Blake Lively wants Justin Baldoni’s powerful celebrity attorney Bryan Freedman barred from taking her deposition, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The actress’s lawyers have told their counterparts representing Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer that they object to veteran litigator Freedman conducting the under-oath grilling.
The shock demand is revealed in a new letter from Baldoni’s team to the New York judge overseeing the It Ends with Us co-stars’ $400million defamation suit.
They say the 37-year-old Gossip Girl alum and wife of Hollywood megastar Ryan Reynolds, 48, has no right to dictate who questions her.
‘During a conference of the parties’ counsel on January 30, 2025, counsel for the Wayfarer Parties requested the earliest possible deposition of Blake Lively,’ Baldoni’s attorney Kevin Fritz wrote to Judge Lewis Liman.
‘Counsel for Ms. Lively and Ryan Reynolds stated their objection to the Wayfarer Parties’ lead counsel conducting the deposition of Blake Lively.
Attorneys for Blake Lively indicated that that she does not want to be grilled by Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman during her deposition in his $400million defamation lawsuit, new court filings reveal
Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, who is also named in the lawsuit, have previously tried to gag Freedman (pictured) after he made a series of public comments on the case
‘Specifically, the Lively Parties’ counsel indicated that they object to Bryan J. Freedman personally, taking Ms. Lively’s deposition, based upon unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman.
‘When asked to elaborate on the grounds for their objection, counsel for the Lively Parties declined to do so.’
Lively and Reynolds have previously asked the court to slap a protective order on Freedman – whose previous clients include Tucker Carlson, Julia Roberts, and Megyn Kelly – to stop him making ‘harassing and retaliatory’ comments to the media.
Signaling Baldoni’s opposition to Lively’s request, Fritz adds: ‘We are unaware of any situation that would warrant the deposed party to have a choice in which attorney takes her deposition.
‘Parties to litigation simply do not have the right to dictate which of their opponents’ attorneys may or may not take their deposition.’
Both the gag order and this latest spat will be on the agenda at a February 3 pretrial conference in New York federal court.
In a letter filed on Thursday, Baldoni’s lawyer Kevin Fritz slammed Lively’s objection and argued that parties do not have a choice in which attorney takes their deposition
Lively and Baldoni, 40, gelled beautifully on screen for the 2024 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s acclaimed novel exploring domestic violence and emotional abuse.
It became a surprise hit at the box office, grossing $351million on a budget of $25million.
But dueling lawsuits have since revealed how relations soured as Lively allegedly fought Baldoni for greater artistic control while feeling increasingly uncomfortable during their intimate scenes.
Lively was the first to sue, alleging that Baldoni entered her trailer while she was topless, showed her graphic video of his wife giving birth and bit and sucked on her lips during an improvised kissing scene.
She further accused him of conspiring to smear her reputation, citing a text message from Baldoni’s publicist Melissa Nathan which read: ‘We can bury anyone.’
Her sexual harassment claims made global headlines thanks to the near-simultaneous publication of the New York Times’ story, which stretched to 4,000 words and quoted heavily from the complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department, which typically remain confidential.
Though the two co-stars appeared to have great chemistry on set initially, dueling lawsuits have since revealed that their feud unraveled after Lively allegedly fought Baldoni for greater artistic control
Lively also claimed to have felt increasingly uncomfortable during their intimate scenes
Baldoni sued the Times, claiming it failed to vet Livel
y’s sexual harassment and retaliation allegations and ‘relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims.’
The newspaper plans to ‘vigorously defend against the lawsuit,’ per its spokesman.
Next, Baldoni countersued Lively and Reynolds, turning the narrative on its head by claiming it was their team doing the smearing and asking for $400million in damages.
He accused her of twisting the meaning of his texts and emails and working in tandem with Leslie Sloane, a powerful Hollywood publicist, to plant damaging stories about him in the media.
It was all a ploy, Baldoni argued, to rebuild Lively’s reputation after she came in for criticism for being prickly and difficult in interviews and promotional events.
Any negative publicity surrounding his blonde leading lady had arisen ‘organically’, his suit contends.
The box office hit, based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover, follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni, who was also the film’s director
Baldoni claimed he was forced to watch the premiere in a separate room and ‘excluded from the official celebrity after-party. Above Lively is seen with her other co-star Brandon Sklenar and husband Reynolds at the August premiere in New York City
The feud took yet another explosive twist when DailyMail.com published previously unseen raw video footage of Baldoni and Lively filming a romantic dance scene as their characters Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid.
Lively’s suit alleges that Baldoni ‘leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, it smells so good’ during the interaction.
In the footage obtained by DailyMail.com the pair are seen engaging in what appears to be playful but professional banter between takes.
In the pivotal moment, Baldoni asks Lively if he’s ‘getting beard’ on her. ‘I’m probably getting spray tan on you’ she replies. That prompts Baldoni to say ‘it smells good’ before they both laugh.
Freedman flagged the footage as proof that his client behaved appropriately and had ‘nothing to hide’.
He’s also vowed to post all of the co-stars’ communications online so the public can judge for themselves exactly who was smearing who.
Lively countered that the footage obtained by DailyMail.com confirmed her claims of harassment.
