Listen to Justin Baldoni's lengthy 2 a.m. voice memo to Blake Lively: 'I can't wait to spend more time with you'
More information has been revealed about what happened between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively during the filming of It Ends With Us.
'Justin Baldoni.'
While working on the 2024 Colleen Hoover adaptation, Baldoni allegedly emailed the actress a seven-minute voice memo about the film's iconic rooftop sequence, which he claimed in his Jan. 16 complaint Lively entirely altered after he agreed to let her suggest some modifications.
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The audio clip, obtained by TMZ on January 27, appears to refer to Baldoni reading Lively's revised scene during an alleged meeting with her husband Ryan Reynolds and her friend Taylor Swift. In the recording, he appeared to apologize to Lively for his tepid reaction to her work.
"I'm really sorry," Baldoni began, saying that he "fell short, and you worked really hard on that."
The 41-year-old continued, "I f--ked up. You should know that when I make a mistake, I admit it and apologize. I am far from flawless, and my wife will attest to that.
Baldoni, who is married to actress Emily Baldoni, went on to vow he'll "do better" and thanked Lively, 37, for having "great friends" who support her career.
"We should all have friends like that aside from the fact that they're two of the most creative people on the planet," he said. "The three of you guys together, it's unbelievable."
However, in an apparent allusion to Reynolds and Swift's presence at their alleged encounter, Baldoni noted to Lively, "I just wanted you to know that I didn't need that."
"Because it's really good," he said about Lively's changes to the script. "I'm excited to go through the whole movie with you."
Elsewhere in his voice memo, Baldoni apologized to Lively for "what you've been through with these other filmmakers," calling them "f--kheads" and saying, "I'm just still kind of blown away that this is the industry we're in and that you've experienced that as a woman."
"Hopefully, it hasn't been my experience," he said, adding that he and Lively were the "secret sauce" behind It Ends With Us.
Baldoni closed the recording by apologizing for the lengthy memo and saying to Lively, who has four children with Reynolds, "You probably have kids all over you, a baby on your boob, and you're listening to me ramble."
The voice memo was made public amid Baldoni's legal battle with Lively, who sued him in late December, alleging sexual harassment during the filming of their movie and a subsequent smear campaign against her.
In response, Baldoni filed a countersuit against Lively and her husband, accusing them of hijacking his role as director of It Ends With Us and waging a slander campaign against him.
Baldoni's lawsuit included shared texts he said he exchanged with Lively, in which she compared herself to Emilia Clarke's Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen and appeared to allude to Reynolds and Swift as "dragons."
"For better or worse, but usually for better," Lively wrote in a text to Baldoni in a text message. "Because my dragons also guard the people I fight for. So actually, we all gain from those beautiful monsters of mine. I promise you that you will as well.
In his lawsuit, Baldoni said that the "subtext" of Reynolds and Swift attending his meeting with the Gossip Girl alum was that "he needed to comply with Lively's direction for the script."
"The message could not have been clearer," his lawsuit read. "Baldoni wasn't only dealing with Lively. He was also up against Lively's 'dragons,' two of the world's most powerful and affluent celebrities who were not hesitant to make things extremely tough for him."
Amid the legal saga, Lively and Reynolds have requested a gag order on Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman, who recently released a 10-minute behind-the-scenes video from the filming of It Ends With Us to various media outlets in the hopes that Baldoni's actions in the footage "refute Ms. Lively's characterization" of him.
Lively's lawyers responded by alleging that the video's dissemination was a "unethical attempt to manipulate the public."
Read the voice mail in full below.
Hey, Blake it is 2 in the morning. Hopefully this does not wake you up. Whew. Wow. There’s so much I want to say to you and I hope that we can FaceTime or see each other in person soon, and get to talk more. But I’m just going to send you a few thoughts and hopefully it’s not going to be more than a few minutes but I don’t have the best track record — I don’t think either one of us have the best track record for our voice memos. I want to start with an apology. Man, reading the second part of your message, my heart sank. I’m really sorry.
I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that and the way you framed it and how that made you feel. I just want to say thank you for sharing that with me. That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability and I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me. I’m really sorry. I fucked up. That was a fail on my part.
One thing you should know about me: I will admit and apologize when I fail. I am far from perfect. I am a flawed man, as my wife will attest. And I’m going to fuck up. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to put my foot in my mouth. I’m going to piss you off, probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. That is one thing I can assure you of. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. That must’ve felt terrible and I will for sure do better. That was not my best weekend and I should have given it more time.
And damn right, you got great friends. If that’s how you felt and they knew that — and fuck!— we should all have friends like that. Aside from the fact that they’re two of the most creative people on the planet, the three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy — force — all three of you, but I just wanted you to know that I didn’t need that because it’s really good and it’s going to make the movie sing like you said, and I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you. I’m just excited to spend time with you. I’m excited to be in your sphere and your presence and for us to share creative juices together. Although that sounds terrible.
I think you and I have been trying to build a relationship, which I think we’ve done successfully. I mean here we are — talking like this — me into my phone at two in the morning, but largely via text and voice note. And I will be honest with you, that is not my biggest strength. I love being with people and being in somebody’s, in somebody’s space and being face to face and I feel like that’s where I excel and definitely fallen short at times in our text and voice note exchanges so much to communicate and there’s so much happening and all that to say, I’m just really looking forward to spending time together and I think that’s going to really go a long way for our chemistry, which I believe is there — has been there from the start. So I was stoked, damn excited when you wanted to do this film.
I felt it in the room when we met and, yeah, I think it does come from both of us being so fucking hardworking and having a vision and not settling, and I’m excited to have a creative partner in that with you. And it’s just really exciting. There’s so much more to say. There’s so much I want to say. Oh, and there’s one thing that I do need to say, which is I am so sorry you have been through what you’ve been through with these other filmmakers and producers or whoever the people were that you worked with. It just pissed me off. Those fuckheads. I’m just still blown away that this is the industry that we’re in and that you’ve experienced that as a woman. And I know I don’t need to say it, but that’s not at all going to be, or will be, and hopefully it’s not been the experience with me.
There’s nothing more exciting to me that I get to work with Blake Lively and have her all of her. I mean, that’s what I want. And so there’s been no hesitancy with me sending you the Final Draft file. I am totally fine with that. The only reason I didn’t send it today was because I was trying to implement and add your notes into my working draft, which is already, I’m all over that draft right now. So there’s a whole bunch of new stars that are going to be collated pages and I just haven’t had a chance to send it to you, but there’s no hesitancy. I’m happy to send it to you and I’m sorry that that has happened to you before and I hope after this experience there will be a new, I dunno, I hope it’ll be healing in some way because that’s all I want.
I want this movie to be healing. I want this movie to be commercial just like you and affect people and touch people. And I want to walk you through my whole plan and the work that we’re doing with the domestic violence partner that we found, No More. And just my vision. And I just know that this can be really, really special and it’s going to be special. And you’re the secret sauce and we are the secret sauce. And anyways, I have so much more to say. I’m going to stop rambling, because Jesus Christ, it’s been six minutes and 30 seconds, so fuck me. I’m sorry. You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble at two in the morning. I hope you’re feeling better, and give Ryan my love.
Thank you for sending me, that means the world to me, that you trust me with your feelings and your thoughts like that. And I can’t wait to spend more time with you. Okay, I’m cutting myself off. Goodnight.
