‘It Ends With Us’ actor Jenny Slate described shoot as “gross and disturbing” and slammed Justin Baldoni, court documents reveal

Posted On January 21, 2026January 21, 2026

As the legal battle between It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni continues, unsealed text messages from their co-star, Jenny Slate, have given new insight into the messy novel adaptation.

On January 20th, a transcript of Slate’s September deposition was unsealed alongside other documents. During the deposition, some of the actor’s texts, which took issue with Baldoni and Wayfarer producer Jamey Heath, were read aloud.

Though Slate played Baldoni’s on-screen sister, their relationship off-screen was seemingly nowhere near as close. In one text, Slate wrote that it had “been a really gross and disturbing shoot, and I’m one of many who feel [this] way.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the court documents claimed that both Slate and Lively “both complained directly” to the studio.

In one message, she also wrote, “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’.”

She went on to add, “Honestly I have no words to describe what a fraud he is.” Another text shared read, “I honestly have never ever encountered anything like this dude. He’s the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist. Lots of lessons learned!”

Slate texted her former agent in May 2023, during production of the film: “This week was really intense for a few reasons. It’s like fascinating and also so shitty. Justin and Jamey are truly unfit. I’m not scared or anything, just repulsed and deeply irritated, and I know Blake is experiencing that on a much more serious level.”

It continued, “I feel like it’s about to get really bad and I’m not sure what Blake’s limit is but she’s really taken a lot of crap from them, like crazy shit, and I’m not kidding when I tell you that Justin and Jamey me freak me out. Like they tell really weird lies and Justin is astoundingly wrongheaded.”

Baldoni, who did a TED Talk in 2018 on the topic of empowering women and redefining masculinity, did not impress Slate: “He is worse than the bros I’ve encountered, not because he’s predatory but because of his general fragility and misogyny, like not seeming to be aware of any of the obvious no-no’.”

Slate also had personal issues with Baldoni after he allegedly told her she “looked sexy” on set, a comment she deemed “not appropriate […] in any workplace.”

Slate was insistent on maintaining a distance from Baldoni and Heath on the press tour: “I don’t want to do anything with Justin, I don’t want to talk about him, like … nothing. And the same goes for Jamey [Heath], who is truly unprofessional,” she messaged her team.

In It Ends With Us, Lively plays Lily Bloom, who moves to Boston to chase her lifelong dream of opening her own business. There, she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni, but soon uncovers his darker side.

Since the movie’s release, the two stars have been entangled in a messy legal battle over Lively’s case, which accuses her co-star and director Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, and also alleges that an online smear campaign was targeted against her. This case will head to court in March.

In June, Baldoni’s $400million defamation lawsuit against Lively was dismissed. A judge threw out Baldoni’s claims against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist for extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy that the director and actor had made in January.

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