Ryan Reynolds sought support from Sony Pictures when Blake Lively faced extreme backlash while promoting “It Ends With Us,” according to new text messages obtained by Page Six.
Court documents related to Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal battle — which were filed in November 2025 and obtained by Page Six Friday — include August 17, 2024 messages between Reynolds and talent agent Warren Zavala, in which the “Deadpool” actor criticized Sony for not publicly defending his wife.
At the time, Lively, 39, was criticized for the way she promoted the domestic violence film, telling fans: “Grab your friends, carry your flowers and go see it.” » She was also accused of using the press tour to promote her hair care brand and line of drinks.
In the text conversation, which took place after rumors about Lively’s alleged behavior on set began making headlines, Reynolds, 49, told Zavala that Sony needed to release a statement and “start defending” his wife.
Zavala attempted to placate Reynolds, suggesting that other people come up with positive stories about Lively, while noting that Baldoni’s team “probably has a set of things that they’re considering using” to make Lively “look bad.”
In response, Reynolds hit out at Sony: “They need to word it the right way! It’s not hard. The sentence needs to start with… it feels like they’re trying to thread the needle. They just need to get straight to it.”
The Marvel star then insisted that Sony blamed the bad press about Lively on “part of a systematic, coordinated campaign by a crisis PR team.”
In another text, Reynolds accused Sony of leaving the “Gossip Girl” star in the lurch, calling the company’s actions “unforgivable.”
After explaining that he had written his own draft statement for Sony, which they never released, Reynolds told Zavala: “This needs to be addressed immediately. This is the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in this industry.”
“Sony really needs to step up,” the father of four added. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. »
Reynolds also wrote that Sony “needs to cut the bullshit and step up,” explaining, “Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because these guys are doing all of this without any repercussions.” »
Additionally, Reynolds said Baldoni, 42, “needs to see that an entire studio knows what they’re doing.”
When Zavala told Reynolds that Sony was “covering their butts” because of “exposure,” Reynolds responded that “their backs were against the wall.”
A week earlier, on August 9, Reynolds told Zavala that he was “super frustrated” that Lively was facing online hate after she “didn’t sleep” and “missed countless moments with her kids” to make the film.
“They should protect B,” he said of Sony. “They can and should accept the consequences of their actions, and build on the countless intentionally rude behaviors before it affected them. They made a big fucking mess.”
Reynolds added that Lively “should in no way be asked to clean up this sloppy, clichéd f-kstorm.”
A source told Page Six: “It’s no secret that Ryan was trying to protect his wife who was being targeted by a crisis PR team hired by Baldoni. This is the same crisis team that has been accused of these smear tactics in at least five other lawsuits according to the New York Times.”
Page Six has reached out to representatives for Reynolds, Lively, Zavala and Sony for comment.
Sony finally released a statement supporting Lively in December 2024, after she publicly accused Baldoni – who directed the film and starred alongside her – of sexual harassment and launched a smear campaign against her.
“We have previously expressed our support for Blake in relation to his work on and for the film. We fully and strongly reiterate that support today,” a Sony Pictures Entertainment spokesperson said at the time.
“Furthermore, we strongly condemn any attack on its reputation. Such attacks have no place in our company or in a civil society.”
Lively and Baldoni’s explosive legal battle was set to go to trial in May, after 10 of Blake’s 13 complaints against the director were dismissed.
However, the co-stars settled two weeks before the court date and neither received any money as part of the deal.
Lively then sought $7,495,526.87 in attorney fees and $539,514.01 in litigation fees and expenses from Baldoni – but was only awarded $400,000 in August.
After suffering the humiliating blow, Page Six exclusively reported that Lively had fired her longtime publicist, Leslie Sloane, who represented her during the Baldoni legal war, and had hired Kelly Bush Novak.
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