Jenny Slate took aim at Justin Baldoni in a series of text messages, calling her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director a “fraud” and wrote filming the controversial movie was “disturbing.”
Slate — who played Baldoni’s character’s sister in the film — stated in text messages from 2023 that she and co-star Blake Lively both complained to a production executive at Sony about Baldoni’s alleged bad behavior on set, in court docs obtained by TMZ.
“This has really been a disturbing shoot, and I’m one of many who feel this way. … Justin is truly a false ally and I’m unwilling to do anything that promotes the image that he’s crafting as a ‘male feminist’ … like … honestly I have no words to describe what a fraud he is,” she wrote, per the docs.
“I honestly have never ever encountered anything like this dude,” she wrote. “He’s the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist.”
It’s unclear who the text messages were sent to.
In a deposition in September 2025, Slate was also asked about previous text messages she sent her agent at the time. Slate texted that Baldoni and his business partner Jamey Heath “freak me out” and accused them of telling “weird lies,” according to docs obtained by Page Six.
“Justin and Jamey are truly unfit,” the messages read. “I’m not scared or anything, just repulsed and deeply irritated, and I know Blake is experiencing that on a much more serious level.”
In her deposition, Slate also recalled Baldoni allegedly being inappropriate by telling her she looked “sexy” in an outfit she was wearing but that it was OK because his wife was there.
In more court docs obtained by Page Six filed on Jan. 20, Lively accused Baldoni of making another actress on set — Isabela Ferrer, who played the younger version of Lively’s character in the film — “feel sexualized.”
The docs allege that “Baldoni pulled aside Ferrer’s on-screen love interest to encourage him to ‘get to know’ Ferrer ‘well’ with a wink, insinuating that he should pursue Ferrer sexually.”
“Later, when the two actors were in their underwear after filming the scene in which their characters had sex for the first time, Baldoni commented: ‘I’m not supposed to say this, but that was hot,’” per the docs.
Lively’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley tells Page Six in a statement, “In his TedTalk to promote his brand as an advocate for women, Justin Baldoni said we must ‘listen to the women’…even if what they are saying is against you.’ See how he actually reacts in the bombshell new evidence released for the first time, which includes sworn testimony and contemporaneous messages from numerous women who actually worked with him.”
“As we head to trial, only Ms. Lively’s claims against the defendants remain,” the statement continues in part. “The newly unsealed evidence shows the concerns of Ms. Lively and others were documented in real-time as early as Spring 2023, and [Baldoni’s production company] Wayfarer understood them as ‘sexual harassment’ concerns. The evidence also documents how Wayfarer refused to investigate, but instead attempted to ‘bury’ Ms. Lively and others who spoke up through retaliation.”
Reps for Baldoni, Slate and Ferrer didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Freedman, previously maintained the allegations against the actor were false in a statement to Page Six in June 2025.
“This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened,” the statement read in part.
Lively, 38, filed a formal lawsuit against Baldoni in December 2024 for alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages.
Baldoni, 41, responded with a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. However, that suit has since been tossed.
An upcoming hearing scheduled for Jan. 22 will have the judge hear arguments on Baldoni’s motion for summary judgment, which seeks to have some or all of Lively’s claims dismissed before the case reaches a jury.
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