Blake Lively breaks cover amid vicious Justin Baldoni legal battle after improvising kiss accusation
Blake Lively made a rare public outing in Westport, Connecticut, amid her heated legal battle with Justin Baldoni ahead of the holidays.
The actress, who was recently accused of improvising an unscripted kiss while filming It Ends With Us, kept a low profile while running errands at Trader Joe’s.
The 38-year-old Gossip Girl star looked cozy in a chunky taupe knit cardigan, distressed patchwork jeans, white beanie and tan UGG boots as she strolled the aisles.
Among the items seen in the shopping bags were Pepper and Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips, Trader Joe’s Organic Popcorn with Olive Oil, Super Sour Nordic Floats, and what appeared to be fresh pomegranate seeds.
The outing marks a rare appearance from Lively, who has largely remained out of the public eye as her increasingly tense legal dispute with Baldoni continues behind the scenes.
Despite the ongoing chaos, he appeared calm and relaxed as he chatted with store staff at the register before leaving with several of the brand’s brown paper bags in hand.
Blake Lively made a rare public outing in Westport, Connecticut ahead of the holidays amid her heated legal battle with Justin Baldoni
Lively was seen shopping alone, without husband Ryan Reynolds or any of her four children: James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4, and Olin, 1.
The couple owns a $6 million home on 11.65 acres in Pound Ridge, New York, consisting of seven bedrooms, a guesthouse and a barn.
Reynolds was last seen speaking at The Wall Street Journal CMO Council Summit in New York City last week.
“I’ll be devastated if people start disagreeing with me because I’m the boss,” he said on stage.
The Deadpool actor revealed he enjoys ‘dissent’ in the workplace and once struggled as a young actor with ‘strong ideas’ about how to voice creative disagreements.
They don’t say ‘this producer’s film failed’ or ‘this director’s film’; this is mine. “So if I’m going to make this headline, I want to be the architect of my own death or success,” he said.
The 38-year-old Gossip Girl star looked casual in a chunky taupe knit cardigan, distressed patchwork jeans, chic white beanie and tan UGG boots as she strolled the aisles.
The actress, who was recently accused of improvising an unscripted kiss while filming It Ends With Us, was trying to keep a low profile while running errands at Trader Joe’s.
Reynolds added that she now feels more comfortable taking ‘control’ and admits that compliance makes her feel ‘sick’.
‘When I go out I pat myself on the back and it’s a selfie parade and I oblige everyone and my kids only see that,’ she said.
‘Lately I’ve learned to talk about failures and how that’s literally the foundation and context for everything else.’
Lively appeared to be shopping alone because she wasn’t accompanied by husband Ryan Reynolds or any of her four children: James, 9, Inez, 7, Betty, 4, and Olin, 1; seen in April
The Lively sighting comes weeks after Baldoni filed a bombshell deleted scene in a motion for summary judgment in which he claimed Lively engaged in unscripted physical contact during filming.
The one-minute hospital hallway clip, filmed in May 2023, shows Lively’s character Lily walking up to Baldoni’s Ryle, grabbing his arms, giving him a quick kiss, and walking away smiling.
According to Baldoni’s legal team, the kiss was not in the script, and Lively not only approved it, but also oversaw the scene and added it into every take.
His sighting comes just weeks after Baldoni filed an explosive deleted scene as part of his motion for summary judgment in which he claimed he engaged in unscripted physical contact during filming.
In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation; He strongly denied these allegations.
Baldoni later filed his own defamation complaint against Lively, Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, and filed a separate $400 million lawsuit against The New York Times, accusing the paper of defaming him with its coverage of Lively’s allegations. He denies all wrongdoing.
Their countersuit was dismissed in June, leaving Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit as the only one still standing. The judge appears to have thrown out the remaining claims against Lively, Reynolds and the Times, according to court documents reported by the Daily Mail last month.
The film, which also stars Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar and Kevin McKidd, is adapted from Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel and focuses on the toxic relationship between Lily Bloom (Lively) and Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni).
