the newspaper provided 'substantial grounds,' suggesting the lawsuit—in which Baldoni accused the Times of working with Lively's team to smear him—could be dismissed. Feb. 28, 2025Shapiro, who formerly served as the CIA's deputy chief of staff between 2013 and 2015 before starting his own strategic consulting firm, will advise Lively's litigation team on legal communications relating to the lawsuit she filed against Baldoni in New York federal court. Feb. 20, 2025Attorneys submitted a letter on behalf of Lively and Reynolds asking a new, more extensive protective order be imposed that would shield 'personal, sensitive or proprietary information' from the public after claiming they and their allies have been victimized since the legal battle began. The letter goes on to say that it is "inevitable" that the release of more discovery in the case will further violate their privacy, expose them to threats and create "a climate of possible witness intimidation." Feb. 18, 2025Lawyers for Lively filed an amended complaint that included new accusations Baldoni's behavior made at least two additional, unnamed female cast members uncomfortable and that both of those women brought their complaints to Lively, who documented them in writing and reported them to higher-ups on the film (the complaint references Baldoni's 'unwelcome behavior' but does not specify exactly what he is accused of doing). The suit claims Baldoni was made aware of at least one of the additional cast members' concerns and responded to her in writing at the time, promising "adjustments would be made'—but alleges he instead launched a PR campaign to discredit any future claims made against him. Forbes reached out to Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, for comment on the new complaint Wednesday. Feb. 13, 2025Baldoni and Lively's letter to the judge, filed in New York federal court on Thursday, said mediation or reaching a settlement would be 'inappropriate' and 'premature' for this case, suggesting their legal feud could eventually head to trial. Feb. 12, 2025Hoover, who deactivated her Instagram account as the legal battle between Lively and Baldoni continued to play out, has wiped any photos with Lively or Baldoni from her account. Most posts related to the film at all have been deleted, including an post supporting Lively that went up shortly after she filed her initial lawsuit against Baldoni: "@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt," she wrote. During promotion for the 'It Ends With Us' film, Hoover appeared to take Lively's side when a clear rift emerged among the film's cast and crew. Lively refused to promote the movie alongside Baldoni and the pair were never interviewed or photographed together during its highly publicized press tour, Hoover and most of Lively's co-stars, including Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar and Isabela Ferrer, appeared at her side rather than Baldoni's. Hoover still follows Lively on Instagram, but does not follow Baldoni. Feb. 11, 2025A three-year-old video interview of Blake Lively admitting to Forbes she's ruffled feathers in the film industry by attempting to have more 'authorship' over her projects has gone viral. In a resurfaced interview from the 2022 Forbes Power Women's Summit, Lively said just following direction as an actress "wasn't fulfilling for me" and that she's received backlash for stepping in and trying to be part of costume design, writing and other aspects of a project. She said she's had writers, producers and directors "welcome that and invite that," and others who resented her for stepping on toes. She also said she hasn't always upfront with her plans to step in to other parts of a project when she was hired as an actress, and that she 'wouldn't reveal that I actually need to have authorship in order to feel fulfilled... Sometimes that might have felt like a rug pull.' Feb. 8, 2025Filmmaker Judd Apatow joked about "It Ends With Us" at the 77th Annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards Saturday night, calling it "such a terrible movie" and referencing the Baldoni-Lively lawsuits. "I loved Wicked. I saw it four times in the first four days," Apatow added. "It was the highest-grossing movie musical of all time. Do you know that? Usually to make that much money, you have to sue Blake Lively." Feb. 7, 2025Comedian Chelsea Handler, who hosted the Critics' Choice Awards, also poked fun at the legal battle, which has played out dramatically in the media over the last six weeks. Handler thanked the pair for providing a "distraction" from heavier headlines: 'I want to personally extend my gratitude to Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively... I'm grateful. I think we're all grateful. And I think we're good. I think everybody in this room, no matter whose side you're on, we can all agree to accept that there's probably not going to be a sequel. It ends with us, guys." Feb. 5, 2025Baldoni's lawyer suggested in an interview with TMZ he could call on Taylor Swift—a close friend of Blake Lively's who may have been alluded to in Baldoni's lawsuit against the actress—to testify once the case goes to trial. After TMZ's Harvey Levin asked about deposing Swift, Freedman didn't rule out the idea, calling it a 'game time decision' and adding he would seek testimony from anyone who may have relevant information (Freedman also said Swift was present alongside Baldoni, Lively and Ryan Reynolds at a meeting about Lively's proposed script edits to 'It Ends With Us' that is referenced in Baldoni's lawsuit, though the suit only refers to the alleged attendee as 'Taylor' with no last name). Feb. 4, 2025Jed Wallace, owner of the crisis PR firm Street Relations, sued Lively in Texas federal court for defamation, alleging she falsely claimed in a civil rights complaint and her lawsuit that Wallace participated in an alleged smear campaign against the actress at the behest of Baldoni's public relations team, which he says caused him 'millions of dollars in reputational harm.' Feb. 4, 2025'A Simple Favor 2,' Lively's latest film, will open at the SXSW Film and TV Festival next month, Director Paul Feig said, after rumors the film had been shelved, partially due to the Lively/Baldoni legal battle. Feb. 3, 2025New York federal judge Lewis J. Liman told lawyers for Lively and Baldoni that he would move up the trial date, set for March 2026, if the case continued to be 'litigated in the press.' Liman ordered both sides to adhere to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which stops lawyers from making public comments that have a 'substantial likelihood' of tainting a jury, but stopped short of sanctioning Baldoni's attorney, Freedman, despite claims from Lively's team that he has gotten close to defaming her and has made 'extrajudicial statements' about her and her character. Feb. 1, 2025Baldoni's team published a website dedicated to supporting his lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds that links to to an amended complaint filed on Jan. 31 and contains a timeline of events outlining what he says happened on the set of 'It Ends With Us,' including corresponding text messages, emails and a statement Baldoni has said he was pressured into releasing by Reynolds and Lively that would have seen him take the blame for the "troubled production" of the movie (he refused to put out the statement). In addition to the statement, Baldoni released a text message exchange with Lively that showed she chose not to meet with the on-set intimacy coordinator he hired, leaving him to relay uncomfortable information from the meeting on his own. Jan. 30, 2025Lawyers for Lively and Reynolds said in a letter to Liman that they plan to move to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them at a pre-trial conference scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3. Jan. 29, 2025The Hollywood Reporter cited unnamed sources in reporting Baldoni has "lost three jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars' since Lively first filed suit against him in December and that an in-the-works "Pac-Man" movie project he was set to direct is now in jeopardy. Jan. 27, 2025Liman told Lively and Baldoni's lawyers to prepare for a March 9, 2026 trial date and set a pretrial conference to discuss, among other things, complaints from Lively's team about the conduct of Baldoni's lawyer. Lively's lawyers have claimed Freedman is trying to paint potential jurors by creating a website to release communication between the two actors and documents from set, and accused him of making an "endless stream of defamatory and extrajudicial media statements." Jan. 27, 2025 The Daily Mail first published a nearly seven-minute voice note it says Baldoni sent to Lively at 2 a.m. during the filming of "It Ends With Us," in which he allegedly apologizes for not being open enough to script changes she made, admits he is a 'a very flawed man' and makes a reference to her breastfeeding her then-newborn child. Jan. 21, 2025Baldoni's legal team countered Lively's claims that he acted inappropriately while filming a slow dancing scene for the film by releasing a 10-minute video from set that includes three takes of the same scene, which Baldoni's team says is the entirety of the footage shot for that scene, during which Lively alleged in a lawsuit Baldoni 'leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, 'it smells so good.'' The footage shows a similar interaction, where Baldoni is seen nuzzling Lively's neck, and she says, "I'm probably getting spray-tan on you," to which he responds, "It smells good." Lively's team says the footage fully corroborates her account, and 'any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively's discomfort.' Baldoni's lawyers said the footage proves both actors clearly behaved "well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.' Jan. 16, 2025Baldoni filed a federal lawsuit in New York against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane's firm Vision PR alleging his co-star "tormented" him, his family and his partners, falsely accused him of sexual harassment and used him as a "scapegoat" to dodge the negative press surrounding. He also pushed back on claims he sexually harassed her, instead claiming she "calculatingly devised" fake stories to destroy his reputation and livelihood, seized control of the film he was directing and set out to damage his career and Wayfarer Studios "if they did not bend to her incessant demands' (Here's more on Baldoni's lawsuit). Jan. 10, 2025Deadline reported Baldoni's former publicist Stephanie Jones, who sued the actor and a handful of others for defamation and breach of contract in December, has issued subpoenas to WhatsApp, Signal, website hosts Hostinger and Name Cheap, digital publishing platform AnyFlip and chatbot company Gab AI in attempts to discover who may have been behind posts and websites aimed at harming Lively and Baldoni's reputations. Jan. 10, 2025Feig, who directed Lively's upcoming film "A Simple Favor 2," responded to viral rumors the film had been shelved "indefinitely," partially due to the Lively/Baldoni legal battle, calling it "total BS" and confirming the film "is finished and coming out soon." Jan. 8, 2025In an interview with Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, TMZ founder Harvey Levin said about the co-stars' competing accusations about online campaigns to damage one another's reputation: 'Both sides tried to skew this story. We've been on the recipient end of that ... It has happened on both sides in the Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni war. Both sides.' Freedman responded by saying, 'That's good to know.' (In recent days, Freedman has denied Lively's allegations that she faced a smear campaign by Baldoni's PR team, claiming Lively's team was instead working to smear Baldoni.) Jan. 7, 2025Freedman appeared on Megyn Kelly's YouTube show to discuss Baldoni's plans to sue Lively 'into oblivion' and pushed back on several of the actresses' allegations, accusing Lively of not reading the source material for the film, refuting claims she was sexually harassed and accusing her of orchestrating her own smear campaign against Baldoni. The interview also included newly released sound from a voice note from Baldoni explaining that he was "sent to the basement" of the film's premiere because Lively "didn't want me anywhere near her or the rest of the cast' (Here's more on what Freedman said on Kelly's show.) Jan. 3, 2025Freedman told NBC's "Today" he "absolutely" plans to file suit against Lively after she alleged she was subjected to "sexually inappropriate behavior" by Baldoni on the set of their 2024 film, but wouldn't say exactly what the countersuit would allege, though denied Lively's claim that Baldoni and his team launched a smear campaign against the actress. Jan. 2, 2025Glaser, the first solo female to ever host the Golden Globes, warned viwers in advance that she wouldn't be poking fun of Baldoni and Lively while on stage. 'I think the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni thing is such a hot-button thing right now that even a mere mention of it will seem like I could be on the wrong side of things, even though I would never be,' Glaser told Yahoo Entertainment. 'I also don't want to give (Baldoni's) name any — I'm mad I even know his name, to be honest with you, so I don't need to say it anymore.' Dec. 31, 2024Baldoni filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times for the paper's reporting on Lively's allegations, accusing the outlet of having "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites"—Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds (on Jan. 31, Baldoni added defamation allegations against the Times to his sweeping lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, and his attorney said he would drop the original suit against the paper). Dec. 31, 2024Lively formally filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against Baldoni, his publicist, Wayfarer Studios and other defendants for "retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns." Dec. 24, 2024Baldoni was sued by his ex-publicist, Stephanie Jones, over an alleged conspiracy to discredit her and steal her clients. Dec. 24, 2024Vital Voices, a nonprofit that focuses on empowering women, rescinded an award it gave to Baldoni, who has made a career expressing his support of women's stories and co-hosted a podcast about masculinity called "Man Enough," which his co-host pulled out of the same day. Dec. 21, 2024Baldoni was reportedly dropped by his talent agency. Dec. 20, 2024Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni invaded her privacy by "entering her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed," pressured her to lose weight four months after giving birth and coordinated a PR campaign with a crisis firm "designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation." Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We're launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day's headlines. Text 'Alerts' to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here. The message, which was obtained by the Daily Mail and has since gone viral on TikTok, appears to be Baldoni apologizing for his reception to changes Lively proposed for a scene in "It Ends With Us." Baldoni says his reaction to the changes "fell short" and thanked her for telling him how she was feeling about his response, according to the newspaper. "I f***ed up, that is a fail on my part," he appears to say. "One thing you should know about me is that I am willing to apologize when I fail... I am a very flawed man, as my wife will attest." Baldoni then appears to talk for almost another five minutes, in which he says there is 'nothing more exciting to me' than working with Lively. The message does not specifically say which scene Baldoni is referring to but his lawsuit against Lively mentions tension over a rooftop scene in the film that Lively rewrote and presented to Baldoni as her own work before telling media outlets that her husband, Reynolds, actually wrote it. Baldoni directed and co-starred with Lively in 'It Ends With Us,' the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling book of the same name, which released last August. Rumors of a rift developing between Lively and Baldoni during post-production began to emerge around the movie's release, and were further fueled during the film's press tour when Lively appeared to avoid mention of Baldoni in interviews. Speculation emerged that there were disputes over creative control and sources told TMZ Baldoni had "fat-shamed" Lively by inquiring about her weight, telling an on-set trainer he wanted to avoid injury while lifting the actress in the movie. Baldoni and Lively were never photographed together while promoting 'It Ends With Us.' As rumors of a feud grew, Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, a crisis PR manager who represented Johnny Depp in his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard. According to texts published by The New York Times, Nathan suggested plans including 'full social take downs' by creating 'threads of theories' and planting pieces in the media of 'how horrible Blake is to work with.' Lively said the alleged smear campaign had caused 'severe emotional distress' for her and her family, prompting her to back out of hosting the 'Saturday Night Live' season 50 premiere. Lively's initial complaint included excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails, which were the main focus of the Times article at the center of Baldoni's lawsuit. The text messages were largely between Baldoni, his publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, and were obtained through a civil subpoena, Lively's complaint said. A lawsuit filed by Baldoni's ex-publicist Stephanie Jones, the founder of the Jonesworks publicity firm, days later revealed she was the source of the text messages, which were obtained from Abel's work phone. In her own lawsuit against Baldoni, Jones claimed Abel was fired for conspiring to steal clients from her firm and Jones later had Abel's company-issued phone 'forensically preserved and examined in detail.' Lively's team then obtained the texts through a subpoena against Jonesworks. The texts show discussions on how to coordinate a social media campaign against Lively, and how Baldoni wanted to feel like Lively "can be buried' under negative media. The messages show the trio talking about the 'shift on social' against Lively, and reveal that Baldoni was aware of the negative messaging against her. Messages from Baldoni also show him encouraging the P.R. team, flagging social media posts for them to use and, in one case, suggesting 'flipping the narrative' on a positive story about Lively and Reynolds, according to The Times. In other messages, he reiterates that the campaign needs to be untraceable. Around the time of the 'It Ends With Us' premiere, Lively was the subject of intense criticism online targeting how she promoted the film, the opportune release of her haircare line and other behaviors. In one promotional video, Lively encourages the audience to "grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see (the movie)." Fans instantly criticized Lively's upbeat tone and claimed she was attempting to promote the movie as a lighthearted love story, cheapening the movie's serious take on domestic abuse. Comments on the video attacked Lively—"shame on you and your PR team for turning a blind eye," one said—but praised Baldoni for how he handled promotion. Lively was also criticized for seeming to promote her newly launched hair-care line, Blake Brown, off the back of the film, but it was later revealed that the two were never supposed to launch at the same time. Production delays caused by Hollywood strikes in 2023 pushed the premiere of 'It Ends With Us,' then coinciding with the predetermined launch date of the brand. At the same time, Lively was freshly criticized for her reaction to an interviewer in a resurfaced 2016 clip. Lively's lawsuits claim the public's attacks were part of the smear campaign she says was orchestrated against her. A number of celebrities have come out to support Lively since she filed her initial complaint, including Hoover, Lively's 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' co-stars and actress Amber Heard, who claimed to be a victim of a similar social media takedown. Hoover, who The Times reported also refused to do press with Baldoni, posted to Instagram after Lively first made her allegations to call her "nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient." America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn, who starred alongside Lively in her 2005 breakout role in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," slammed the 'vindictive effort ensued to discredit her voice' and Heard said she has seen similar social media campaigns "firsthand and up close,' calling it "horrifying and destructive.' Actresses Kate Beckinsale and Abigail Breslin shared their own stories of harassment and retaliation in the wake of Lively's lawsuit, and director Paul Feig posted that Lively "did not deserve any of this smear campaign.' Lively's "It Ends with Us" costar Brandon Sklenar posted a link to the initial New York Times story and Jenny Slate, another co-star in the film, said she stands by her "loyal friend." Amy Schumer posted a story on Instagram that said, 'I believe Blake.' Political influencer Candace Owens posted in support of Baldoni after he was stripped of his Vital Voices award, writing that he should "have his day in court" before such drastic measures are taken.
