Ryan Reynolds blasts Justin Baldoni in explosive texts from Blake Lively’s court battle
LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA: Ryan Reynolds criticized Justin Baldoni in private text messages to author Colleen Hoover, calling the filmmaker a “sociopath” amid the backlash surrounding 'It Ends With Us.'
The messages, dated August 2024, were included in newly unsealed court documents obtained by Page Six. The exchange took place as Reynolds' wife, Blake Lively, faced criticism while promoting the domestic violence drama.
Ryan Reynolds criticized Justin Baldoni's crisis PR strategy
In an August 10, 2024, text to Hoover, Reynolds wrote, “It’s amazing to me that you can have everybody involved with a production completely run away from a person who is obviously a sociopath and the narrative must first land on why a woman is the problem.”
Ryan Reynolds attended the 'Mayday' New York premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on September 1, 2026, in New York City (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)He continued, “It’s amazing to me how low people still go,” adding that people were already coming forward and that someone would soon go on record. Hoover responded, “It’s mind blowing. But also I feel like the loud ones are mostly 13-year-olds who don’t have fully developed brains yet and will be mortified by their thought process a few years from now.”
Reynolds replied that it was good to hear the narrative was beginning to shift away from Baldoni. He added that he was surprised the criticism was coming mostly from girls, based on what he had seen, and said that “the really smart folks already know.”
He also noted that the prevailing narrative at the time was about the film's strong performance and how much audiences loved it. Hoover reacted to his response with a heart.
Earlier in the exchange, Reynolds mocked Baldoni's crisis PR strategy by imagining a conversation between the filmmaker and his team.
“Yeah, when he uses a crisis team like that, you can start to see all the strategy they’ve equipped him with,” Reynolds wrote.
He then imagined the crisis team telling Baldoni to talk about violence and how wonderful Lively was while the team handled online activity. The imagined instructions also included maintaining his feminist advocacy and speaking like an emotionally elevated thought leader.
Ryan Reynolds' texts emerged amid Blake Lively's legal battle
In a separate August 9, 2024, message to his agent, Warren Zavala, Reynolds described Baldoni as a “human rounding error” while celebrating the film's success.
A source close to Reynolds told Page Six that the actor was trying to protect his wife, who was being targeted by a crisis PR team hired by Baldoni. The source also alleged that the same crisis team had been accused of smear tactics in at least five other lawsuits, according to The New York Times.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging that he harassed her during the production of 'It Ends With Us,' which was based on Hoover's novel of the same name. She also alleged that a retaliatory smear campaign was launched against her. Baldoni denied the allegations.
Baldoni subsequently filed a $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and their PR team.
The lawsuit was dismissed in June 2025. In May 2026, Lively and the remaining defendants in her case reached a settlement, bringing the legal dispute to an end.
