A one-minute clip has emerged that could reshape the ongoing legal battle between actress Blake Lively and actor-director Justin Baldoni, showing Lively apparently leaning in to kiss Baldoni's character in a deleted scene from the film It Ends With Us; despite claims the script did not call for any kiss.
Scene Footage Sparks Fresh Allegations
According to the filing by Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, the footage was recorded in May 2023 and subsequently omitted from the final cut of the film.
In the visual, Lively's character appears to walk into a hospital-scene dialogue, approaches Baldoni's character, plants a brief kiss, and then exits. Baldoni's legal team insists the script contained no directive for a kiss in this moment.
@tmz Justin Baldoni says Blake Lively improvised kissing him in a scene that was eventually deleted from the final cut of their film, "It Ends With Us," and that's one of the reasons he wants her lawsuit against him dismissed before the trial begins. Now that we've obtained the clip, who do you believe?
♬ original sound - TMZ - TMZ
The new submission argues that Lively 'herself added to the script' the act of kissing in every take, although 'there was no kiss in the script'.
The filing further notes that Lively had requested at a meeting in January 2024 a clause forbidding 'any spontaneous improvising of any scenes involving physical touching, simulated sex or nudity'.
Lively's legal representatives have yet to comment on the specific new footage, although her team has previously maintained that the production environment was hostile and that Baldoni initiated unexpected physical interactions.
The revelation of this clip adds a new twist to their dispute, implying Lively may have taken a more active role in the scene than publicly stated.
Legal Battle Deepens Over Who Moved First
The film's producer-co-star director, Justin Baldoni, has for months denied the allegations of sexual harassment levelled by Lively. Her December 2024 complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department accused him of a pattern of unchoreographed intimacy, unwanted touching, trailer intrusions, and a subsequent smear campaign.
Baldoni countersued in January 2025 for alleged defamation and extortion, claiming Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, orchestrated a campaign to 'destroy' his reputation.
However, the defamation suits filed by Baldoni were dismissed in June 2025. The original claim Lively lodged remains scheduled for trial in March 2026.
Amid this legal wrangling, the newly released footage has become a disputed piece of evidence. Baldoni's team argues it undermines Lively's allegations since it shows her initiating contact, while Lively's team responds that the clip still supports her claim of discomfort, given the broader power dynamic where Baldoni was her director and employer.
Fans React: 'She Wanted Him' vs 'She Felt Pressured'
Social-media reactions have rapidly divided. Some fans interpret the clip as proof that Lively acted on desire rather than coercion. On TikTok and X, some users wrote variations of 'She wanted him', while others cautioned that a kiss on screen does not automatically equal consent behind the scenes.
The case reinforces the need for clarity and oversight in romantic scenes, especially when a costar also directs the sequence. They argue that the absence of an independent intimacy coordinator on this set (which Lively's lawsuit also mentions) contributed to the confusion.
A single minute of footage may not decide a court case, but in the high-stakes battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, it adds a tangible smear of controversy, one that forces a deeper examination of who controlled the scene, who initiated the kiss, and, perhaps most crucially, whether the industry's informal norms about consent truly hold up under scrutiny.
