Blake Lively discussed riling producers with demands to take creative control of her projects in a resurfaced video this week – amid the ongoing It Ends With Us drama.

The actress, 37, who is embroiled in legal drama with her former co-star and director Justin Baldoni amid reports of a power struggle on set and Sєxual harᴀssment claims, previously said acting alone left her ‘unfulfilled’ and she desired to be ‘part of the storytelling.’

Speaking at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit in 2022 in a video obtained by TMZ, the star detailed how she would attend first meetings primarily as an actor before revealing she wanted more ‘authorship’ of the project.

She said: ‘It’s just as important to say, I’m standing up for this and I believe in this and that’s why I’m not being difficult and there’s other moments to say, am I being the ᴀsshole here in the room? What is happening here?

‘When I was younger in my career I would shape myself to the version of myself that they wanted… when I would show up on a set, I knew I was supposed to stand there and look cute and stand on a pink sticker…

‘I also knew that wasn’t fulfilling for me, that I wanted to be part of the storytelling, be a part of the narrative, whether that be in the writing, the costume design, creating the character, and sometimes I had the director, writers, producers who would welcome that once I was able to offer that, and sometimes I had people who resented that, because they just hired me to be the actor

Blake Lively discussed riling producers with demands to take creative control of her projects in a resurfaced video this week – amid the ongoing It Ends With Us drama – pictured 2022 at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit in 2022

The actress, 37, who is embroiled in legal drama with her former co-star and director Justin Baldoni amid reports of a power struggle on set and Sєxual harᴀssment claims, previously said acting alone left her ‘unfulfilled’ and she desired to be ‘part of the storytelling’

‘When I was in the meetings, I was like, I’m just here to be the actor and I’m here to get the gig, I wouldn’t reveal that I needed to have authorship to feel fulfilled and I feel for them it felt like a rug pull, and you’re trying to insert yourself into something we didn’t hire you to do.

‘So It was a really strange position to be in, because I don’t want to just be an actor, i want to have more authorship.’

This comes after Baldoni talked about feeling ‘stressed’ in an interview released on Monday.

His chat on the Gent’s Talk podcast, hosted by Samir Mourani, was recorded in November and is only now seeing the light of day.

The interview is important because it took place just before he entered his vicious legal battle with  Lively. 

The 41-year-old star, who also directed It Ends with Us, said in the teaser released last week that he had experienced an ‘intense’ 2024.

In the full interview, released on Monday, he goes deeper. Justin said that he was so ‘anxious’ about a problem that he was worried about his ‘mental health’ and he noted that he was ‘exhausted’ and the ’emotional stress’ was getting the better of him and his family.

All in all, he came off as very on edge and he even wiped away a tear.

She said: ‘When I was in the meetings, I was like, I’m just here to be the actor and I’m here to get the gig, I wouldn’t reveal that I needed to have authorship to feel fulfilled and I feel for them it felt like a rug pull, and you’re trying to insert yourself into something we didn’t hire you to do’

‘So It was a really strange position to be in, because I don’t want to just be an actor, i want to have more authorship’ – pictured in It Ends With Us 

The star used words like he was not ‘in the best place’ and need time to recover from something. He also said, ‘You don’t have to be perfect to be loved.’

One month after he gave the interview, Blake filed civil rights complaint followed by a lawsuit against Baldoni for his alleged Sєxual harᴀssment and smear campaign against her. 

During the podcast, he appeared to be alluding to their behind-the-scenes power struggle and creative differences with Lively.

‘I haven’t talked about this yet,’ he told Mourani as footage panned to him rubbing his eyes while seemingly trying not to cry. 

At one point, Baldoni also revealed he ‘sent a text message’ earlier that morning that left him with ‘anxiety.’ 

The exact topic of the interview was not revealed, but the Gent’s Talk podcast usually focuses on difficult conversations around topics like relationships and mental health.

Lively alleged he improvised unwanted kisses while filming and spoke to her frequently about his past Sєxual encounters and pornography addiction. 

Last week, Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, raised new allegations in their H๏τly contested case against Baldoni in court on Monday. 

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, pleaded with the judge to move the case forward as quickly as possible because his client was ‘suffering greatly.’

Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb, however, vehemently denied the claim that Lively was purposely dragging her heels in the lawsuit.

Judge Lewis Liman denied a move from Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds to gag Team Baldoni following the series of bombshell claims made by his legal team.

Read More Ryan Reynolds breaks his silence after skipping Critics Choice Awards amid Justin Baldoni scandal

But Gottlieb said they intend to hit Baldoni with fresh allegations in Lively’s Sєxual harᴀssment case, and insisted that protecting the couple’s celebrity friends was going to be ‘very important.’

Gottlieb told the court during the hearing that they intend to add ‘both claims and parties’ to a revised complaint which will be filed by Valentine’s Day.

Last week, Baldoni updated his own complaint in his $400 million defamation case against the Gossip Girl star which accused Lively of giving The New York Times advanced access to her complaint of Sєxual harᴀssment during the filming of the movie It Ends With Us.

Gottlieb attacked Freedman for making statements outside of court which had challenged the ‘character, integrity and truthfulness’ of Lively.

After complaining, Lively’s lawyers were told was that ‘we (Lively) started it’ with the New York Times article, Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb cited an interview in People magazine in which Freedman accused Lively of a ‘pattern of bullying.’

In another statement Freedman claimed that if Lively really was Sєxually harᴀssed she wouldn’t have returned to the film.

Justin said that he was so ‘anxious’ about a problem that he was worried about his ‘mental health’ and he noted that he was ‘exhausted’ and the ’emotional stress’ was getting the better of him. Seen in August in NYC

A skeptical Judge Liman said: ‘isn’t that what’s stated in his complaint?’

Gottlieb said no and that lawyers were ‘not supposed to launch attacks on another party’s character’.

He added that the leaking of raw footage from It Ends With Us was ‘particularly concerning’ because it could start an ‘arms race’ whereby lawyers have to appear in the media to fire back at every disclosure.

‘If there’s no guard rails in place….we (the attorneys) have to and go out on shows arguing on shows what a particular document or video means’.

Freedman fired back that the statements had ‘not been a one way street’ and tried to walk the court through a number made by Lively’s lawyers.

After listening to them, Judge Liman said Freedman ‘went a little bit further’ than Lively’s lawyers.

The judge said that he was adopting rules for lawyers known as Rule 3.6 which bars both of them from making extrajudicial statements that could influence the jury.

One month after he gave the interview, Blake filed civil rights complaint followed by a lawsuit against Baldoni for his alleged Sєxual harᴀssment and smear campaign against her. Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds seen in August

Judge Liman said he was ‘hesitant to adopt it’ but after both sides agreed to it, he changed his mind.

He said: ‘My expectation is the parties will comply with their ethical obligations. I don’t expect this case to devolve into satellite litigation over the comments of a lawyer.

‘Both have said a lot in the pleadings that give the public plenty to feast upon’.

Freedman tried to protest and said: ‘Not to sound like a four year old fighting a four year old with ‘but they started it’ but once someone says something it becomes fact, there’s no way to fight against it.

‘You start to lose things without the ability to have the court’s adjudication. This was not started by us.’

Judge Liman also warned that if both sides didn’t behave themselves he could move the date of the trial forward from March next year.

He said: ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m convinced the parties need the time for discovery.

‘But if it turns out that this ends up being litigated in the press in a way that would prejudice the opportunity of a fair trial…one of the tools the court has is to accelerate the date of the trial.

‘That’s something that is out there. I don’t want to do that.’

Earlier in the hearing, Gottlieb, who also represents Reynolds, said that he would be seeking a protective order through the court for future filings to protect the couple’s celebrity friends.

While he did not name Taylor Swift, she would likely be one of those affected as she was referred to in Baldoni’s complaint.

Gottlieb said: ‘We do believe there will be provisions in a protective order that will be appropriate in this case given the nature of the allegations and the high profile nature of some of the individuals who will be involved.

‘There is a significant number of high profile individuals on both sides.

‘In particular addressing the interests and needs of third parties is going to be very important in this case.’

Gottlieb said he would plan to ‘seek protections we believe will be very important particularly in a case where there’s been a significant amount of leaking materials.’

He said: ‘We do intend to propose a protective order in this case.’

Judge Liman agreed and said that even before the other parties were named ‘you already got a lot of high profile people’ involved.