Ben Affleck (left) doesn’t appear to have answered Blake Lively’s now-viral e-mail pleading for help amid her ongoing drama with Justin Baldoni. Photos: AFP, TNS
Ben Affleck doesn’t appear to have answered Blake Lively’s now-viral e-mail pleading for help amid her ongoing drama with Justin Baldoni.
The e-mail, sent in May 2024, was included in the trove of communications released last week as part of a new filing related to Lively’s case against her It Ends With Us director and co-star.
A response to the e-mail was reportedly not filed among the extensive document dump, leading many to believe that Affleck chose to ignore the message. However, multiple exhibits were filed under seal.
“Ben, It’s Blake. Don’t hang up,” reads the start of the e-mail. Lively then goes on to shower Affleck with praise before revealing she has a “zero-pressure” request.
The actress tells Affleck she has just “come out the other side (well almost) of the most upsetting experience I’ve ever had on a movie.”
She describes having to rewrite and restructure the entire script, while also essentially having to “direct the movie via the chaotic clown ‘director’/actor/producer/financier/studio head at the center.”
She claims the process would have been “much easier” had she formally directed the film herself, but instead she was left to “troubleshoot” issues caused by Baldoni’s “taste, ego and preexisting decisions.”
“And that’s not even touching on any of the wild HR issues and beyond,” Lively continues, before asking Affleck if he’d be willing to watch her cut of the movie and give her any feedback.
Lively adds that if Affleck’s then-wife, Jennifer Lopez, was available, “it would be an honor to have her take” as well.
She notes that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, similarly reached out to Affleck’s longtime friend and frequent collaborator Matt Damon, who would likely be watching the movie that weekend. She then praises “good men” for “showing up.”
“If you’re still reading this, whoa. You’re not nearly as busy as you think. Or you’re a very nice person,” Lively concludes the long message.
Since being included in Lively latest filing, the e-mail has making the rounds online along with other star-studded communications.
An e-mail to Damon has also been leaked, as have a slew of texts between Lively and her reportedly estranged pal Taylor Swift, who Baldoni’s camp now intends to call as a hostile witness.
Ben Affleck (right) and Matt Damon are dragged into Blake Lively's drama. Photo: Reuters
Lively and Baldoni are facing off over her December 2024 lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment on set of It Ends With Us, and a retaliatory smear campaign – both of which he denies.
Baldoni, in a since-dismissed US$400mil (RM1.58bil) countersuit, claimed Lively defamed him and “robbed” him of control of the film.
The case is set for trial in New York this May. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
