(Photo by Getty)
Voice memos are usually fleeting moments, shared privately and quickly forgotten. Few people expect those messages to resurface years later, let alone become public exhibits in a high-profile legal battle. Yet that is exactly what has happened as the lawsuit between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni continues into 2026, bringing renewed attention to once-private conversations.
PEOPLE published a newly unsealed voice memo that sheds light on the early working relationship between Lively and her It Ends With Us director and co-star. The recording, which runs just over four minutes, was sent by Lively on February 8, 2023, only weeks before production on It Ends With Us began.
In the memo, Lively sounds candid and emotionally raw as she prepares to return to work shortly after giving birth, while juggling multiple professional commitments. Her tone is warm but cautious from the start. “Hey, I hope you’re so well,” she begins, before acknowledging how sensitive the message feels.
“Just wanted to connect uh, just to put something on your radar. Um, so between us like this is so uh premature for me to even share this with you.” She repeatedly reassures Baldoni that it is “all good, all good stuff,” while admitting she debated whether she should send the message at all.
Lively explains that she ultimately decided to speak openly after discussing it with her husband, Ryan Reynolds. “I was like, I don’t know if I should share this,” she says. “But he was like, you guys have such a great trust. You know, fill him in.”
As the memo continues, Lively describes how overwhelmed she feels returning to work so soon after childbirth. “I’ve been, you know, really, really under it,” she admits. She explains that she has not shared the full extent of her stress with others and adds bluntly, “Still don’t have a baby nurse. Still don’t have one, by the way.”
She goes on to describe the mental spiral of trying to prepare for filming while running on little sleep and feeling pressure to be in top physical shape. “Just the idea of going back to work right away… and also the idea of like, you know, prepping for our movie and like wanting to work out every day and all that, but yet being on set all day every day, I’m like, what have I done?”
As production draws closer, Lively admits she is panicking. “The closer the reality gets, the more I’m just panicking about that,” she says, explaining that she wants to focus fully on the movie. This leads her to suggest what she openly calls “a crazy idea,” asking whether filming could be pushed to September.
“Shooting in April, shooting in March is just too soon after having a baby and not sleeping and wanting to be in my best shape and all that.” Throughout the message, Lively emphasizes that she knows the schedule is not hers to change and acknowledges her own “selfish reasons” for raising the issue.
“I know that our schedules are scheduled. I’m not trying to move anything,” she says. She also opens up about the emotional toll of being away from her family. “Ryan and I have also been really stressed about spending a month apart,” she says, noting that the longest they have been separated is less than two weeks and calling the situation “just a lot.”
Near the end, Lively comments on the length of the memo. “I told you in four minutes what I could have told you in 30 seconds,” she says, before making a final request to Baldoni: “Please again keep this between us.” She signs off with self-awareness and humor, saying, “This is so sad. This is my social interaction these days: talking into voice memos.”
The memo has resurfaced amid Lively’s December 2024 lawsuit, in which she alleges sexual harassment and retaliation, claims Baldoni has denied. The trial is currently scheduled to begin on May 18, 2026.
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