Justin Baldoni Debuts Drastic New Look In Hawaii Amid Blake Energetic Drama

41-year-old actor and director Justin Baldoni is hitting refresh, each in look and mindset, as he steps away from the highlight and into the Hawaiian solar following a tumultuous yr of authorized battles with “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Energetic.

Justin Baldoni was noticed over the weekend having fun with some downtime within the Aloha State together with his two youngsters, Maiya, 9, and Maxwell, 7.

In photographs obtained by Web page Six, Baldoni sported a brand new edgy coiffure, a pretend hawk with shaved sides, and stored it informal in a white tank high, blue swim trunks, sun shades, and flip-flops because the trio grabbed shaved ice from an area store.

Whereas it’s unclear if his spouse, Emily Baldoni, joined them for the island getaway, the household outing comes on the heels of Baldoni publicly acknowledging the toll that the previous yr has taken on his psychological and emotional well-being.

“I advised them that I wasn’t in the perfect place. I advised them that I used to be exhausted, that I haven’t given myself time to get better or time to heal,” he shared throughout a “Gent’s Speak” podcast episode recorded in November 2024. “I had an intense yr. Lots of materials success and a number of emotional stress. It was very onerous on me and my household.”

Baldoni candidly revealed he’d been experiencing nervousness, problem sleeping, and usually not feeling like his “full self.”

The “Jane the Virgin” star has denied the allegations, and in a shocking countermove, sued The New York Instances for libel over its reporting of the case. The authorized saga escalated once more in January, when Baldoni filed a second lawsuit, this time accusing Energetic and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

Baldoni alleges that Energetic and Reynolds tried to exert affect over the manufacturing of “It Ends With Us,” utilizing their connection to Taylor Swift to bolster their place. In an effort to defend himself publicly, Baldoni launched behind-the-scenes video footage of him and Energetic dancing on set, in addition to a web site containing what he claims are textual content messages between the 2.

The previous co-stars are set to face off in court docket in March 2026, however for now, Baldoni seems to be specializing in household and discovering peace.

Because the high-profile case barrels towards a 2026 trial, the doc options intimacy knowledgeable Mia Schachter, who offers a nuanced tackle the actors’ once-close relationship and the way it reportedly unraveled throughout manufacturing on the movie adaptation of “It Ends With Us.”

Although Schachter was not concerned with the film, she was requested to evaluation alleged textual content messages between Energetic and Baldoni, a few of which Baldoni made public in a bid to clear his identify. Based mostly on what she learn, Schachter means that the co-stars shared a real friendship, and presumably even some flirtation, previous to the lawsuit.

“From studying their textual content messages, I do get the sense that, at one level, there was real affection between them and what felt like a friendship,” she stated within the documentary, per Us Weekly.

Nevertheless, that bond appeared to rupture after Energetic filed a bombshell lawsuit in December 2024, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment, retaliation, emotional misery, and extra.

Her claims included allegations that Baldoni improvised kissing scenes, proposed intercourse scenes not included within the script and failed to make sure the presence of an intimacy coordinator on set.

Baldoni denied all allegations and responded with a January 2025 countersuit, claiming that Energetic had, in actual fact, declined to satisfy the movie’s intimacy coordinator previous to filming.

To help his protection, he shared a textual content message from Energetic allegedly stating that she didn’t want to satisfy the coordinator till capturing started. Schachter weighed in on that time as properly.

“In my expertise, when an actor says, ‘I don’t want to satisfy the intimacy coordinator till we’re capturing,’ as a lot because it hinders my course of, it does sometimes point out that they belief their scene associate,” Schachter defined. “And people texts made me assume that, at one level, she did really feel a number of belief with him.”