Blake Lively sent a nearly 500-word email to her friend Ben Affleck that just came out during her legal case with Justin Baldoni. The email shows how difficult it was to film It Ends With Us. Lively said the whole thing “nearly killed me.”
According to Unilad, the email appeared during Lively’s legal fight with Baldoni, who was both her co-star and director. She called the production the most “upsetting experience” she ever had making a movie. She even joked that a documentary about filming would be more interesting than the actual movie, comparing it to “if Wild Wild Country, Fyre Festival and Going Clear had a baby with The Room.”
Lively was upset about the messy direction and how Baldoni had too many jobs at once. She called him a “chaotic clown director” who was also the “actor/producer/financier/studio head at the center.” She said the confusion meant she had to “rewrite and restructure the entire script” and constantly fix problems because of his “taste, ego and preexisting decisions.”
The production chaos went far beyond simple creative differences
Things got even worse than just script problems. Lively said she wasn’t even talking about the “wild HR issues and beyond” before making a shocking claim to Affleck. She said Baldoni and everyone else working on the movie was “in a cult.” She added that if she “would’ve just formally directed it, it would’ve been much easier.”
Because of all these issues, Lively asked her former The Town co-star Ben Affleck for help. She needed someone experienced to look at her version of the film. She claimed she and Baldoni were in a “bake off” over the final cut, saying he got extra time while she only had “10 days” to finish hers. Affleck is known for being a talented filmmaker, though he’s also had his share of on-set mishaps.
She asked Affleck if he had “1:58 of free time at any time in the next few days” to watch the movie and give her feedback. She explained she needed his help, “Again, zero pressure. I just really want this to work after all I’ve put into it. This movie nearly killed me.”
This made sense since Affleck has Oscars for screenwriting Good Will Hunting and for Best Picture with Argo. She kept it casual, saying he could “literally text me a voice memo so you don’t have to formally write thoughts.” Surprisingly, Lively also asked if his then-wife Jennifer Lopez and his kids could share their thoughts too.
The actor is a dedicated father who clearly values his children’s opinions and interests. She called J-Lo’s opinion an “honor to have her take,” but warned that the film “does cover domestic violence so no one is caught off guard.” Lively wrote this email while fighting for her version of the film.
The legal trouble started when she sued Baldoni for sexual harassment after the movie came out in August 2024. Baldoni’s team called the claims “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious.” He filed a $400 million countersuit, but both cases were dismissed by October 2025.
Lively thanked her husband Ryan Reynolds for getting Matt Damon to watch the film, calling them “good men showing up” to help her. She ended the email with humor, joking about getting Affleck an autograph from “Jason Bourne” and signing off: “If you’re still reading this, whoa. You’re not nearly as busy as you think. or you’re a very nice person.”
Published: Jan 24, 2026 02:15 pm