Justin Baldoni has pushed back against Blake Lively’s recent claims about their on-set tensions, accusing the actress of “playing the victim.”
In court documents obtained by Page Six, the Five Feet Apart star was questioned about a January 3 meeting where the Green Lantern star outlined her conditions for returning to set after reporting discomfort with Baldoni, 41, and producer Jamey Heath.
Following what he called a “traumatizing” exchange, Baldoni messaged friends — including Rainn Wilson and Andy Grammer — saying, “[Lively] had the nuclear bomb.”
“If she doesn’t promote the movie, she can leak that I’m a bad person or that she felt unsafe with me and all the stuff she has on me. Then she’s the victim. It’s the Taylor Swift playbook,” he said, pointing to the Lover singer’s reputation for “playing the victim” in her feuds.
Baldoni went on to say, “So she can ask for whatever she wants because she knows I know.”
Confessing to Michael Gottlieb, who represents Lively, Baldoni stated, “I think when you are somebody small in the industry like myself, and you’re dealing with a titan like Ms. Lively and some of the most powerful people in the world, which are her best friends, and you’re in the situation that I was in, I think it’s very reasonable, especially.”
Baldoni had initially pursued a deposition from Swift as part of his case against Lively, only to withdraw the request — a decision that nevertheless complicated the long-standing friendship between Swift and Lively.
During the deposition, Baldoni also said he told the Gossip Girl star on set he was circumcised while discussing her pregnancy with their now-2-year-old son, Olin, though she never asked “directly.”
As for now, after Baldoni asked to have her lawsuit thrown out, Lively on Thursday insisted on “her day in court,” calling his move a way to dodge accountability for the difficult work environment.
