In the chaotic and increasingly complex legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, there is but one winner: tabloid journalism. As the It Ends With Us co-stars inch closer (barely!) to their scheduled 2026 trial, gossip outlets are churning out new, salacious details on the case and the parties’ respective PR machinations on an hourly basis. If you’re looking for objective, unbiased reporting on the topic, however, you may be disappointed: Most outlets are carrying water for one side or the other.
The tabloids sympathetic to Baldoni are easy to spot. They all quote the same sources, who insist that the actor-director is a deeply sensitive boss who would not dream of sexually harassing anyone (and who, by the way, looks great shirtless). The pro-Lively outlets are slightly more subtle, proffering not full-throated defenses of the actress, exactly, but carefully phrased explanations for her behavior and insights into her emotional state.
Baldoni’s biggest booster in the weeks since Lively filed her initial complaint against him has been — surprise, surprise — TMZ. The outlet is the first to report updates from Baldoni’s camp and often features his outspoken attorney, Bryan Freedman. (It’s worth noting that TMZ was also sympathetic to Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against Amber Heard; Depp was then represented by the publicist Melissa Nathan, who allegedly orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively at Baldoni’s direction and got everyone into this mess in the first place.)
Also on Team Justin: “Page Six” and the Daily Mail. Both have featured multiple shirtless photos of Baldoni on vacation in Hawaii with headlines like “Justin Baldoni flaunts his ripped body while surfing in Hawaii as Blake Lively feud rages on.” Those photos are almost all coming from Backgrid, a paparazzi photo agency that has a reputation of collaborating with celebrities to produce positive photo sets.
“Page Six” regularly quotes “insiders” who criticize how Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, have handled the controversy (their appearance at the SNL 50th anniversary show was particularly maligned). And the Daily Mail has its own exclusive sources that are fond of calling out Lively’s “obvious lies.”
A source told the British tabloid this week that Lively’s claims of sexual harassment by Baldoni are untrue, and actually, Baldoni is a really nice and sensitive guy. “He cared so deeply about that movie,” the unnamed source said. “It’s absolutely ludicrous that anyone could ever say he was anything other than polite, respectful, caring, and professional during the process. I have text messages that show just how sensitive and thoughtful he was about it.”
Perhaps those texts will show up in court. In the meantime, Lively has been able to count on some old stalwarts for support, like People and Us Weekly. For its first issue after Lively filed her initial complaint about Baldoni, People put her on the cover with the headline, “BLAKE TAKES A STAND.” Since then, the tabloid has quoted exclusive sources about Lively’s state of mind.
A source told the tabloid this week that Lively is “just trying to focus on the good things” as the legal process plays out. Another source revealed that Lively and Reynolds received a “warm welcome” at the SNL event and name-dropped all the A-listers who talked to them. “They stayed after the live show wrapped and mingled in the studio and were talking with everyone from Ben Stiller to Paul McCartney,” the source claimed. “They spent time talking with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson too. Blake also chatted with Dakota Johnson.”
Us Weekly, meanwhile, defended Lively when she seemingly failed to snag an invite to the Super Bowl from her longtime bestie, Taylor Swift. Lively and Swift are not feuding over Swift’s unwitting involvement in the Baldoni drama, a source claimed. Lively was just busy. “She was hoping to do some traveling before A Simple Favor 2,” the source revealed. “And she and Ryan are keeping a low profile at the moment.”
Lively and Reynolds have pretty much stopped doing pap strolls since Lively filed her initial complaint at the end of December, but as Lively ramps up promotion for the Simple Favor sequel (premiering at SXSW in March), I bet we see photos of the couple walking hand in hand around New York soon. Those pics won’t come from Backgrid, though. I’m personally keeping a close eye on celebrity photographer Elder Ordonez, who regularly gets exclusives of Lively and Reynolds (and their good buddy Hugh Jackman). Last month, Ordonez posted a video tribute to Lively and Reynolds, calling them a “beautiful, gorgeous couple.”
If all of this spin is making you dizzy, I do have one recommendation: Just Jared. The gossip outlet has been pumping out regular updates on Lively and Baldoni as the case goes on, but most of the stories are aggregation of other tabloid content that have been stripped of inflammatory language and presented in the most neutral tone possible (i.e., “8 Key Allegations from Blake Lively’s Amended Complaint Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Director Justin Baldoni Revealed”). This is as close to objective tabloid reporting as you’re going to get.