Ryan Reynolds‘ rep is speaking out.
Just one week after his and wife Blake Lively’s messages were unsealed during the ongoing legal battle between Lively and Justin Baldoni, a rep is ready to defend Reynolds’ image.
Reynolds Rep Speaks Out
A rep for Reynolds spoke during Puck News’ report by the outlet titled, “Is Blake Really Unhireable — and Can Ryan Escape the Blast Radius?”
During the segment, the rep commented, “Yes, Ryan got involved — what husband wouldn’t support his wife and the mother of his children?”
“He saw his wife fighting daily to stand up against sexual harassment in a private and respectful way, only to face retaliation for doing so,” his rep continued. “If anything, Ryan feels like he wasn’t angry enough. He passionately believes in and will stand up for the basic right to a safe workplace free of harassment and retaliation for his wife and others. Then, now, and always.”
Preserving an Image
But not everyone sees Reynolds’ actions as heroic, especially when it comes to preserving his image.
A source told Puck News that the actor’s comments in texts to Warren Zavala about executive producer Todd Black and Sony executive Ange Giannetti made him look “childish and petulant.” Reynolds told Zavala the pair were “ineffectual elderly people with no ideas or thoughtful communication skills.”
The source added that Reynolds “is very protective of his image. It’s his worst nightmare to have this stuff exposed.”
Unsealed Texts
The unsealed texts revealed lots about the Lively-Baldoni legal battle, but also how Reynolds was responding to the action and media circus behind the scenes. His texts were sent to many, including his WME agent Warren Zavala.
“I’m super frustrated because this is a moment in which Blake should be celebrating. She made this unbelievable win happen,” he told Zavala. “She WILLED this weekend into reality. Baldoni and these other buckets of dumb-dumb-juice should be acknowledging the speculation and gossip themselves. They should be jumping in front of it in the most full-throated, unqualified way. Now.”
He even went higher up in the WME company, texting an executive that Baldoni is a “thoroughbred, predatory fraudster” and an “inexplicably toxic mess.”
Additionally, in that message, Reynolds said, “I’d put Blake’s reputation on trial any day of the week. She’s worked with … dozens of other mercurial, and abusive people. In her experience (and mine) nobody has ever reached the empyrean heights of vile the way Justin Baldoni has. His complete lack of not only remorse but self-preservation is a character study in malignant, lazy-lidded stupidity and darkness.”
The Lively-Baldoni Trial
While the situation started before December 2024, that’s when Lively sued her co-star-director Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Though he denies the charges, Lively seeks over $160 million in damages. Baldoni’s legal team fought back, issuing a countersuit against Lively and Reynolds for defamation and extortion. A judge later dismissed the countersuit.
Baldoni’s team maintains that Lively and Reynolds used their status in Hollywood to ruin his image. “This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio,” his lawyers claimed. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat.”
On the other side, Lively’s legal team is latching onto the sexual harassment claims. “The overwhelming evidence revealed by the unsealed materials shows that women in ever role on set — from producers, to writers, to cast, to crew — experienced what they beleived was inappropriate conduct. Baldoni’s team dismissed them as ‘trivial,’ but there is nothing trivial about sexual harassment.”
New information is likely to continue until the May 2026 trial date.