Ryan Reynolds Speaks at Harvard Business School amid Ongoing Legal Battle with Justin Baldoni

Mar. 15, 2025

Ryan Reynolds at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York City on Jan. 7, 2025.Photo:Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Ryan Reynoldsis wading into the Ivy League.

Amid his and wifeBlake Lively’s ongoing legal battle withJustin Baldoni, theDeadpool & Wolverineactor posted on his Instagram Stories Wednesday, Jan. 22, that he recently spoke at Harvard Business School in Boston, sharing a few photos from the experience.

Inthe first image, Reynolds, 48, stands in the middle of a large crowd of people in what appears to be a lecture hall. Underneath the snap, he wrote, “If my dad were even remotely alive enough to see me speaking at Harvard Business School, he’d be pretty impressed.”

“More due to his sudden aliveness … but also, what an opportunity to withhold affection AND see your child speak at Harvard,” Reynolds joked.

Ryan’s father,James Chester Reynolds, died in 2015 at age 74 after living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years.

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Ryan Reynolds in Los Angeles on April 29, 2023.Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Underanother photowhich showed him speaking in front of the class with author Matt Higgins, Reynolds wrote, “Thank you@mhigginsfor the thought conversation and tee up.”

“This class has megawatt talent. The questions alone made me wiser,” Reynolds concluded.

The actor’s appearance in Boston comes days after he wasphotographed out in New York Cityon Thursday, Jan. 16 — the same day Baldoni, 40,filed a $400 million lawsuitagainst him, Lively, 37, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, plus Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc.

Reynolds also served as apresenter at the National Board of Review Awards galaearlier this month, which marked his first public appearance since his wife filed her initialsexual-harassmentcomplaint against Baldoni on Dec. 20, 2024.

Baldoni, who has strongly denied Lively’s allegations, is suing the couple on claims including civil extortion and defamation.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in New York City on July 22, 2024; Justin Baldoni in New York City on Aug. 6, 2024.Taylor Hill/WireImage; John Nacion/Variety via Getty

Taylor Hill/WireImage; John Nacion/Variety via Getty

Lively alleged in her initial complaint that Baldoni engaged in misconduct during the production ofIt Ends with Us, which was released in August 2024 as a film adaptation ofColleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel.

The actress’scomplaint included accusationsthat Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath entered her trailer “uninvited” while she was undressed or “vulnerable" and alleged Baldoni “suddenly” pressured her to “simulate full nudity” in a birth scene and “improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved."

Per her complaint, theSimple Favorstar met with Baldoni and several of the film’s producers, alongside husband Reynolds as her representative, to put protections in place before production resumed following two Hollywood strikes. The complaint alleged that after his production company agreed to the protections, Baldoni later hired crisis publicists tobegin a retaliatory smear campaignagainst her.

Lively’s filing noted that she has “suffered from grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety” due to Baldoni’s alleged behavior and that the “emotional impact” also affected Reynolds andtheir four kids.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively with daughters James and Inez in Hollywood, California, on Dec. 15, 2016.Eric Charbonneau/Getty

Eric Charbonneau/Getty

Baldoni is also seeking to gain communications made about Reynolds’Deadpool & WolverinecharacterNicepool, in an attempt to show it was used to “bully"Baldoni.

Baldoni’s lawyers sent a Jan. 7 litigation hold letter to Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigeand Walt Disney Company CEOBob Iger, demanding they hold onto documents that mention Baldoni for potential use in court.

To support his claim, Baldoni’s legal team is looking for documents “relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate or bully Baldoni through the character of Nicepool,” among other subjects.

On Jan. 21, Baldoni’s lawyer released footage fromIt Ends with Usshowing Lively and Baldoni speaking out of character while filming a dialogue-free scene tojoke about his noseandherspray tan. The scene in question is referenced in both of their lawsuits.

Lively’s team Lively’s legal team’s subsequently called it a “stunt,” saying “every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter,” what Lively included in her lawsuit about that scene.

Her lawyers added that releasing thefootage to the media “is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public. It is also a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign. While they are focused on misleading media narratives, we arefocused on the legal process.”

source: people.com