The thing about Hollywood PR is that it’s usually invisible. You aren't supposed to see the strings. But when things went sideways during the It Ends With Us press tour, the strings didn't just show—they snapped. Suddenly, everyone was Googling Leslie Sloane, the powerhouse publicist who has been the quiet force behind Blake Lively for years.
Honestly, it was a mess. One minute we're looking at floral outfits and talking about hair care, and the next, there are $400 million lawsuits and allegations of "dark arts" PR. If you've been following the breadcrumbs, you know this isn't just about a movie feud. It’s about how modern celebrity image-making completely hit a wall in the age of TikTok.
Who is Leslie Sloane anyway?
Leslie Sloane isn't some newbie. She’s a veteran. We're talking about the person who helped navigate the careers of Katie Holmes, Megan Fox, and even Britney Spears. She runs Vision PR, and for a long time, she was considered one of the most powerful women in New York.
She’s known for being tough. Loyal. The kind of publicist who doesn't just "manage" a crisis but tries to smother it before it breathes. For over a decade, she and Blake Lively seemed like a perfect match. Lively, with her curated, high-glamour lifestyle, and Sloane, the bicoastal expert who knew exactly which magazines to call.
But then came 2024. And then 2025.
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The It Ends With Us Disaster
When It Ends With Us was coming out, the internet noticed something weird. Justin Baldoni, the director and star, was doing press alone. Blake was with the rest of the cast. The vibes were... off.
Initially, the narrative felt like classic "creative differences." Then it got darker. Allegations of a hostile work environment started leaking. Rumors began flying that Baldoni made Lively feel uncomfortable on set. For a few weeks, it looked like the standard PR playbook: protect the A-list star, marginalize the guy who isn't as famous.
Except the internet didn't buy it. People started digging up old interviews of Blake being "mean" to reporters. They criticized her for promoting her beverage line, Betty Buzz, and her hair care brand while promoting a movie about domestic violence. Suddenly, the "Lively-Sloane" machine was under fire for being tone-deaf.
The Lawsuit That Changed Everything
In early 2025, the drama moved from TikTok to the courtroom. Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, filed a massive defamation lawsuit. They didn't just sue Blake. They sued her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and they specifically named Leslie Sloane.
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The allegations were wild. Baldoni’s legal team claimed Sloane was a "master practitioner of the dark arts" and accused her of orchestrating a smear campaign to "bury" Baldoni’s reputation. They argued that Sloane planted false stories about sexual harassment to distract from the fact that Blake and Ryan had essentially hijacked the movie's production.
The Turning Point in June 2025
For months, the headline was that Sloane had allegedly told reporters Baldoni "sexually assaulted" Lively. That’s a career-ending accusation.
But in June 2025, a major piece of the puzzle fell apart. A reporter named James Vituscka filed a sworn declaration admitting he made a mistake. He clarified that Leslie Sloane never actually used the phrase "sexually assaulted." He admitted it was his own wording in a private text message that got blown out of proportion.
Sloane's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, was blunt. She called the lawsuit a "smoke and mirrors exercise" designed to silence a woman—Blake—who had shared genuine concerns about her workplace. By mid-2025, Sloane was largely vindicated in the eyes of the law, even if the public's perception of the "Blake Lively brand" remained fractured.
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Why this feels like the end of an era
The drama between Leslie Sloane and the It Ends With Us fallout teaches us one big thing: the old way of doing PR is dying.
Back in 2005, a powerful publicist could kill a story with one phone call to a friendly editor. Today? You can’t stop a million people on Reddit from analyzing your body language in a 10-year-old YouTube clip. Sloane and Lively tried to use the old-school "flood the zone with glamour" tactic, and it backfired because it lacked what people want now: authenticity.
While Sloane successfully fought off the legal claims of "smear campaigns," the reputational damage to the Lively camp was real. People felt they were being "managed" rather than being spoken to honestly.
What can we learn from the Leslie Sloane saga?
If you’re watching this from the outside, the takeaway is pretty clear.
- Legal "wins" aren't PR "wins." Sloane might have cleared her name legally regarding the "sexual assault" wording, but the narrative of her being a "tough-as-nails" fixer stuck.
- The "Husband-Wife" branding is risky. Bringing Ryan Reynolds into the mix for rewrites and PR support made the couple look like a "corporate behemoth" rather than creative artists.
- Silence is no longer a shield. In the past, staying quiet during a controversy worked. Now, silence is filled by the internet with the worst possible assumptions.
The trial for the remaining parts of the defamation battle is slated for March 2026. Until then, the relationship between Leslie Sloane and Blake Lively stands as a case study in what happens when a Hollywood "fixer" meets a digital audience that refuses to be fixed.
If you're following this case for professional reasons, keep a close eye on the court filings regarding "astroturfing"—the practice of faking organic social media support. It's the new frontier of PR litigation, and it's likely to be the core of the 2026 proceedings. For the casual observer, just remember that what you see on a red carpet is rarely the whole story; it's just the version someone like Leslie Sloane wants you to see.