Hugh Jackman is the latest of Blake Lively’s powerful friends to be dragged into her and Ryan Reynolds’ lawsuit with Justin Baldoni – and a source exclusively tells In Touch he’ll be backing his close pals as he believes they’re in the right.
After Blake, 37, filed a lawsuit against the It Ends With Us director, 41, in December 2024, accusing him of inappropriate behavior while on set, their legal battle has escalated and expanded, with Justin now also suing the New York Times in addition to Blake and Ryan, while alleging they orchestrated a smear campaign against him. All parties have denied the claims and they’re set to go to court later in March.
Now, in addition to Taylor Swift getting caught up in the feud, it’s likely the Prestige star, 56, will have to be deposed before the trial to discuss what exactly Ryan was up to while Blake and Justin were filming It Ends with Us, which happens to be when he was hanging around with Hugh for Deadpool & Wolverine.
“If this actually goes all the way to court and Hugh is forced to take the stand, there’s no question he will step up,” the source says. “At this point, Ryan is like a brother to him, he will have his back no matter what it takes.”
A different source speaking to Daily Mail told the outlet, “Hugh will be deposed if this goes to trial … There is no way that he cannot.” According to the report, Justin’s lawyers will be looking at “the full scope of Reynolds’ conduct” while they filmed in order to make their case that he’s being targeted and smeared.
The first source notes that, even though Hugh is “well aware that Justin’s legal team is threatening to depose him,” the Wolverine star has “no issue with it, because there’s nothing to hide. He’s got no doubt about Ryan and Blake’s conduct and is 100 percent on their side.”
The legal fight has gotten extreme as both parties ready themselves for trial. Rumors of a disagreement began after Justin and Blake began rarely appearing alongside each other during promotional events for the film and were confirmed after her initial filing, which made numerous demands of Justin’s behavior on set, including “no more showing nude videos or images of women, including producer’s wife, to BL and/or her employees, no more mention of Mr. Baldoni’s ‘pornography addiction’ or BL’s lack of pornography consumption to BL or to other crew members and no more inquiries by Mr. Baldoni to BL’s trainer without her knowledge or consent to disclose her weight.”
Justin retaliated by claiming Blake and Ryan were out to destroy his reputation and allegedly hired a crisis manager to conduct a PR campaign against the family, which he also denied doing.
With Hugh now involved, the source says, “He’s actually excited to be able to help out in some way because he hates seeing the stress that Ryan and Blake are under right now.”
“It sickens him that they’re being dragged through the mud, when in his view, they’re the victims in all of this. He’s being very supportive behind the scenes and he’s already defending them to anyone who will listen, so going in front of the court is no worry for him.”
