Why Justin Baldoni’s 2022 Exchange With Pregnant Blake Lively Had Fans Saying It Went Too Far
Newly unsealed court documents show Justin Baldoni testified in October that he told Blake Lively about his genitals during a 2022 visit to her New York apartment — a disclosure she says was unprompted — and the revelation is fueling debate over whether the exchange crossed into harassment.
There is a headline making the rounds that boils down to: Justin Baldoni told Blake Lively about his genitals. Sounds like a red flag. The actual story is messier, more mundane, and now getting flattened by context-free posts. Here is what the court docs say, how the convo even came up, and why people are arguing about it online.
What the new documents actually say
Per newly unsealed court filings, Baldoni confirmed in an October deposition that during a 2022 visit to Blake Lively’s New York apartment, he told her he is circumcised. People reported the deposition details. Lively’s position is that the detail was unprompted.
The setting and the conversation, not the headline version
This part matters because it keeps getting stripped out: according to the deposition, they were already talking about the medical procedure itself when he volunteered his own status. He also laid out the environment to Lively’s attorney: it was a busy, open room, not some private sidebar.
- Timing: the visit happened in 2022, while Lively was pregnant with her son, Olin.
- Topic: circumcision came up in a broader, parent-to-parent conversation.
- What he said: Baldoni told her he is circumcised.
- What she asked: he testified that Lively did not specifically ask whether he was circumcised.
- Where this went down: on a couch in a bustling common space; Ryan Reynolds moved in and out, two nannies were around, assistants circulated, and house staff were nearby.
Why this is resurfacing now
The depositions are back in the discourse because of Lively’s amended complaint, which frames that moment very differently.
Lively’s filing says she was "disturbed" that Baldoni described his genitalia, and also alleges she is among the "one or two women" he made uncomfortable on set.
Multiple outlets have run with the most clickable version of this without the circumcision-conversation context, which makes Baldoni look like he randomly overshared. That omission is doing a lot of heavy lifting in how people are reading this.
The internet reaction (and the argument in the middle)
Commentator Zack Peter broke down the deposition clip on Dec. 5, 2025, and his take is basically: if you are literally talking about circumcision, saying whether you are or are not circumcised isn’t automatically out of bounds. He also points out the timing wrinkle: this all happened before Lively signed on to It Ends With Us. So, if it was truly creepy, why agree to work together after?
That is the debate online right now. Some people find his comment weird regardless of the setup. Others think it is awkward but squarely within the context of the discussion and nowhere near harassment. The busy-room setting and the fact both are parents talking about a parenting decision are the very behind-the-scenes-y details getting lost in the headlines.
Where this leaves things
Is it a great look? No. Is it the smoking gun some posts are selling? Also no, not with this context. The court filings will keep dribbling out, and we will see more pieces of the larger dispute. For now, the reality is more nuanced than a shock-y headline about an overshare.