Blake Lively has been in the business for two decades, making headlines both on and off the screen.
Lively rose to fame playing Bridget in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise opposite America Ferrera (Carmen), Alexis Bledel (Lena) and Amber Tamblyn (Tibby). Since the first film in 2005, the foursome has remained close.
“When you’re that close, you can sit down with someone and immediately jump into the deepest of conversations, which are the only type of relationships I love to have,” Tamblyn exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2019, noting they often have playdates with their respective children.
“[They are] filled with a lot of delicious, cream-filled donuts and … catching up on all the time we haven’t seen each other,” Tamblyn gushed at the time. “I think that’s the way all girlfriends are.”
Tamblyn, Bledel and Ferrera also had Lively’s back in December 2024 when the Gossip Girl alum sued her It Ends With Us director, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment. (Baldoni denied the claims.)
Keep scrolling to see what Lively’s costars have said about working alongside her through the years:
Justin Baldoni
Baldoni played Ryle Kincaid, the abusive husband of Lively’s Lily Bloom, in 2024’s It Ends With Us.
“Blake was involved in every aspect of the film once she came onto the project, from scenes and dialogue until the end, until now,” Baldoni told Entertainment Weekly in August 2024. “She’s been involved in all of it, and she’s been a powerhouse of a creative and a wonderful collaborator.”
It became clear that there was an issue, however, when they didn’t do any promo for the film together. Lively never publicly addressed the apparent feud with Baldoni until she named him in a sexual harassment lawsuit in December 2024. He denied the claims, later filing a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy. Baldoni and his legal team argued that that newspaper published a “vicious smear campaign fully orchestrated” by Lively’s camp.
Among several accusations in both legal filings, he claimed that Lively had a “calculated and audacious attempt to seize control” of It Ends With Us, including hiring her husband Ryan Reynolds’ editor to do a new cut of the film. (Lively was an executive producer on the project.)
“She’s kicked me out officially from the film now,” Baldoni allegedly wrote in text messages to his team, which he cited in court documents. “She’s finishing it all. I can’t be involved. Music sound VFX everything. I’ll make it through somehow. Just need to feel it all.”
Lively’s attorney, meanwhile, denied the claims in a statement: “This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively’s administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer, and that litigation was never her ultimate goal.”
America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn
The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants stars have long been vocal about their enduring bond. Ferrera, Bledel and Tamblyn even released a statement of support amid Lively and Baldoni’s legal case.
“As Blake’s friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,” they wrote in a joint Instagram statement in December 2024. “Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set, and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice.”
They concluded, “Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety. The hypocrisy is astounding. We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment. We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up for herself and others.”
Jenny Slate
Slate played Allysa, Ryle’s sister and Lily’s best friend, in It Ends With Us. She also stood in Lively’s corner amid the lawsuit.
“As Blake Lively’s castmate and friend, I voice my support as she takes action against those reported to have planned and carried out an attack on her reputation,” she said in a statement to Today in December 2024. “Blake is a leader, loyal friend and a trusted source of emotional support for me and so many who know and love her. What has been revealed about the attack on Blake is terribly dark, disturbing, and wholly threatening. I commend my friend, I admire her bravery, and I stand by her side.”
Anna Kendrick
Kendrick costarred with Lively in two A Simple Favor movies.
“It was great to have that kind of partner-in-crime vibe with you,” Kendrick told Lively in a joint Buzzfeed interview from 2018. “Sometimes you work with somebody, and they’re great — they’re really, genuinely great — and they just have a very different working style, let’s say. You know, they’re the kind of person that you can’t come to them in between and be like, “Yo, let me tell you what just happened.” So that was great.”
They reunited in A Simple Favor 2, which was filmed in 2024.
“She lives on the East Coast, I live on the West Coast, so we don’t get to see each other often,” Kendrick told People that October. “But it was lovely, and I think that those characters have such weird chemistry that it’s so fun to just get the gang back together. And it does feel a little bit like riding a bike.”
Penn Badgley
Badgley and Lively played an on-off couple on Gossip Girl throughout its seven-season run on The CW. They also dated in real life.
“Beyond our relationship, I don’t think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly,” he told Variety in 2023. “To be honest, I never struggled with substance. Blake didn’t drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.”
While Badgley and Lively eventually split in 2010, their characters of Dan and Serena were getting back together. They wed in the series finale.
“I sure don’t think it was awkward for anybody,” Badgley said during a September 2024 episode of his “Podcrushed” podcast. “I’m pretty sure we were exes for nearly half of the entire run of the series. It lasted for nearly six years and I don’t think we were together longer than two.”
Chace Crawford
Crawford, who played Nate on Gossip Girl, corroborated Badgley’s remarks that he and Lively amicably worked together post-split.
“Not at all. Not in the least,” he said during a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen when asked if there was any drama or bad blood. “Most mature people in the world.”
Ben Affleck
Affleck and Lively portrayed a couple in 2010’s The Town.
“You have your head on pretty straight,” he told her in an Interview Magazine profile published that August. “You and I had to do a sex scene on the first day of shooting, and you were very poised and comfortable about it — more mature than some of the crew members.”
Michele Morrone
Morrone plays Lively’s spouse in A Simple Favor 2. He also vocalized his experience working with her in light of the lawsuit against Baldoni.
“It’s usually not my thing to make those kinds of videos, but I think it’s time to stand up for a person I really love and this person is Blake Lively,” he said in a December 2024 Instagram video. “I personally met Blake during A Simple Favor 2. We shot this incredible film together and I felt something was wrong, and I felt the pain … We had the opportunity to talk, me and her, [and] Blake was in pain.”
He added, “Blake, I love you so much. Keep it up and we’re going to see each other very soon.”
Michelle Trachtenberg
During Lively’s Gossip Girl tenure, rumors flew that the actress and co-lead Leighton Meester were at odds. Trachtenberg later debunked the claims while speaking with Vanity Fair in 2017.
“It’s funny because when we were filming, there was, ‘Leighton hates Blake, Blake hates Leighton, everyone hates Blake, everyone hates Leighton, everyone hates Chace,’ and blah, blah, blah,’” Trachtenberg recalled. “It really wasn’t. We were all chill. It was cool.”
Kelly Rutherford
Rutherford played Lively’s mother, Lily, on Gossip Girl.
“She’s just so magical and cool,” Rutherford gushed on a 2022 episode of the “Beyond the Velvet Rope” podcast. “She just has such a way about her. She’s so inspiring because she’s really fearless, not afraid of anyone and very open.”
Rutherford, however, admitted that she didn’t have a close-knit relationship with Lively during the pilot since she was a new mom in real life.
“I just didn’t have the bandwidth,” she said. “But, it worked out great because there was this, sort of, separateness that allowed that relationship. It created enough distance where it worked to be the parent in that way.”
