At a Glance
- Blake Lively told Justin Baldoni’s lawyer the negative press about her 2012 plantation wedding was “deserved”
- She and Ryan Reynolds wed at Boone Hall, a former South Carolina slave plantation, on September 9, 2012
- The couple publicly apologized in 2020 and donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- Why it matters: The admission came during a deposition in her ongoing legal battle with Baldoni over alleged retaliation
Blake Lively addressed backlash over her and Ryan Reynolds’ plantation wedding while under oath, calling the criticism “deserved” and saying both she and Reynolds “take full accountability.”
The actress, 38, gave the testimony on July 30, 2025, in New York City as part of her lawsuit against It Ends With Us costar-director Justin Baldoni. She claims Baldoni, 41, launched a smear campaign against her after she reported sexual harassment-allegations he denies.
The Deposition Exchange
During questioning, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman asked Lively whether negative publicity bothers her.
“I’m used to it after this many years in the industry, but it’s not something I’ve had to deal with often,” she replied, according to a transcript viewed by News Of Los Angeles.
Freedman then pressed: “It’s true that you dealt with negative press with respect to being married on a plantation during, kind of, the height of Black Lives Matter; is that right?”
Lively answered, “I feel like that negative press was deserved. It’s a mistake we have publicly acknowledged and done a lot of work to reconcile for ourselves and others.”
The 2012 Wedding and 2020 Apology
Lively and Reynolds exchanged vows at Boone Hall, a former slave plantation in South Carolina. After renewed scrutiny during the 2020 racial-justice protests, the couple issued a public apology and pledged $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
“We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is,” their joint statement read in part. “We want to use our privilege and platform to be an ally.”
Questions About Resurfaced Criticism
In the deposition, Lively said she did not know whether the plantation-wedding controversy had been “dredged up” as part of Baldoni’s alleged retaliation.
“I take full accountability for that decision, as does my husband,” she testified, “but I don’t know what weaponization of the past has been a part of the campaign.”
Baldoni’s legal team has argued in court filings that any online negativity toward Lively was “organic.” In his now-dismissed January 2025 countersuit, they wrote: “Her actions naturally triggered organic public criticism and unleashed a cycle of negative coverage, including, as is common in the digital age, the resurfacing of old, unflattering content.”
Reynolds’ Prior Statement
Although Reynolds, 49, was not deposed in the case, he addressed the venue controversy in 2020.
“It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for,” he told Fast Company. “It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.”
He added that the couple later held a second wedding at home, calling the original choice “a giant f—ing mistake” that spurred them to “re-pattern” their thinking and take action against systemic racism.
Key Takeaways
- Lively’s deposition testimony marks her first on-record statement about the plantation-wedding backlash since 2020
- She explicitly agreed the criticism was warranted, echoing the couple’s earlier apology
- The exchange underscores how past controversies can resurface during high-profile litigation
- Baldoni’s team continues to deny any role in amplifying negative coverage of Lively
