Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal battle remains ongoing, following the release of their 2024 box office hit, It Ends With Us.
Lively, 38, made a legal complaint against Baldoni, 42, in December 2024, accusing her director and co-star of sexual harassment on set, and for allegedly coordinating a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni has denied the allegations, taking legal action against Lively, but his $400 million countersuit has since been dismissed.
A trial for Lively v Wayfarer Studios has now been set for May 2026, with both Lively and Baldoni expected to take to the stand.
And as part of the process, private messages between the former co-stars have been unsealed in order to garner information, made public this month via court documents.
Most recently, this included an emotional four-minute voice note that Lively reportedly sent Baldoni on 8 February 2023.
In the audio, Lively, who produced and starred in the Colleen Hoover adaptation, opens up about her fears around returning to work so soon after having a baby, speaking candidly about the overwhelming situation and inquiring about postponing the shooting schedule.
"I just wanted to connect to put something on your radar," reads the transcript of Lively's voice note, per PEOPLE. "So between us, this is so premature for me to even share this with you."
Referring to Baldoni as "a friend", Lively goes on to share her difficulties of preparing mentally and physically for filming, while juggling family life with a newborn baby.
"Just the idea of going back to work right away," she explains. "And also the idea of like, you know, prepping for our movie and like wanting to work out every day and all that, but yet being on set all day every day - I’m like, what have I done?"
"The closer the reality gets, the more I’m just panicking about that," she adds. "Because I’d really like to just focus on our movie."
"What if we went in September?" she allegedly later asks. "Shooting in April, shooting in March is just too soon after having a baby and not sleeping and wanting to be in my best shape and all that.”
"Ryan and I have also been really stressed about spending a month apart," she adds. "The most we’ve ever done is less than two weeks."
"I know that our schedules are scheduled. I’m not trying to move anything," she later continues. "But like if by chance you’re like, ‘Oh my god, if I could go two weeks earlier, that would actually be great,’ then amazing."
"I told you in four minutes what I could have told you in 30 seconds," Lively jokes at the end, stressing "please again keep this between us", and signing off: "Send my love to your family who don’t know me."
The trial for Lively v Wayfarer Studios is officially set for May 2026.
We will continue to update this report.
