Blake Lively's deposition last week in her sexual harassment suit against Justin Baldoni is now the latest battlefield in the bitter legal struggle
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Blake Lively Slams & Shames Justin Baldoni’s Lawyers Over Making Her Deposition Public, Leaking Details Of Last Week’s Sit-Down For “Media Campaign”
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Dominic Patten
Executive Editor, Legal, Labor & Politics
@DeadlineDominic
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August 4, 2025 3:20pm
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(L-R) Blake Lively, Justin BaldoniGetty
(Updated with Lively’s sanctions motion against Bryan Freedman) Blake Lively and
Justin Baldoni came face-to-face last week as the
It Ends With Us actress gave a deposition in the fierce fight over whether sexual harassment and retaliation occurred on the film and the online fallout around its premiere a year ago.
Regardless of what Lively did or did not say in response to questions by Wayfarer Studios co-founder Baldoni’s lead lawyer Bryan Freedman and others, a letter from the
Another Simple Favor star’s own attorneys filed today in federal court makes it pretty clear in hindsight the July 31 sit-down did not go well.
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“In rushing to file on the public docket the entirety of the 292-page transcript on the day they received it, with no plausible legal reason to do so, the Wayfarer Defendants and their counsel have proved Ms. Lively’s point,” the correspondence Monday from Esra Hudson to Judge Lewis Liman says slamming Team Baldoni’s blunt move and wanting everything permanently sealed ASAP. “The transcript was ostensibly filed in support of their argument that there is no basis to assert that Bryan Freedman or his firm have participated in, fueled and advanced a smear campaign against Ms. Lively such that their conduct has ‘amounted to public relations work rather than that of an attorney.’
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“But, in fact, this tactic perfectly demonstrates the counsel-as-PR agent role because there is no conceivable legal purpose to file the whole transcript, particularly given that it has not been reviewed, corrected or finalized, and a mere two pages of it were cited in their argument,” the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP partner adds, also pointing the finger at Baldoni’s side for “immediately” leaking “details from the deposition to the tabloid media.” Hudson adds: “The letter and attachment should be seen for what they are: a manufactured excuse to force the transcript into the public domain as fodder for the Wayfarer Defendants’ media campaign.”
In an August 1 letter from Baldoni’s side, which was filed the same day the depo transcript was under temporary seal, attorney Kevin Fritz certainly teases out what was said the day before. “Upon questioning by Freedman at her recent deposition, Lively admitted that the only ongoing ‘smear campaign’ about which she has personal knowledge involves (redacted).”
Among the details that were dribbled out of the meeting at Lively’s lawyers’ Manhattan offices last Thursday was what Lively was wearing, what time the deposition started (10:13 am ET) how husband Ryan Reynolds was there with her, what her side did and said, and that Baldoni himself was in the room. “Consistent with their goal of creating a media circus around Ms. Lively’s deposition, it also appears that the Wayfarer Defendants immediately leaked details from the deposition to the tabloid media,” Hudson’s letter notes to Judge Liman, who has been short tempered about such actions in the past. Now, whether or not those leaks came from Team Baldoni or not, the fact is such info did quickly end up in the likes of the
Daily Mail and
TMZ, which have had a lot of Team Baldoni scoops over the past year.
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“The narrative created was that Ms. Lively needed a large contingent of people with her to testify, while misleadingly suggesting that only Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Freedman were present for the deposition on their side,” today’s three-page letter said. “The reality is that Ms. Lively testified across the table from Mr. Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel, all of whom attended this deposition in person, as well as eight attorneys representing the Wayfarer and Wallace Parties, two of whom questioned her.”
With
Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit tossed out in June and
Deadpool star Reynolds, the
New York Times and others dropped from the matter altogether, Lively’s trial against Baldoni is set to start on March 9, 2026. At the same time, a sideshow of sorts is playing out in federal and California state court with the billionaire Sarowitz-backed-Baldoni battling insurance companies over covering his legal fees.
And let’s be honest, from the get-go, this whole case has been a media feeding feast with highs and lows, literally and figuratively.
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Also, truth be told, very soon after
Lively filed her initial complaint with California’s Civil Rights department last December, and saw it covered exclusively by the
NYT, the actress accused Baldoni’s legal team of playing to the media as much as the court docket in the clash between the duo and their inner circles. Both in and out of court, the often hard-nosed and media savvy (Hello Megyn Kelly) Freedman has become the magnet for most of this criticism with some bold moves and some ham-handed tactics (the Madison Square Garden crack as exhibit #1)
Attorney Bryan Freedman, representing the Menendez family, arrives to the Van Nuys Courthouse for Erik and Lyle Menendez hearing on November 25, 2024.
Monday Lively’s team had no comment on her lawyer’s letter to Judge Liman, and reps for Baldoni could not be reached for comment. A rare case of duel silence in this high volume and high profile case.
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Later in the day, not for the first time and clearly for public consumption, Lively’s lawyers filed a motion for sanctions against Freedman, claiming the successful LA-based attorney has frequently let loose with “biased and inflammatory pre-trial indictments of Ms. Lively’s character, credibility, and reputation” and “publicly slandering” the actress, as they said in a slightly redacted memorandum of law accompanying the motion.
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