Justin Baldoni Hires PR Crisis Manager Amid Blake Lively Drama

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 14, 2024 |

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 14, 2024 |

Just when it seemed like the It Ends with Us drama was about to die down thanks to the movie cleaning up at the box office, Justin Baldoni has now hired a PR crisis manager, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

For those of you who don’t know, Baldoni is both the lead actor and director for It Ends with Us, yet he was completely isolated from the rest of the cast — particularly Blake Lively — heading into the film’s marketing push. Like the gossipy addicts we are, we’ve been divided behind the scenes on what’s really happening, so here’s a brief rundown:

The initial thought was that Baldoni is one of those weird “I’m a feminist” guys who doth protest too much. We’ve seen that a lot over the years. However, the situation turned as reports pointed to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds taking over creative control of the production and shoving Baldoni in the corner. This narrative seemed to be supported by Lively openly admitting that she clashed with Baldoni over the soundtrack and reportedly commissioned a final cut of the film from the editor of Deadpool & Wolverine. There was no shortage of signs that the power couple threw their weight around.

Just when it seemed like Baldoni caught a bad break, a source went to PEOPLE — the celebrity mouthpiece of choice — and threw fuel on the fire. “All is not what it seems,” the source said. “There is much more to this story. The principal cast and [author] Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him.”

Later that same day, Baldoni pulled the trigger on the PR crisis manager, so what the heck is going on? Let’s look at the options.

1. Baldoni really did do some sh*t that’s about to come out. He is a man, so it’s absolutely in the realm of possibility if not a certainty.

2. Baldoni is getting nuked by Lively and Reynolds as they continue to exert their control over It Ends with Us, and Baldoni is rightly concerned that his entire career could go down the toilet. It may already have at this point.

Which one is it? I honestly have no clue! This could go either way, but I will say that the first thing the PR crisis manager should’ve told Baldoni is that hiring a PR crisis manager makes him look super guilty. Case in point, I went from thinking Lively and Reynolds big-timed him to “You idiot. What did you do?”