Ryan Reynolds’ Private Texts About Justin Baldoni Just Went Public, and Hollywood Is Talking About Nothing Else

Hollywood has seen its share of legal drama, but few stories have produced a paper trail quite like this one. Two years after the promotional tour for “It Ends With Us” turned into one of the most bitter feuds in recent entertainment history, newly unsealed court documents have pulled back the curtain on what was really being said behind closed doors. And the most explosive voice in those documents belongs to Ryan Reynolds.

The documents, obtained by Page Six and made public on October 9, 2026, include private text messages Reynolds sent in August 2024, right as his wife Blake Lively was weathering a storm of online backlash during the film’s promotion. What they reveal is a husband in full defense mode, venting in private about the man at the center of it all: director and co-star Justin Baldoni.

The most striking exchange came in messages to Colleen Hoover, the bestselling author whose novel “It Ends With Us” inspired the film. In an August 10, 2024 text, Reynolds wrote that it was amazing to him that everybody involved with the production could run away from a person who is obviously a predator and sociopath, and yet the narrative was landing on why a woman is the problem.

He did not stop there. Reynolds told Hoover it amazed him how low people still go, but added that people were already coming forward and that sooner or later someone would go on record. Hoover’s response was sympathetic. She told him the loudest critics were mostly young people who did not have fully developed brains yet, adding that it was good to hear the tide was beginning to turn against him.

Reynolds Mocked Baldoni’s Crisis PR Team in Writing

The exchange also shows Reynolds at his most biting when it came to Baldoni’s crisis communications team. In a mock script he wrote out for Hoover, Reynolds imagined a strategy session with Baldoni’s people, with the crisis team coaching him to keep talking about domestic violence and how wonderful Blake is while they handle the online chatter, and to speak like what he called an emotionally elevated thought leader. He then imagined Baldoni’s reply in two short lines, closing with a profane swipe. According to the court documents, Hoover reacted with a laugh.

A source close to Reynolds told Page Six that the texts show exactly what they look like: a husband trying to protect his wife from what he believed was a coordinated attack. The source pointed to Baldoni’s crisis PR team, noting it has been accused of similar smear tactics in at least five other lawsuits, according to reporting by The New York Times.

The Sony Texts

The Hoover exchange was not the only private conversation that found its way into the public record. A separate set of messages shows Reynolds pressing his talent agent Warren Zavala about Sony Pictures, the studio that distributed the film.

In those August 2024 messages, Reynolds argued that Sony needed to publicly defend Lively and get ahead of the controversy rather than sit on the sidelines. Zavala’s responses suggested the studio was covering itself and thinking about its own exposure. The records also show Reynolds describing Baldoni to Zavala as a human rounding error while celebrating the film’s commercial success at the time.

Sony did not issue the statement Reynolds had drafted. The studio did, however, publicly reiterate its support for Lively in December 2024, after she filed her formal complaint.

How the Legal War Played Out

For readers catching up, the timeline is a long one. Lively filed her complaint against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment during the production of “It Ends With Us” and a retaliatory smear campaign afterward. Baldoni denied the allegations and fired back with a $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and their public relations team. That countersuit was dismissed in June 2025. Ten of Lively’s original thirteen claims were dismissed in April 2026, and the remaining parties reached a settlement in May 2026, just before Lively’s appearance at the Met Gala.

In other words, the legal war was largely over before these messages ever saw daylight. The unsealing did not reopen the case, but it reopened the conversation around it, and it gave the public its clearest look yet at how Reynolds saw the situation while it was still unfolding.

Hollywood’s Reaction

As with everything in this saga, the reaction has been divided. Some industry observers see the texts as evidence of nothing more than a fiercely protective spouse writing things he never intended anyone else to read. Others see them as a reminder of just how much private score-settling happens in Hollywood long before it ever reaches a courtroom.

Industry reporting included voices from inside the business questioning what the episode means for the couple’s standing. One Los Angeles source suggested that two years ago, having Blake and Ryan at a party made hosts look important, and that today the same invitation might make people uncomfortable, adding that the couple remains famous but is no longer the social prize it once was. A casting director added that the question is not whether the two are talented, but whether working with them now comes with complications.

Those kinds of anonymous assessments should be taken with the appropriate caution, but they do capture something real: in an industry built on relationships, leaked private messages tend to make everyone a little more careful about what they put in writing.

What Happens Next

Neither Reynolds’ nor Hoover’s representatives immediately responded to requests for comment when the documents were published. Baldoni’s team has long denied every allegation Lively made, and the May 2026 settlement brought the formal legal battle to a close.

Still, the unsealed texts have given the story a second life in the press, and they serve as a case study in how fast a private defense can become public evidence. For Reynolds, a star who built his brand on sharp humor and public charm, the messages show a rawer register, one that his fans rarely get to see. Whether that candor ends up helping or hurting his image in the long run is something Hollywood will be debating for a while.

One thing is certain: this story, which began with a book adaptation about a difficult subject, has now produced enough twists for a legal drama of its own. And with the full court record still being picked apart by reporters, there may be more revelations to come.

More from CineVibe

• Kevin Hart Wants His Sex Tape Partner Kept Off the Witness Stand – another Hollywood courtroom fight getting ugly
• Joe Manganiello’s Memoir Claims vs. Sofia Vergara’s Ice-Cold Response – when private accusations go public
• Verity vs. Digger: the Colleen Hoover Box Office Battle – the author’s other screen adaptation making waves

Sources

• Page Six: Ryan Reynolds goes after Justin Baldoni in newly unsealed text messages
• The Blast: Blake Lively’s text leak leaves Hollywood on edge