Newly unsealed texts show Ryan Reynolds and Colleen Hoover discussing Justin Baldoni

Newly unsealed court documents have brought to life some private text messages in which Ryan Reynolds harshly criticised Justin Baldoni.

In an August 10, 2024, text to author Colleen Hoover, Reynolds wrote that it was “amazing” that everyone involved in a production could run away from a person he called “obviously a predator and sociopath,” while the focus stayed on why a woman was the problem, per Page Six.

Baldoni has denied sexual harassment allegations made against him.

The texts were sent while Blake Lively, 39, faced backlash as she promoted It Ends With Us, a film based on Hoover’s novel, which Baldoni, 42, both directed and appeared in next to Lively.

Reynolds also wrote that he believed others would soon “go on record.” Hoover, 46, replied that the loudest critics were mostly young teenagers. She also said it was good to hear the mood was already turning away from Baldoni.

Reynolds also joked about Baldoni’s crisis PR team, imagining a conversation in which the team coached him to talk about domestic violence and to speak like an “emotionally elevated thought leader.”

Hoover reacted with a laugh, according to the documents. In a separate August 9, 2024, message to his agent, Warren Zavala, Reynolds called Baldoni a “human rounding error” while celebrating the film’s success.

A source close to Reynolds told Page Six that he was trying to protect his wife, who was being targeted by a crisis PR team hired by Baldoni. The source said the same team has been accused of smear tactics in at least five other lawsuits, according to The New York Times.

Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. Baldoni denied it.

His $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and their PR team was dismissed in June 2025.

Lively and the remaining defendants in her case settled in May 2026.