Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are finding support in their circle of friends as they navigate their ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni. 

The superstar couple cozied up to Italian actor Michele Morrone in a sweet snap he shared to Instagram on Sunday, just weeks after he publicly expressed his solidarity with Blake following her Sєxual harᴀssment lawsuit against Baldoni.

In the pH๏τo, the trio beams with wide smiles, sitting close together, with Morrone’s arm wrapped around Blake in a show of support. 

He tagged Blake and Ryan in the post, writing, ‘Missed you guys!! Love you!!!’

Michele became acquainted with Blake last year while filming the sequel to A Simple Plan.

Morrone referenced the film when he shared a powerful video in December, where he defended Blake after she accused her This Ends With Us costar Baldoni of launching a smear campaign against her. 

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are finding support in their circle of friends as they navigate their ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni .

The superstar couple cozied up to Italian actor Michele Morrone in a sweet snap he shared to Instagram on Sunday, just weeks after he publicly expressed his solidarity with Blake following her Sєxual harᴀssment lawsuit against Baldoni; (Morrono in 2024)

He explained in the clip, ‘So it’s usually not my thing to make these types of videos, but I think it’s time to stand up for a person I really love, and this person is Blake Lively.’

He recalled meeting Blake while filming A Simple Favor 2, saying, ‘I personally met Blake during A Simple Favor 2, we sH๏τ this incredible film together, and I felt something was wrong, and I felt the pain. And then we had the opportunity to talk, me and her.’

‘Blake was in pain. And I’m really tired to see those kind of cruel and bad comments about her without knowing the situation,’ Morrone continued.

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Morrone’s post also follows Blake and Ryan’s legal team requesting a gag order, citing ‘improper conduct’ by Baldoni’s attorneys in the ongoing case.

In a letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman on Friday evening, the couple’s lawyer reiterated the need for the protective order to prevent ‘extrajudicial statements’ by Baldoni’s legal team, according to ᴅᴇᴀᴅline.

‘Requiring counsel to heed the ethical rules that bind them is not a gag order; it is a mechanism that would ensure the proceedings in this Court are not prejudiced by counsel’s conduct outside of the courtroom,’ attorney Esra Hudson wrote on behalf of the couple, per the outlet. 

‘The Wayfarer Parties are attempting to draw a dangerous false equivalence that may have profound consequences not just for this case, but for other women who are Sєxually harᴀssed in the workplace given the high profile of this matter,’ the four-page letter continued. 

Michele Morrone recalled seeing Blake Lively in ‘pain’ after she wrapped filming It Ends With Us. They star together in A Simple Favor 2; Michele seen left in December and Blake seen right in August

The timing of the post also comes after Reynolds and Lively doubled down on their request for a gag order in legal battle with Lively’s It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni 

Hudson also suggested that Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against Lively may still be ongoing.

‘Even more troubling, however, is that the retaliation campaign that Ms. Lively alleged in her Complaint, with substantial supporting documentation, includes highly destructive behind-the-scenes elements, including the regular engagement of [Baldoni’s crisis PR chief] Melissa Nathan with her vast tabloid media sources to influence a steady stream of negative media regarding Ms. Lively, as well as a sophisticated and ‘untraceable’ digital social media manipulation campaign designed to impact social media algorithms against Ms. Lively,’ the actress’ attorney stated. 

‘The Lively-Reynolds Parties are informed and believe that these efforts have continued unabated since the CRD Complaint was filed, and may have even been accelerated. The administration of justice in this case will be severely compromised if this behavior continues.’

Earlier this week, Lively and Reynolds’ legal team had requested the gag order to curb what they called ‘improper conduct’ by Baldoni’s attorneys, citing an alleged ‘harᴀssing and retaliatory media campaign’ against the couple. 

In response, Baldoni’s attorney, Kevin Fritz, rejected the couple’s request for a gag order in a letter to Judge Liman shortly after Tuesday’s filing.

The initial gag order request came after Baldoni’s lawyer released a bombshell video showing Lively and Baldoni on the Ends With Us set.

The explosive video, exclusively released by DailyMail.com, showed all three takes of a dance scene between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 40 – revealing the pair were on apparent great terms before the actress accused him of Sєxual harᴀssment.

Lively in turn hit back at the clip’s release, saying it proved that she was uncomfortable during the scene.

‘Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,’ her legal team shared in a statement with DailyMail.com. 

Her team claims the video ‘shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.’ 

‘Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.’

Lively’s lawyer also added that none of the intimacy shown in the video from the film — which Baldoni directed and starred in alongside Lively — was choreographed. 

In a letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman on Friday evening, the couple’s lawyer reiterated the need for the protective order to prevent ‘extrajudicial statements’ by Baldoni’s legal team 

This comes after Lively broke her silence on the unedited It Ends With Us footage; Lively seen in 2024

‘Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.’

‘Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss.’

Lively’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Baldoni during the scene was not acting, and that the clips shows her ‘repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk.’

Read More Blake Lively breaks silence on Justin Baldoni’s ‘damning’ video

‘Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.’

‘They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.’

Her team claims that releasing the video to the media ‘is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public’ and ‘a continuation of their harᴀssment and retaliatory campaign.’ 

‘We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his ᴀssociates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts,’ her lawyer stated. 

It was one of the biggest bombshells in a lawsuit packed full of them – that Baldoni Sєxually harᴀssed Lively while filming a dance scene by dragging his lips down her neck and telling her ‘it smells so good’.

In her civil rights complaint filed last month, the actress insisted nobody overheard the comment because the romantic montage was silent and the microphones were switched off.

But DailyMail.com has exclusively obtained an explosive video where Baldoni’s sound equipment was switched on, showing all three takes.

The tapes show how friendly the two stars were before it all went so wrong. They laugh and joke around – even joshing about the size of Baldoni’s nose and talk about how they spend their time with their spouses.

‘Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present’; Lively seen in 2024

They include a complete record of the conversation in question at around the seven-minute mark that makes clear the comment about her smelling so good was in response to Lively talking about her spray tan as they film a romantic dance.

Baldoni tells Lively he’s probably getting his beard on her and she responds by saying she’s probably getting spray tan on him. Then he quips back ‘it smells good’ before both laugh and she tells him the scent actually comes from her body makeup.

And while the montage does indeed show Baldoni nuzzling Lively’s neck as part of the scene in which they play lovers, the conversation between them is all business with the pair spending most of it talking about lighting and their other halves.

The clip, which is raw footage sH๏τ while filming It Ends With Us, comes complete with audio and was pᴀssed to DailyMail.com by the actor’s production company Wayfarer and his lawyer Bryan Freedman who has previously said Baldoni has ‘nothing to hide’.

DailyMail.com’s exclusive footage is the latest revelation in a lengthy saga that began with rumors of rancor behind the scenes of It Ends With Us when it was released last August.

It then exploded into a legal fight just before Christmas when the glamorous blonde sued Baldoni for Sєxual harᴀssment.

At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on Lively’s legal filing that accused him of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her and put the smell claim front and center.

In turn, Baldoni sued the Times for defamation and, last week, launched a $400m lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds that accused her of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career.

Lively’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Baldoni during the scene was not acting; they are seen in 2024 on set

The new clip, which Lively had previously insisted has no audio, begins with the pair discussing the scene with the actress telling Baldoni ‘I’m off my mark’.

Ironically, at one point the pair are heard debating whether it is better to talk or kiss during the montage, with Lively arguing that chatting is ‘more romantic’ which Baldoni acquiesces to and then, when she wonders whether anyone will discover what they’re really talking about, quips ‘They’re never going to find out’.

Conversation then turns to their other halves, with Lively saying she and Reynolds talk ‘all the time’ while Baldoni says he and wife Emily stare at each other ‘for 10, literally like we’ve done it for five minutes’.

Lively then bursts into laughter as he tells her ‘I think you would find it terrifying’. When Lively continues to tell him about how she can’t stop talking to Reynolds, Baldoni compliments: ‘Oh, I think that’s cute. You guys are really cute.’

Awkwardly, she replies ‘I think it’s more than cute’ which he hastily agrees with, adding ‘I think you guys are amazing.’

Baldoni, who directed as well as acted in It Ends With Us, then says he wants them to be filmed almost kissing, at which Lively then continues to talk – insisting its more romantic to chat and not give the audience the smooch she says they want.

She continues to talk before saying ‘heads together’, prompting both to lean their foreheads against each other.

At that point, Lively begins talking about noses, telling Baldoni: ‘I feel so nosey. It’s just noses’.

Lively sued Baldoni for Sєxual harᴀssment just before Christmas

In turn, Baldoni sued The New York Times for defamation and launched a $400m lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds; Baldoni pictured in 2023

Baldoni then tells her ‘my nose is so big’ to which she bursts into laughter, exclaiming: ‘Yes. I was hoping we could address this. Just got to shut down, gotta call an insurance month and just deal with that. Just kidding.’

The clip then continues into the second take, with Baldoni heard giving instructions to the crew and discussing the scene with Lively.

Then, just over seven minutes in, comes the critical conversation that appears to be the source of Lively’s accusation which begins when Baldoni asks ‘if I’m getting beard on you’.

She laughs and says ‘I’m probably getting spray tan on you’ to which he replies ‘it smells good’ and they both laugh.

Lively then tells him: ‘Well it’s not that, it’s my body makeup.’

As the extras erupt in cheers, Baldoni shouts ‘cut!’ and tells her they have enough for a 17-minute reel.

The final take, which focuses on their feet, includes audio of Baldoni telling Lively that ‘I’m going to let you direct this’ with the actress then insisting her heels aren’t cropped out ‘because of the sparkle’.

DailyMail.com’s explosive new clip comes less than five days since Baldoni’s lawsuit was filed and two weeks after the actress was accused of serving the actor and his team papers as they evacuated during the Los Angeles wildfires.

Baldoni accused Lively of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career; Lively and Reynolds seen in 2024

In Baldoni’s suit, Lively is accused of failing to read the novel on which the book is based until long after filming had begun and orchestrating a negative publicity campaign of her own with the connivance of her own publicist Leslie Sloane and the New York Times.

During one incident, according to the legal filing, Lively attempted to intimidate Baldoni by pointing to her famous husband and close friend Taylor Swift then comparing herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and telling him ‘I have a lot of dragons’.

The actress and her team are also accused of doctoring text conversations between Baldoni’s publicists to make them look damning and as if they’re plotting a smear campaign against her – which led to both being subjected to social media abuse when the edited texts were published.

Baldoni’s cross-complaint also revealed that he and his family had been forced to spend the premiere of It Ends With Us sitting in a basement because Lively refused to allow him to be in the same room as her.