Did it all start to go wrong for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni when he said he could talk to her dead dad?
Lively has complained in her legal filings – which allege sexual harassment – that Baldoni, a follower of the Baha’i religion, had repeatedly said that he could do so.
Now sources explain that Lively is touchy on the subject of her late father Ernie Brown, whose name she honors in her haircare range Blake Brown.
Brown, an actor, took his wife’s name (Lively) when they married as she was herself an actress and better-established by that point. He died in 2021 age 74.
A source says: ‘Blake doesn’t like anyone to talk about her Dad. She will have found it very offensive for someone outside her circle to bring up his name even.
‘It’s been a few years since he passed but he is a very, very touchy subject with her.’
Did it all start to go wrong for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni when he said he could talk to her dead dad?
Lively has complained in her legal filings that Baldoni, a follower of the Baha’i religion, had repeatedly said that he could speak to her late father.
Ernie was also a director, while his wife Elaine Lively found additional work as a talent manager. Blake was first cast in a movie, Sandman, when she was 10 years old – by her father.
In a 2006 interview, Blake said: ‘I’ve grown up on sets. My mom is a manager and always has kids come in for coaching, my family’s always going over lines for an audition… it was so much a part of my life that I never felt a desire for it. And it seemed like such a nightmare.’
Ernie’s acting career began in the 1975 TV series The Waltons and, although he was never a household name like his daughter, he appeared in shows including The West Wing, Murder, She Wrote and The X-Files.
Films included Turner & Hooch with Tom Hanks.
He died following cardiac complications, after having undergone heart surgery in 2013.
A week after his passing, Lively shared a photo on Instagram showing herself leaning her head on Ernie’s shoulder as he kissed her forehead.
In her bombshell lawsuit, filed in December, Lively’s lawyers say that her It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni upset her by referring to Ernie.
The lawsuit says: ‘For example, he claimed he could speak to the dead, and on several occasions told Ms. Lively that he had spoken to her recently deceased father.
‘On one occasion when he claimed to have spoken with Ms. Lively’s dead father (a person whom Mr. Baldoni had never met), Ms. Lively attempted to deflect the comment with humor, telling Mr. Baldoni: “let him know he owes me 40 bucks.” Mr. Baldoni replied, ‘Wait, does he really?’
‘Ms. Lively was shocked that Mr. Baldoni was pushing the conversation further, and replied with another attempt at humorous deflection, stating, “Oh god no. He owes me so much more than that.”
‘Mr. Baldoni then closed his eyes, put his hand on his heart, and said, “I was leaving my apartment this morning, and I reached into my pocket… and there was $40 in there, that I did not put there.”
‘This exchange deeply disturbed Ms. Lively, and it was not (as Defendants have since claimed) limited to Mr. Baldoni simply claiming to pray for her father.’
Lively has also accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and of inappropriate behaviour on the set of the film It Ends With Us.
Lively has claimed that the legal back-and-forth has left her with ‘extreme anxiety’ and has ‘traumatized’ her children.
Her complaint reads: ‘The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband [Ryan Reynolds] and four children. There are days when she has struggled to get out of bed, and she frequently chooses not to venture outside in public.
‘While she has fought to maintain her personal life and business interests, behind closed doors she has suffered from grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety. She also has been experiencing repeated and painful physical symptoms as a result of this experience.
‘Mr. Reynolds, too, has been affected mentally, physically, and professionally by his wife’s and children’s pain.’
Baldoni has countersued Lively and Reynolds for defamation, accusing the couple of conspiring to smear him and take control of the film away from him.
A trial is scheduled for March 2026. All parties have denied the allegations against them.
