His epic legal battle with Blake Lively has seen him dragged into court and have his text messages, voicemails and videos scrutinized – but that hasn’t stopped Justin Baldoni from lending a hand to victims of the fires that ripped through LA last month.
DailyMail.com can reveal Baldoni is currently hosting two burned-out families at his $2.8million Ojai home while he and his family enjoy an extended vacation in Hawaii.
John Kim, 51, told DailyMail.com the actor, 41, offered the property to him ‘for as long as you need’ and even had his own cars cleaned and prepared for the Eaton Fire victim to use.
Kim is a relationship therapist who hosts the podcast, The Angry Therapist, where he dishes out advice. He’s also an author and wrote a best-selling book, Break Up On Purpose.
According to Kim, Baldoni got in touch after seeing a video of him breaking down in front of what was left of his home in Altadena the day after the fire tore through.
The actor then invited him to stay at his home while he and his family vacation in Hawaii, where they have gone to escape the drama surrounding his legal battle with his It Ends With Us co-star Lively, 37.
Justin Baldoni, 41, has lent his Ojai home to a therapist who lost his house in the Eaton Fires that ripped through Los Angeles last month
John Kim, 51, told DailyMail.com the actor offered the property to him ‘for as long as you need’ and even had his own cars cleaned and prepared for him to use after seeing a heartbreaking video of him breaking down in front of his burnt down home
Kim brought his family and when he told Baldoni that he was with another family that had two kids, the actor said to have them stay there too
Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Kim said: ‘Justin and I, he’s a peripheral friend. He’s not my best friend. We didn’t go to high school together.
‘And that’s the whole beauty in this, that he offered me his home. We spent a week in an Airbnb and then after that we didn’t know where to go. Then I got a text from him.
‘I declined, but he insisted. We drove up here, and now on top of that, he washed his cars, gave us the car keys. He has gone above and beyond.
‘I think it’s based on his faith, the Baha’i faith, the way that they’ve shown up for us, him and his family.’
A grateful Kim said Baldoni had previously allowed another two burned-out families to stay at the property and said being at the house has been ‘healing’, as well as offering him a breathing space to figure out where to go next.
Baldoni’s actions in the aftermath of the wildfires stand in contrast to those of Lively who was accused of serving the actor and his legal team with a lawsuit while they were attempting to evacuate as the flames bore down on their homes.
Baldoni, his wife Emily and their two children are vacationing in Hawaii, where they have gone to escape the drama surrounding his legal battle with his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively
Kim lost his home in Altadena and had to jump around from a hotel to Airbnb for shelter before Baldoni and his wife Emily offered their home to him and his family
Kim said he met the actor when he appeared on Baldoni’s podcast The Man Enough and that the pair has stayed in touch
Kim’s home in Altadena was completely destroyed by the Eaton fire that killed 17 people
His lead attorney Bryan Freedman lost his own $5.5million home in Pacific Palisades to the deadly Palisades Fire which scorched 23,448 acres and killed 12.
Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire that consumed Kim’s house destroyed 14,021 acres and claimed the lives of 17 people. Both fires are now completely contained.
Kim said he met the actor when he appeared on Baldoni’s podcast The Man Enough and that the pair has stayed in touch.
He said: ‘I say [he is a] peripheral friend because I’ve never been to his house until now. We don’t call each other.
‘We might text once in a while if I see something other people did. We’re just two people who believe in the mission of helping men be better.’
Kim has also posted about Baldoni’s kindness, uploading a video of himself inside the home to Instagram and describing being there as a ‘miracle’.
Baldoni’s actions stand in contrast to those of Lively who was accused of serving the actor with a lawsuit while they were evacuating as the wildfires bore down on their homes
Kim posted a video to Instagram from inside Baldoni’s home and expressed how thankful he was to the actor and how thanks to his kindness, his kids are laughing and playing while the therapist figures out his next move
‘I told him I was with another family with two kids so he said bring them. So for the last week and a half, two families have been staying at their home,’ he said in the post.
‘And it has truly been a miracle and a gift. It has given us space, breath and some peace. Kids are playing and laughing.
‘We are sharing meals and able to reset and figure out our next steps. Their home has been and continues to be so healing in so many ways.’
Kim was also careful to point out that neither the actor nor his team had asked him to post the video, noting: ‘I am posting this because this is my experience of them.’
Referring to Baldoni’s epic legal fight with Lively, he added: ‘I don’t know what happened on movie sets and board rooms. I was not there.
‘But I do know one kind and compassion [sic] family helped us.’
The Eaton Fire that consumed Kim’s house destroyed 14,021 acres and razed parts of Altadena, California
On Monday, Baldoni and Lively faced off in court for the first time via a status conference attended only by their lawyers.
During the hearing, Lively’s attorney Michael Gottlieb said they are planning to update her initial sex harassment complaint to include new parties and allegations.
He also revealed moves aimed at preventing Lively’s celebrity friends from being dragged into the legal saga.
Those friends are likely to include megastar Taylor Swift who, along with Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, was referred to as one of the actress’ ‘dragons’ in a text exchange with Baldoni amid a row over the re-writing of a scene.
Gottlieb said: ‘We do believe there will be provisions in a protective order that will be appropriate in this case given the nature of the allegations and the high-profile nature of some of the individuals who will be involved.
‘There is a significant number of high-profile individuals on both sides. In particular, addressing the interests and needs of third parties is going to be very important in this case.’
At Monday’s first court hearing, Lively’s attorney Michael Gottlieb said they are planning to update her initial sex harassment complaint to include new parties and allegations
Blake Lively allegedly leveraged her friendship with superstar Taylor Swift to get her way behind the scenes of It Ends With Us, according to Justin Baldoni
Baldoni’s own legal team has also filed updates to their own $400million cross-complaint, including a claim that Lively’s PR team provided the New York Times with advance access to her sexual harassment complaint.
Freedman also asked the court for an expedited hearing on the grounds that his clients are suffering, saying: ‘We would really urge the court to allow discovery to take place and move forward because the harms are being suffered and have been suffered since the New York Times article came out.’
The hearing came less than 48 hours after Baldoni’s team followed through on Saturday with a pledge to upload new details to a specially created website.
Thelawsuitinfo.com went live with links to an amended version of Baldoni’s complaint and a ‘timeline of relevant events’ charting how the feud developed during filming for their 2024 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s acclaimed novel.
The cache included texts between Baldoni and Reynolds in which the latter said he ‘adored’ the director and flirty texts sent to him by Lively.
‘It’s important to point out that nobody is monetizing off this. It’s simply a landing page to have access to legal documents that are already public,’ a source told DailyMail.com.
‘This is far from a provocation. In fact, it’s yet more evidence that Justin and his team intend to be continually transparent.’
