Adam Mondschein — who appeared in a pivotal It Ends With Us birth scene — is speaking out after Blake Lively made claims against the actor amid her ongoing legal battle with costar Justin Baldoni.
“I’m not going to speculate as to Ms. Lively’s motivations for mentioning me in the complaint. Needless to say, my experience working with her is very different than the one she described in her lawsuit,” Mondschein told Page Six on Tuesday, April 8. “Indeed, I was surprised to read her description of the scene.”
Mondschein portrayed Doctor Dunbar in the scene which Lively, 37, mentioned in her 2024 lawsuit against Baldoni, 41. Lively alleged in the paperwork obtained by Us Weekly that Baldoni and producing partner Jamey Heath “pressured” her to “simulate full nudity, despite no mention of nudity for this scene in the script,” her contract or “in previous creative discussions.” (Baldoni has denied all of the allegations against him.)
Lively claimed that Baldoni “insisted” that “women give birth naked,” to which she disagreed but “felt forced into a compromise that she would be naked from below the chest down.”
“When the birth scene was filmed, the set was chaotic, crowded, and utterly lacking in standard industry protections for filming nude scenes,” the lawsuit alleged. “Mr. Heath and Mr. Baldoni also failed to close the set, allowing non-essential crew to pass through while Ms. Lively was partially nude from below the chest down with her legs spread wide in stirrups and only a small piece of fabric covering her genitalia. Contrary to the Wayfarer Parties’ contention, the production did not maintain a closed set.”
Mondschein, for his part, claimed to Page Six that Lively’s costume “included a full hospital gown, black shorts and torso-covering prosthetic to make her appear pregnant in addition to whatever personal garments she chose.” He further alleged that Lively “never complained or expressed discomfort at any point because nothing unusual or improper occurred. It was entirely professional.”
Lively also alleged in the lawsuit that she “became even more alarmed” when Baldoni introduced his “best friend” — who is Mondschein — to play the role of the OBGYN. Lively claimed that typically a “small role of this nature would be filled by a local actor.”
“Ms. Lively felt that the selection of Mr. Baldoni’s friend for this intimate role, in which the actor’s face and hands were in close proximity to her nearly nude genitalia for a birth scene, was invasive and humiliating,” the lawsuit claimed.
Recommended Article
Mondschein called Lively’s “insinuations” about his acting qualifications “offensive” as his “bonafides are easily searchable online.”
“Lastly, I was, in fact, a local hire (my wife and I are from New York and spend significant time there),” he told Page Six. “As such, I, like any actor accepting that contract, was required to cover my own travel and living expenses in connection with the job.”
“Blake was extremely uncomfortable, and understandably so, when she learned the actor who was placing his face between her legs was the boss’s best friend,” a source close to the matter told Us. “But apparently Baldoni and company think it was perfectly fine to have his best friend play that role, out of all the actors that could have been chosen.”
Baldoni filed his own $400 million lawsuit against Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Sloane. Lively, Reynolds and Sloane have all filed motions to be removed. The legal battle is ongoing and set to go to trial in 2026. If Mondschein is called to the witness stand by Baldoni’s lawyers, he told Page Six that he is willing to testify in court.
“If I’m called to testify in the case I will answer truthfully, and more freely, whatever is asked of me with all the legal protection that affords,” he said. “In particular, by noting that Ms. Lively was not ‘nearly nude’ in the scene we shot together.”
