Jameela Jamil has spoken out after texts she sent about Blake Lively generated headlines, claiming her name was un-redacted to “cause as much trouble as possible” for her while defending her remarks.
Lively’s legal battle against her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni is heading to trial, and the case’s disposition has brought recently unsealed testimonies to light from the film’s cast and crew.
This includes Lively’s text exchanges with Taylor Swift and emails to Ben Affleck, along with messages to Sony Pictures executives and a private text exchange dated August 2024 between Jamil and her publicist Jennifer Abel, who also represented Baldoni.
At the time, Jamil and Abel were apparently responding to a TikTok that criticised Lively’s remarks during the It Ends With Us press tour as not being serious enough, given that the film was about domestic abuse.
“She’s a suicide bomber at this point,” Jamil, 39, texted, adding: “I’ve never seen such a bizarre villain act before.”
The messages were sent four months before Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating an online smear campaign against her in retaliation for her complaints. She is seeking around $500m in damages.
Baldoni has denied all allegations. A $400m countersuit launched by the actor-director was dismissed last year.
On Thursday (22 January), Jamil shared a video in which she clarified her belief that being a feminist does not preclude someone from having personal differences with other women.
The video did not specifically mention Lively or the It Ends With Us row, but followed the publication of articles focusing on her texts.
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In a separate video posted the following day, the British actor, presenter and activist directly addressed her comments about Lively, saying that she was “ready to say some things”, including that her text messages were sent before she was aware of Lively’s lawsuit.
“I think it’s really weird that my private text messages from 18 months ago have suddenly been released now, and my name has been deliberately un-redacted to cause as much trouble as possible for me, even though these text messages have nothing to do with the case,” she said.
She said of the texts themselves: “I had no idea about any of this stuff, I was just purely venting to my friend about how I felt, about the press rollout of that f***ing terrible movie [It Ends With Us].”
Jamil said she disliked the press campaign for the film as she grew up with domestic violence in her home and was a victim of domestic violence in her twenties: “It offended me. Did I choose to pile on publicly? No… I know personally what it’s like to be in the firing line as a woman in the media.”
“So I took it to the group chat,” she said. “I talked about it with my friend, who happens to be being treated very badly by some very powerful, wealthy celebrities, some of whom are involved.”
Jamil said she “saw red” when she believed someone was treating her friends badly: “We bitch, we gossip, and affirm, and support one another… it’s a joyous part of womanhood.”
She called it a “victimless crime” because “no one is supposed to see those text messages”, and concluded by saying “the fact that I’ve been dragged into this feels incredibly sinister, the fact that my name was unredacted, all of it just felt very targeted and very weird, and an attempt to throw me under the bus”.
Jamil said she felt it was “inappropriate” to comment on the lawsuit itself and added that she was more concerned with what was going on in places such as Palestine, Sudan, Congo, the UK and the US.
“We’re all sick of hearing about this boring movie, it’s got more press coverage than all the genocides combined,” she said.
If Lively and Baldoni cannot reach a deal in court-ordered settlement talks next month, a trial will commence on 18 May.
This week, Baldoni’s attorney urged a federal judge to toss Lively’s lawsuit, arguing that her case amounts to no more than “petty slights”.
Lawyers representing Lively rejected that characterisation, alleging that Baldoni and other defendents took liberties to foster a sexually charged work environment that marginalised women, and later attacked Lively after she raised her concerns.
