Mia Schachter Discusses the Lively-Baldoni Dispute in “He Said, She Said”
In a revealing interview, Hollywood intimacy coordinator Mia Schachter provided insights into the contentious relationship between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, as featured in the documentary He Said, She Said: Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni. Although Schachter did not contribute to the film It Ends With Us, her expertise extends to projects like Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry, HBO’s Insecure, and Perry Mason.
Aired on March 17 in the U.K. via Channel 5, the documentary has garnered attention for its exploration of the timeline of Lively and Baldoni’s interactions. According to reports from US Weekly, Schachter examined the actors’ messaging history and discerned signs of a potentially strong bond at one point in time.
“From reading their text messages, I do get the sense that, at one point, there was genuine affection between them and what felt like a friendship.”
Schachter indicated that Lively initially resisted the idea of involving an intimacy coordinator until filming commenced, suggesting a level of trust in her scene partner. However, conflicting information from The New York Post revealed that Baldoni’s countersuit from January asserts that Lively had declined to engage with an intimacy coordinator prior to production.
“In my experience, when an actor says, ‘I don’t need to meet the intimacy coordinator until we’re shooting,’ as much as it hinders my process, it does typically indicate that they trust their scene partner,”Schachter stated, adding that their communications indicated an initial trust.
Reflections on the Behind-the-Scenes Footage of “It Ends With Us”
Earlier this year, in January 2025, Mia Schachter was questioned about leaked behind-the-scenes footage from It Ends With Us, which featured a scene of Lively and Baldoni’s characters dancing together. This ten-minute clip, filmed in May 2023, was released by Baldoni’s legal representation to counter allegations made by Lively. However, Schachter observed that Lively appeared to be uncomfortable during a moment when Baldoni attempted to kiss her.
“The first thing is that he is trying to kiss her, and they clearly haven’t discussed that ahead of time, and she keeps pulling away and clearly doesn’t want to do that,”Schachter analyzed.
Had Schachter been the intimacy coordinator for the film, she asserts she would have taken steps to prepare both actors and ensure that Lively felt at ease with the kissing scene. She criticized the lack of planning surrounding this specific moment.
“For an actor, if they know the plan ahead of time and they’re not caught off guard, they’re often open to trying things. The problem here was that none of this was planned or discussed,”she said.
Furthermore, Schachter expressed disapproval of Baldoni’s lack of communication regarding the scene. Noting that when Lively resisted the advance, Baldoni repeated the kiss attempt, she emphasized that as the director, it was indeed his duty to ensure that she felt secure throughout the filming process.
“In a scene like that, without an intimacy coordinator, I think it was his responsibility to ask Blake, ‘Hey, what do you think about kissing in this scene?’ If that’s what he wanted to see. But he didn’t ask her or even mention that it was something he wanted to shoot — he just went for it,”she explained.
Recently, Blake Lively appeared in the film Another Simple Favor, released in theaters on March 7, showcasing her continued presence in the industry amid ongoing discussions about intimacy and trust in on-screen performances.