A Hollywood intimacy coordinator believes there was, at least at one point, some “affection” between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Mia Schachter, whose credits include Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry and HBO’s Insecure and Perry Mason, weighed in on the dramatic on-set feud between the It Ends With Us costars, which is now the subject of multiple lawsuits. (Baldoni also directed the film.)
Dueling lawsuits filed by Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, include text messages the stars sent one another while filming the movie, including a discussion in which the pair discussed script changes that Baldoni ultimately acquiesced to.
“From reading their text messages, I do get the sense that, at one point, there was genuine affection between them and what felt like a friendship,” Schachter, who was not involved in the making of It Ends With Us, opined during a new television documentary, He Said, She Said: Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni, which aired on Channel 5 in the U.K. on Monday, March 17.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Alleged Feud and Lawsuits Explained
In her December 2024 lawsuit accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment, among other things, Lively alleged that Baldoni wanted to add sex scenes that weren’t in the film’s script, improvised unwanted kissing and that there was often no intimacy coordinator on set. In a January counter lawsuit, Baldoni claimed Lively declined to meet the film’s appointed intimacy coordinator before production began. (Both Lively and Baldoni have denied one another’s accusations against the other.)
“In my experience, when an actor says, ‘I don’t need to meet the intimacy coordinator until we’re shooting,’ as much as it hinders my process, it does typically indicate that they trust their scene partner,” Schachter said during Monday’s documentary. “ And those texts made me think that at one point, she did feel a lot of trust with him.”
Schachter also dissected raw production footage shared by Baldoni’s team in January that shows him and Lively filming a dancing scene for a slow-motion montage. According to Lively’s lawsuit, Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good.’ … None of this was remotely in character. When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Ms. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’” Lively said she tried to avoid kissing Baldoni by suggesting they talk in the scene.
In his countersuit, Baldoni denied “that this scene was filmed in any manner other than pure professionalism,” noting that he was in character. He alleged that Lively tried to take over the direction of the scene and “insisted” they talk, claiming she was “consistently unable to take direction” and “continued to break character” while shooting.
“His team seemed to be accusing Blake of trying to direct that scene and undermine his creative vision. I don’t see that,” Schachter said. “I see an actress trying not to kiss her coworker and instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to do that,’ she’s making other suggestions, which is actually pretty considerate because I think it could be humiliating for everyone there to see Blake Lively tell Justin Baldoni, ‘Stop trying to kiss me.’”
What ‘It Ends With Us’ Cast Has Said About Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Lively and Baldoni for comment.
The case is expected to go to trial in March 2026.
He Said, She Said: Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni was acquired by Investigation Discovery and a shortened version will stream in the U.S. on Max and Discovery+ beginning March 31.
