Law&Crime Sidebar - Blake Lively Ripped by Co-Star Over Explosive Birth Scene Claims

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

The actor who portrayed an OB/GYN in the film “It Ends with Us” is taking issue with claims made by co-star Blake Lively in a bombshell lawsuit. He says her assertions about being forced to be naked during a birth scene are inaccurate. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber takes a look at Adam Mondschein’s comments and their potential impact with attorney Elizabeth Vulaj.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to the App Store and download the free Experian® app now! https://www.experian.com/credit/experian-app/?pc=bch_exp_sidebar HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The actor who played the doctor in the infamous birthing scene, and it ends with us, a scene that has become a big point of contention in the ongoing legal fight between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has officially spoken out about Lively's allegations regarding that scene. And what he asked to say may make you think twice about her claims. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber.

Well, another person has entered into the Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, dispute, and I've got to say, this person, if they testify, may really hurt her case. I'm going to explain. So remember, Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, they starred in, it ends with us. It's a film based on a book of the same name. And after filming it wrapped and the premiere had happened last year, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Board. saying that Baldoni sexually harassed her during the production and then proceeded to use his

team of PR and crisis management experts to launch a retaliatory smear campaign against her in the press and in social media. The whole thing was written up for a piece in the New York Times. And then this matured into a full-blown lawsuit. However, Baldoni turned around and he filed a lawsuit too, suing Blake lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the New York Times, and others claiming he was defamed. There were false allegations that were weaponized and publicized against him. And there's been other litigation that has come out as a result of this, too.

But really what we want to focus on are Baldoni and Lively. Now, the person I want to talk about, the person who's in the news, the person who may be a pivotal witness at an upcoming trial currently scheduled for next year, is apparently an actor on this movie. Yes, and not just any actor. an actor who plays a critical role in one of these central allegations in this dispute. In Lively's complaint, she alleges that Baldoni not only improvised intimate scenes, but added graphic content to the script, including nude scenes, again, very important for an alleged harassment allegation, but that included this chaotic and volatile birthing scene, according to her. And she claims Baldoni cast his friend as the

OBGYN, as the complaint reads. On the day of shooting the scene in which Miss Lively's character gives birth, Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath, that's Jamie Heath, the CEO of Baldoni's production company Wayfarer, suddenly pressured Ms. Lively to simulate full nudity despite no mention of nudity for this scene in the script, her contract, or in previous creative discussions. Mr. Baldoni insisted to Miss Lively that women give birth naked and that his wife had ripped her clothes off during labor. He claimed it was not normal for women to remain in their hospital gowns while giving birth. Ms. Lively disagreed. But she felt forced into a compromise that she would be naked from below the chest down. When the birth scene was filmed, the set was chaotic, crowded,

and utterly lacking in standard industry protections for filming nude scenes, such as choreographing the scene with an intimacy coordinator. Mr. Heath and Mr. Baldoni also failed to close the set, allowing non-essential crew to pass through while Miss Lively was partially nude from below the chest down with her legs spread wide in stirrups and only a small piece of fabric covering her genitalia. Among the non-essential persons present that day was Wayfair co-chairman Mr. Sarowitz. Miss Lively was not provided with anything with which to cover herself between takes until after she had made multiple requests. Miss Lively became even more alarmed when Mr. Baldoni introduced his quote,

best friend to play the role of the OBGYN when ordinarily a small role of this nature would be filled by a local actor. Keep that in mind, local actor. Miss Lively felt that the selection of Mr. Baldoni's friend for this intimate role in which the actor's face and hands were in close proximity to her nearly new genitalia for a birth scene was invasive and humiliating. Now, Justin Baldoni had a response to that in his own first amended complaint. It reads, This allegation is knowingly false. To begin with, to describe Lively as mostly nude and naked from below the chest down as dishonest. Lively was wearing black briefs and a pregnancy suit that covered her midsection, and her top was covered by a hospital gown.

Lively was aware of this birthing scene as she was heavily involved in writing, rather rewriting the script, and gave creative input for this specific scene even against the director's creative vision. Moreover, film footage clearly demonstrates that the set was not chaotic, as she alleges, and only essential individuals, film crew, talent, were present for the scene and doing their jobs. Importantly, lively, knowingly, and falsely alleges that the film's financier was present during these scenes and insinuates he was watching her nude, which he had no desire to do. He was not even on set during the filming of that scene. And he continues and alleges that Lively presented a misleading claim that he is.

inappropriately cast, just a personal friend to play the OBGYNN during the birthing scene. Quote, Baldoni casting an experienced actor who happens to be a friend, is no different than casting lively sister, who is cast because she's lively sister. The actor portraying the obstetrician is an award-winning Shakespearean-trained actor with an MFA in acting from UCLA, and in addition to appearing on numerous hit television shows, has toured nationally with a Tony Award-winning acting company and attended Oxford's acting program on full scholarship. His accolades and performances speak for themselves. It is lively suggestion that a highly trained and experienced actor would have an unseemly interest in being

in close proximity to her nearly nude genitalia, which has previously established, was not nude or exposed. That is inappropriate, invasive, and humiliating to the actor. And now, that actor has spoken out. Real quick, I want to thank our incredible new sponsor experience for sponsoring sidebar making this episode happen. Now this is big because Experian can help you stay on top of your finances. After all, don't know if you know this. April is financial literacy month and Experian is all about that all year round. So the first step to take control of your credit and finances is to download the Experian app, which by the way has tons of free tools. Your free FICO score, which can help you boost your FICO score instantly for free with Experian boost. Free access to a marketplace

of credit card, loan, auto insurance options match to you free credit monitoring with real-time alerts to keep you in the know on changes to your Experian credit profile. And let's not forget you can easily freeze your Experian credit file for free in the app helping protect you against identity theft. So make sure your finances are always in good shape with Experian and use the link in the description or scan the QR code to download the free app now. Results will vary. Additional terms may apply and see the app store for details. Before I get into what this actor has to say, I want to bring back on Long Crimes General Counsel, such a fan favorite of the show, Elizabeth Vuli. Elizabeth, so good to see you.

Thanks so much for coming back here on Sidebar. Yeah, thank you for having me. So before we get into everything about what the actor had to say, talk to me about the relevance of this allegation and how important it is. Yeah, I think it's super important because like you said, this is one of the allegations that she made in her complaint. She has lots of allegations that she's saying support allegations of sexual harassment. And one of the things she said was, you know, when I first saw the complaint, it kind of

read like this was just some sort of random unqualified actor that was brought. brought on to fill this intimate role of playing the OBGYN, he was just brought on because he was a friend of the directors, you know, she was partially or completely nude. It didn't sound great. But to have someone come on and first and foremost to say, you know, I'm not just some random actor brought on because I'm Justin Baldoni's friend, you know, he has multiple degrees in acting. He's been on other shows. He's, you know, been in acted in Shakespearean plays to say that, to say that he's a qualified actor and then also to negate her allegation that no, she wasn't completely nude. She was actually covered in multiple instances. It really

chips away at this allegation. So now I want to talk about what that actor had to say. I'm talking about Adam Monshine. This is what he had to say according to page six. So he played again, the doctor during this birthing scene. And he disagrees with Lively's characterization of what happened, saying, quote, I'm not going to speculate as to Ms. Lively's motivations for mentioning me in the complaint. Needless to say, my experience working with her is very different than the one she described in her lawsuit. Indeed, I was surprised to read her description of the scene. Her costume included a full hospital gown, black shorts, and torso-covering prosthetic to make her appear pregnant in addition to whatever personal garment she chose. And so that throws some water on the claim that she was nude.

He also noted that lively, quote, never complained or expressed discomfort at any point because nothing unusual or improper occurred. It was entirely professional. And I mentioned his background before, and he took issue with how Lively characterized him, saying, Ms. Lively's insinuations regarding my qualifications are offensive, as my bona fides are easily searchable online. Lastly, I was, in fact, a local hire. My wife and I are from New York and spend significant time there. As such, I, like any actor, accepting that contract, was required to cover my own travel and living expenses in connection with the job. And he also said, if I'm called to testify in the case,

case, I will answer truthfully and more freely whatever is asked of me with all the legal protections that affords in particular by noting that Ms. Lively was not nearly nude in the scene we shot together. Elizabeth, what do you think? Yeah, it's tough. I think this kind of, you know, coming out of this actor, giving his side of the story, it seems like it's chipping away a little bit at her case. And for any case, if you're in front of the jury or a judge, if you have a witness that's coming forward and saying, actually, no, this allegation, which is one of the many allegations she's making about sexual harassment, so it's relevant, is saying this didn't play out like how she's saying. It further chips away and it's sort of cast doubt as, okay,

well, if she's maybe not being entirely truthful about this incident, can we trust what she's saying about other incidents? And it kind of reminds me of during the Johnny Depp trial, obviously two very different cases, but there was a moment when Camille Vasquez, Johnny Depp's attorney, was cross-examining Amber Heard. And this was like, like a masterclass in cross-examination, but she eventually got Amber Hurd to admit that she didn't actually donate all of the money Johnny Depp had given her in a prior settlement, which she had claimed she was before. So it wasn't super irrelevant to her claim, but it's sort of cast doubt, I'm sure, to the jury of if she's not telling the truth about this, can we trust other allegations?

So I think this chips away a fair amount at Blake Lively's case, not the entire case, but some. But if he testifies, you know the first point of cross-examination is how good of friends are you with Justin Baldoni, right? Are you just going to say whatever you need to say to protect him? But I also, I couple that and I think to myself, he didn't have to come out with a statement right now. He didn't have to put himself in the limelight. There's so many celebrities who are part of this case, so many other co-stars who haven't spoken out about what they saw, what they heard, if they think Justin Baldoni's right or Blake Lively's right. So the fact that he did that, but you coupled up with the fact he is Justin Baldoni's friend, what do you take away? Yeah, I mean, it's valid.

that a lot in the Johnny Depp trial, trying to insinuate a close friend, of course, is going to say something positive about them. But, you know, I was thinking about what could be the possible reasons for him coming out with this. And yes, you know, you could say, oh, he's a close friend of Justin Baldoni's and he'd want to say something positive. But it also could be he's coming out because he wants to clear his name. You know, he said in the statement, her insinuations about my qualifications are offensive. You know, he's an actor. This is how he makes his living. He could want to set the record straight and say, I was entirely professional, I'm fully trained, all of that. I also think a part of it could be both legal sides, I think, are being meticulous

about how much information they're putting forward to the public. You know, technically, all the complaints and filings in this case are public. You just go on the Southern District of New York docket and read through it. But how many members of the public are really reading hundreds of pages of legal documents? Like, we are, long crime is, but, you know, not necessarily the public. So I think it could also be members of the legal team saying, okay, this is something we might want to publicize so that, you know, it could access the general public. So it also could be that as well. It could also be putting some sort of pressure. You know, at the end, he says, I'm willing to testify about this. So could it be putting a little bit of pressure on Blake Lively's team, possibly?

Let me ask you this. I always say this case is, you know, not even black, white, it's gray, somewhere in the middle. Do you think that there could be an innocent explanation on her part about if he's telling the truth about what happened, you know, at this birthing scene, could she still feel like she was nude? Could she still feel like she was uncomfortable? Or is this, she's just not telling the truth? I mean, where do you stand on this? Because now you have, it's two against one, two accounts that are very similar against her

account. She might have people who will testify in her behalf about what the scene was like. But is this really just, either she's telling the truth or not? I think when it comes to this incident, yes, I think the other incidents we've seen are more gray, but here, especially when it comes to whether or not she was fully clothed, right? You have multiple people saying she was. We all watched, I watched the movie, and she was covered. She had a hospital gown at the top.

She had sort of a prosthetic belly to make it appear as though she was pregnant. So it appeared that she was fully covered. And I'm sure what the defense is doing is gathering up raw footage they have of the set to show this because, you know, you and I both know audio, video, that's hard evidence that you can't really negate. So I think this incident is more black and white, but I think other incidents, I think a lot of what this case comes to is not necessarily Justin Baldoni saying this didn't happen, but either this didn't happen how she's claiming or there was no sort of harassment here. I think one allegation that came up was she was shown a birthing video of one of the producers' wives giving birth and she said that was inappropriate, that's harassment. And you have the producer saying, no, there's nothing sexual about this.

This was just a reference for the film. There's a birthing scene in the film. So it's the same incident, but it's more gray because they see it differently. So I think a lot of allegations are more gray, whereas this, I think, is a little bit more, you know, factual and black and white. When you see more people coming out and more evidence coming out, although now there's been kind of a pause on that, does it, do you think this will lead one party or the other to drop their claims against the other because they don't want to, they might not want to go to

trial and face this cross-examination, face questioning of these witnesses, and face question of the evidence. Do you think as more and more people talk about what happened on the set or what they believe happened on the set or if there is footage released, that there might be charges that, there might be claims that are dismissed or claims that are dropped? It might be, you know, they're both taking really aggressive stances right now. So I don't know if her team will necessarily drop them, but I do think it will have an effect in how they litigate this case further. And if there is a trial, they, I mean, if this witness is called as a witness for the defense, Justin Baldoni, it might change how they, the plaintiff,

Blake Lively, will cross-examine him because they know now ahead of time that he has a very different account of what she's claiming. So I don't know if it's necessarily going to get them to drop claims, but it might affect their tactical moves and how they're going to litigate this moving forward. How come he's only one of the few actors that's actually gotten to specifics about the claims, right? I mean, you've heard when the complaint was first filed by Blake lively you heard from co-stars not about specifics but more about her filing the suit why haven't we heard more specifics other co-stars in that film come out and say this is what i saw this is what i heard why have they not done that like this actor yeah it's very true and you're completely right so when

she first came out with these allegations multiple co-stars from the movie jenny slate who played her sister-in-law brendon sclinar he played her other love interest they all came out in support of her even co-stars from other movies she's been in like the sister out of the traveling pants her co-stars came out with a statement i think what we've seen which is kind of interesting is a backtrack of that so i saw that jenny slate when she was promoting her new show they asked her again about this case and she said i have nothing to say about that so very different than what she said when it first came out i think the reasons for that it could be that they just don't want to get involved in a legal case that doesn't they're not directly impacted by I think it could be attorneys, you know, advising them, saying, look, if you're going to testify later, we don't want you to come out with your entire story now. But I think it could also be a career move as well.

You know, I took a look at Jenny Slate's social media accounts after Justin Beldonie has come out with his side of the story. And I would not want to be her in that moment because there was a lot of negative comments against her on social media. And a lot of this movie included actors that might not be on the same level. as a Ryan Reynolds or Blake Lively or younger actors that are just trying to get their career going and they don't want to necessarily be brought into all of this controversy. They just want to, you know, build their career. So it could also be that as well. I have a question.

If this is going to be just a battle of cast members testimony, why do I say that? There is another issue. According to Lively, she has witnesses who will back her up. So at multiple points in her amended complaint, she talked about other female cast members who were allegedly uncomfortable with Baldoni's. alleged actions on set. So it's not just lively who's prepared to speak out and accuse Baldoni, but seemingly others. For example, it says, this amended complaint does not refer to certain witnesses by name, nor does it provide screenshots of their text messages. Importantly, however,

these witnesses have given Ms. Lively permission to share the substance of their communications in this amended complaint as contained herein, and they will testify and produce responsive documents in the discovery process. Ms. Lively was not the only one who was uncomfortable on set, and Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer knew it. Just one week later, on June 8, 2023, the same female cast member told Ms. Lively about her growing concerns with the conditions on set and that she found it difficult to talk to Mr. Baldoni. Ms. Lively responded that, I know I find it really hard to speak to him. I try to cover it with business, but not sure that covers what's going on.

Later, another female cast member confided to Ms. Lively that she, too, felt uncomfortable on set. And all of this occurred and was documented in writing almost one year before the editing of the film. began. Or how about this? Ms. Lively shared that she needed to tread carefully to salvage some degree of chemistry and camaraderie with Justin, who's not only my director, but love interest, and we're not even a third of the way done. So the two women then recounted their discomfort with the experiences here. And again, this is all according to Lively. Is this going to boil down, Elizabeth, to one cast member versus another cast member? And it also makes me think maybe they saw one thing, they saw another, and two things can be true at the same time. Yeah, I think. I think,

I think it's right. I think cast members are going to play a pivotal role, whether it's a trial or, you know, motion briefings before a judge, because again, a majority of her allegations allegedly happen on set. So if you have multiple cast members, whether it's in favor of him or her that's going to say, yes, I actually saw this happen. Yes, I can corroborate this. I think that's going to be a huge role. The amount of cast members that are going to come out. You know, the amount of witnesses that come out in favor of him versus her. We saw that was a big thing in the Johnny Depp trial, right? of the things Johnny Depp's attorneys had said was, look at how many people are coming forward about Johnny Depp's alleged great character versus how many witnesses are here in favor of, you know, testifying for Amber Heard's good character. So I think that's going to be a really pivotal role. And I'm so curious to see what raw footage they're going to put out because, like I said, audio footage, video footage, that does not lie and that really, really moves a jury and the public. So I think that's also going to play a really big role. Real quick, if she loses the case? What happens to the New York Times? Can they still be held not liable or will they

be held liable? Because remember, he's suing them for defamation, false light invasion of privacy, fraud, breach of contract. The idea is you ran with a story that you didn't fully vet, investigate, you didn't provide the proper context. If she loses, does the New York Times lose? Yeah, I think if she were to lose this case completely, that would play a huge role in how the New York Times is going to go about with their case. Because right now, they're vigorously defending themselves. They came out with a statement that said, you know, we fully verified our reporting. We did our due diligence. We asked Baldoni for a statement, all of that. If she loses, I would imagine behind closed doors, they might change their tactics a bit. They might be more open to

possible settlement with Justin Baldoni, mediation. Because, you know, if it turns out that she loses the case and, you know, she wasn't sexually harassed, she wasn't retaliated against, well, that's what the New York Times is reporting. So he has more of a basis to say, well, these things were proven untrue in a court of law and therefore the statements that you have in your article untrue, therefore you're defaming me. So I think it will play a strong role on how the New York Times decides to litigate further. I have to ask you about one more thing that came out. And I was not expecting this. This was not on my bingo card. There's one more person who's entered the fray, entered into the discussion, Harvey Weinstein. So the disgraced former producer

who was convicted of sex crimes back in 2020 out in New York and, by the way, also in L.A., although his New York conviction was overturned because it was determined he didn't receive a fair trial, so he's scheduled to be retried. In a statement to TMZ, he criticized the New York Times saying, watching Justin Baldoni take legal action against the New York Times and its reporters, accusing them of manipulating communications and ignoring evidence that countered Ms. Lively's claims, hit me hard. It brought back everything I experienced when the Times reported on me in 2017.

They did the same thing. Cherry picked what fit their story and ignored critical context and facts that could have challenged the narrative, Went on to say, I should have stood up and fought back then. I should have had the courage to speak out against the way the truth was twisted. That failure still haunts me. I'll be watching this case closely. It matters to anyone who's ever been on the receiving end of a media takedown and even more to someone who's had to pay a high legal price. And by the way, the New York Times reporter, Megan Toey, who reported on Baldoni also reported on Weinstein in that bombshell piece back in 2017. So Elizabeth, what do you make of that? Yeah. So when Blake likely first came out with this complaint, I think having the New York Times behind her, and especially when I saw the byline of Megan Toey, I think that added a lot of gravitas because immediately I recognize her name as one of the reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. They wrote a book about it, which was really great, all of that. I think I see the similarity in the sense that I think anyone who's facing a sexual harassment claim or any type of sexual related crime allegation or misconduct allegation, the backlash is swift. whether or not they've been proven innocent or guilty later on. I mean, Justin Baldoni, he's been dropped by his agency. We don't know how this is going to affect him acting or directing him future movies. So I agree, backlash is swift against people who face these accusations. I would be careful about equating this to the Harvey Weinstein story. There's a lot of differences. I mean,

when the Harvey Weinstein story came out, over 80 women came out with similar claims against him. So far with Justin Baldoni, it's only been one. There might be more other cast members that come forward, but we haven't seen that yet. Harvey Weinstein, there was a criminal, multiple criminal cases, there hasn't been here. With Harvey Weinstein, also, if you remember, one of the things that came out was an audio recording that seemed to confirm him admitting to physically groping a woman. So that was similar, especially in terms of, let's say, the Diddy video that surfaced of him and Cassie in that hotel hallway.

We haven't really seen any sort of audio or video gotcha moments for Justin Baldoni, at least not yet. So I think the two cases are very, very different. Interesting developments. Elizabeth Vuli, thank you so much for coming. It was great seeing you. Thank you so much for having me. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.