Scarlett Johansson is minding her own business, and suddenly she’s Exhibit A in her ex-husband’s current wife’s lawsuit. Hollywood truly never runs out of plot twists.
Scarlett Johansson is not in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us drama – but her name absolutely is. And in 2026, your name is almost as valuable as your testimony.
A resurfaced audio recording, now filed in Blake’s legal case, shows a film financier raving about how wonderful Scarlett was to work with while strongly implying Blake was… not that. It’s the courtroom equivalent of, “All my other girlfriends were sweet – you’re just different.”
The Moment
Here’s what actually happened, stripped of the social-media spin.
Filmmaker Claire Ayoub – who previously worked with Justin Baldoni and his company Wayfarer on the 2024 indie Empire Waist – recorded a conversation with Wayfarer co-founder and billionaire Steve Sarowitz. In the audio, Sarowitz gushes about working with Scarlett Johansson on her 2024 directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, calling her “cool, calm, collected and confident … and nice,” according to the recording now referenced in legal filings and entertainment reports.
Then comes the pivot. Sarowitz contrasts Johansson with Blake Lively, saying that almost everyone he works with is nice, but “then there’s Blake – she is totally different than everyone else,” adding that “some people forgot to learn how to be nice.” The implication doesn’t exactly require a law degree.
Ayoub later submitted a declaration in September 2025 claiming she experienced “repeated, negative interactions” and “verbal abuse” involving Baldoni and Wayfarer during their collaboration, according to court documents cited in coverage of the case. Blake’s legal team has now reportedly submitted this Scarlett/Blake comparison recording as part of her ongoing lawsuit against Baldoni and his company.
Representatives for Lively, Baldoni, and Johansson have not publicly commented on the latest filing at the time of this writing.
The Take
This is what happens when celebrity, exes, and workplace lawsuits collide: people who aren’t even in the room end up on the record.
On paper, this is a case about alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, and workplace misconduct surrounding the production of It Ends With Us. In practice, it’s also turning into a referendum on who’s “nice,” who’s “difficult,” and which famous woman wins the congeniality contest.
Dragging Scarlett Johansson into this via comparison feels less like legal necessity and more like reputation theater. Yes, character and pattern evidence can matter in court. But let’s be honest: saying “Scarlett was calm and kind, Blake was totally different” is the corporate version of, “My ex never complained when I was late.” It tells you a lot about the speaker, not just the women he’s rating.
Scarlett did one thing: she showed up, directed a movie, and was, by this guy’s account, professional and pleasant. That’s great. It does not make her the patron saint of set behavior, nor does it automatically make Blake the villain. Two things can be true: one boss could adore you while another thinks you’re “difficult,” especially if you’re pushing back on power.
When men in charge start sorting women into “nice” and “not nice,” you’re not hearing a personality report – you’re hearing a power report.
The more interesting question isn’t “Is Blake nice?” but “Why is ‘nice’ suddenly the star witness?” Blake’s lawsuit, filed in December 2024, accuses Baldoni and his company of sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and lost wages, according to court filings summarized in multiple reports. Those are serious, specific claims. Countering with, “Well, this billionaire thought Scarlett was lovely, and Blake wasn’t,” feels flimsy next to that list.
Also floating over all of this: the Ryan Reynolds factor. Sarowitz literally highlights Scarlett as Ryan’s ex-wife while she’s being used as a comparison point for his current wife. It’s like someone plugged a love triangle, a #MeToo-era workplace suit, and a BookTok movie adaptation into a blender and hit puree.
Scarlett didn’t ask to be the gold standard of pleasantness in her ex’s new marital courtroom saga. But in Hollywood, if your name sells headlines and helps someone’s narrative, it’s getting dragged in – whether you show up or not.
Receipts
Confirmed:
- Blake Lively filed a lawsuit in December 2024 against Justin Baldoni and his production entities over the It Ends With Us shoot, alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and lost wages, according to court records described in reporting at the time.
- Justin Baldoni filed a reported $400 million countersuit against Lively and Ryan Reynolds, which has since been dismissed by the court, per subsequent case updates.
- Filmmaker Claire Ayoub submitted a declaration in September 2025 stating she faced “repeated, negative interactions” and “verbal abuse” from Baldoni and Wayfarer during the making of Empire Waist, according to legal documents cited in coverage of the dispute.
- A recorded conversation between Ayoub and Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz includes Sarowitz praising Scarlett Johansson as “cool, calm, collected and confident … and nice,” while describing Blake Lively as “totally different” and suggesting “some people forgot to learn how to be nice.” The recording has been submitted by Lively’s legal team in the case, per reports on the filings.
- Scarlett Johansson directed the film Eleanor the Great, released in 2024, with Sarowitz involved as a supporter/financier.
- Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson were married from 2008 to 2011; Reynolds married Blake Lively in 2012. Johansson later married Romain Dauriac in 2014 (divorced 2017) and wed Colin Jost in 2020 – all timelines well documented in public records and past press coverage.
- A trial date in Blake Lively’s case against Baldoni has been set for May 18, 2026, according to the current court calendar.
Unverified / Contextual:
- How representative Sarowitz’s impression of Lively is of anyone else’s experience on set. His comments describe his personal view, not an established fact about her behavior.
- The full context of the recording, beyond what’s been quoted in legal summaries and entertainment reporting; the complete audio has not been widely released to the public.
Backstory (For the Casual Reader)
If you haven’t been following every chapter of this saga, here’s the condensed version.
It Ends With Us started as a hugely popular novel by Colleen Hoover and became one of those “must-adapt” properties. Blake Lively signed on to star, with Justin Baldoni – best known from Jane the Virgin and his work as a director and producer – directing and co-starring. What should’ve been a glossy, emotional book-to-film moment turned into a legal minefield.
In late 2024, Blake filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni and his production entities of sexual harassment and related workplace violations tied to the film’s production. Baldoni fired back with a massive countersuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Blake and Ryan Reynolds, which the court later tossed. As more documents, declarations, and now audio recordings surface, the case has become less about one set and more about how power, money, and image collide in modern Hollywood.
Into that storm strolls Scarlett Johansson – not as a witness on the stand, but as the comparison point in a financier’s story about which famous woman was “nice” to work with. She’s the unintended supporting character in a legal drama that’s increasingly about narrative as much as it is about law.
What’s your read: is using praise for one star (Scarlett) to undercut another (Blake) fair game in a case like this, or does it cross the line into petty character politics that tell us more about Hollywood than about the truth?
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