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Justin Baldoni's lawyer has an ace in the hole in his client's legal war with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds ... and the threat of a Taylor Swift deposition can go a long way here.

TMZ has a new podcast with Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos -- "Two Angry Men" -- and in our first episode we broke down the Blake-Baldoni beef with special guest Bryan Freedman, the attorney repping Justin.

Harvey hammers Bryan about potentially deposing Taylor ... because she's central to the dispute by virtue of her involvement in an infamous meeting between Justin, Blake and Ryan.

1:15 PM PT -- Chip Babcock, a partner in the Texas law firm Jackson Walker LLP that represents Jed Wallace, tells TMZ ... "Blake Lively made false statements to the press through a private administrative filing, claiming Mr. Wallace and Street Relations had sexually harassed her, retaliated against her, aided and abetted others who did the same, breached a contract with her and engaged in other improper conduct. Mr. Wallace, who is a very private person, has never met or spoken to Ms. Lively. Ever. He has not engaged in a smear campaign against her at any point in time. The decision to file this lawsuit to rightfully protect himself and his family was made after Ms. Lively not only filed against him first in Texas but, indicated she intended to name him in yet another lawsuit."

Blake Lively's legal headaches are getting worse ... the actress is now being sued by a crisis PR firm for defamation in her ongoing lawsuit battle with Justin Baldoni, TMZ has learned.

Blake was slapped with a new lawsuit by Jed Wallace and his company, Street Relations Inc., after she named both parties along with Baldoni in her December 2024 California civil rights complaint for bad behavior related to the filming of "It Ends With Us."

Wallace accuses Blake of falsely lumping his firm into the allegations she made against Baldoni, and then sending the information to various media outlets, including Elle Magazine. Despite the fact that Blake did not name Wallace or Street Relations in the lawsuit she filed just days later, and he says the damage was done and the media continued to report he had engaged in illegal activity.

Wendy Williams is setting the record straight about her conservators suing A&E last year after the Lifetime doc on her life dropped -- saying she’s down to work with the network again.

WW appeared on "The Breakfast Club" podcast Wednesday, explaining she 100% didn’t agree with the lawsuit her temporary guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, filed against A&E -- the parent company of Lifetime.

She straight-up said she doesn’t have frontotemporal dementia, nor is she incapacitated -- health claims that popped up right before the "Where Is Wendy Williams?" documentary, which was supposed to be her big comeback.

Kanye West wants to lock up the rights to the title for what appears to be a book about Bianca Censori ... TMZ has confirmed.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kanye's company Ox Paha Inc. filed a new trademark application for the phrase "Wife By Husband."

Ye wants to use the trademark for different types of printed books ... including biographies, non-fiction and picture books.

Diddy forced a male adult entertainer to coat his body with baby oil before sexually assaulting him ... and the guy says the substance made him incapacitated ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

The Bad Boy Records founder is being sued by a John Doe who claims Diddy trapped him in a "vortex of exploitation and fear" ... subjecting him to a "relentless pattern of drugging, sexual assaults, death threats, clandestine recording, blackmail and psychological manipulation."

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the guy claims he first met Diddy in 2007 when he was working as an adult entertainer in Las Vegas. He says Diddy would hire him through an agency to dance and strip, but claims their encounters went off the rails sexually once Diddy introduced baby oil.

Blake Lively is emotionally zapped, but more than eager to get her day in court for the Justin Baldoni case ... where she is confident her facts will overcome his "sideshow."

A source close to Blake tells TMZ ... the whole Baldoni drama is taking a deep emotional toll on Blake and her family, causing her and Ryan Reynolds severe anguish, which allegedly  started way back on the set of "It Ends With Us" ... and she wants to get this all buttoned up.

Blake and Justin's legal teams were in court Monday for the first time since she sued him for sexual harassment and he fired back with his counter suit against her and the New York Times ... and we're told Blake is grateful with how the first hearing played out.

Blake Lively's living in a fantasy land when it comes to the first court date in the Justin Baldoni case ... at least according to his camp.

Justin's "It Ends With Us" costar and legal foe believes the judge ruled in her favor at Monday's hearing ... but Baldoni's side has a completely opposite takeaway.

Sources close to Justin's team tell TMZ ... "The judge did not rule in Ms. Lively's favor, what they had asked of the court was a gag order, for Blake not to be deposed by Bryan and for the entire case to be dismissed against them -- none of that happened."

2/25/2025 10:37 AM PT -- The restraining order has been granted.

Ewan McGregor is dealing with an obsessed woman who's traveled cross country to contact him, while making bizarre threats involving firearms, the "DaVinci Code" and her desire to have a baby with him.

The actor filed docs to get a restraining order against Angelica Gorentz, who first came on his radar in 2022 ... when she sent hundreds of "rambling, delusional and threatening messages" to him. According to the docs, Gorentz sees herself as Ewan's jilted lover, and believes his wife, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, stole him from her.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively aren’t losing sleep over their legal battle with Justin Baldoni -- they’re all smiles in a new couple’s selfie!

Shared by the "Deadpool" star on IG Monday, Blake looked fab snapping the pic while Ryan kept her close, arm wrapped around her, on a dimly lit street -- showing he's got her back and, judging by those grins, feeling confident they’ve got this legal conflict in the bag.

The selfie is posted in the middle a string of pics -- including one of Ryan visiting Elihu Yale’s tomb in the UK and another from a Q&A at The Paley Center in NYC -- showing he’s booked, busy, and treating this lawsuit war like no biggie.

Diddy's latest accuser says his career opportunity of a lifetime turned into a horrific night ... where he was drugged and sexually assaulted by Diddy ... TMZ has learned.

An anonymous man says he was an up and coming rapper/singer in 2015, when he landed a nightclub gig in L.A., and Diddy showed up with his entourage and a ton of Ciroc bottles for the crowd ... according to a lawsuit filed Monday by attorney Tony Buzbee.

The John Doe accuser says one of Diddy's associates told him if he did well, Diddy would talk to him about possibly signing with Bad Boy Records. After his performance, he claims he was invited to a VIP section with Diddy and other "well-known" artists, many of whom were taking drugs.

A$AP Rocky has broken from his routine of arriving at court without saying a word ... rolling in today with an important message for a fellow rapper -- and no, it's not A$AP Relli.

We caught up with Rihanna's man as he made his way into the downtown Los Angeles courthouse Monday, where he uttered one simple word as he was ushered inside. The word was "Congratulations" -- responding to Kendrick Lamar's big win at the 2025 Grammys Sunday night.

The celebratory spirit probably didn't last long for Rocky, who sat through another tense day in court.

11:10 AM PT -- Blake Lively's attorneys Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson tell TMZ ... “We are pleased with the result of today’s hearing and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case. The Court granted our request that all attorneys in the matter actually follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice a jury. This case deals with serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. We will hold the defendants accountable, and we are confident that once all the evidence is submitted in this matter, Ms. Lively will prevail.”

The judge required both sides to abide by New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which prevents lawyers from making statements with a “substantial likelihood” they could taint a jury. Still, the rules afford attorneys the opportunity to speak with the media to protect their clients from negative publicity.

Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman says he's cool with those rules, and for now, so are Blake's attorneys.

Justin Baldoni just scored what he sees as a legal win over Blake Lively ... because the first court hearing in their beef ended with half a gag order for Justin's lawyer.

The "It Ends With Us" stars had their legal teams go before a judge Monday in New York for the first time since Blake filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin, who fired back with his own $400 million defamation suit.

Blake's been trying to get Justin's attorney, Bryan Freedman, to stop blabbing about the case in the media.

Justin Baldoni's dropping a sex talk bombshell in his legal war with Blake Lively -- revealing notes from a crucial meeting about all the "It Ends With Us" sex scenes ... a meeting he claims Blake refused to attend.

The documents detail the director's April 21, 2023 meeting with an intimacy coordinator -- who was a woman -- to discuss how best to shoot the film's steamier moments. In his notes, Justin says it was important to have a female coordinator to craft sex scenes, because "It Ends With Us" fans are predominantly women ... so, he wanted it written for the "female gaze."

The notes, released Saturday on Baldoni's new website thelawsuitinfo.com, include x-rated language -- like, "goes down on her," "orgasm," "foreplay" and "the clit test" -- but Justin points out all of that came directly from the intimacy coordinator during their meeting.

Justin Baldoni is pulling out all the stops in his war with Blake Lively ... because he's got a new tool designed to present JB's side of the story.

The "It Ends With Us" star just published a new website dedicated to the Blake case ... and he's defending himself against Blake's allegation he sexually harassed her when they were making the movie.

The website currently has two links on it ... one to the amended complaint filed by Justin Baldoni and his studio against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds -- and the other showing a timeline of relevant events in the case.

2/1 -- 1:32 PM PT -- A spokesperson for the New York Times tells TMZ ... "The Baldoni/Wayfarer legal filings are rife with inaccuracies about The New York Times, including, for example, the bogus claim that The Times had early access to Ms. Lively's state civil rights complaint. Mr. Baldoni's lawyers base their erroneous claim on postings by amateur internet sleuths, who, not surprisingly, are wrong."

"The sleuths have noted that a version of the Lively state complaint published by The Times carries the date 'December 10' even though the complaint wasn't filed until more than a week later. The problem: that date is generated by Google software and is unrelated to the date when The Times received it and posted it. A look at the metadata from the posted document correctly shows it was posted after Ms. Lively filed it with the California Civil Rights Department."

Justin Baldoni says he now has cold hard proof Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds had it out for him several months before she dropped her Christmas surprise lawsuit against him ... so, now he's updating his lawsuit against them.

Jason Oppenheim is sounding off on federal prosecutors' latest allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, saying the indictment makes it sound like it's illegal for men to lavish significant others with expensive items.

Check it out ... the "Selling Sunset" boss said his piece on Friday's "TMZ Live" -- which he co-hosted -- and questioned the case against the mogul, specifically the feds' claim Diddy provided 3 women money to cover their living expenses, and gave them career opportunities.

Jason says that sounds like prosecutors are "criminalizing half the relationships in Hollywood" ... because that's just what rich men in showbiz tend to do for GFs. He says it sounds like the prosecutors' case is pretty "thin," if that's all they have.