Justin Baldoni Opens Up About ‘Intense Year’ & ‘Emotional Stress’ in Podcast Interview

Justin Baldoni opened up about his state of mind, months after releasing “It Ends with Us.”

The movie came out in August, and in November he sat down with podcast host Samir Mourani for an episode of “Gent’s Talk” that was released Monday.

When asked who he is at his core, Justin said, “This morning, I sent a text message to my best friend Jamie and the president of my company Tara and I told them that I wasn't in the best place. I told them that I was exhausted, that I haven't given myself time to recover or time to heal. I had an intense year. A lot of material success and a lot of emotional stress. It was very hard on me and my family, and I wear a lot of hats and I carry a lot, because I love what I do.”

Baldoni, who co-owns Wayfarer Studios, went on, “I love the company. I built the brand that we've built. I love the people that work for us. I love the movies that we make. I love the impact that we have and yet sometimes it's easy to, as you said earlier, fall back into our programming and be swept away in the current of self and be kind of overtaken by the wave of success and opportunity. I sent this text this morning and I just said, ‘I love you both, I just need you to know I'm not in the best place.’”

Noting his son had had the flu, Justin said, “I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning… not feeling great. My heart was racing. I’m noticing that I'm having some anxiety and when I check in with myself I’ve realized that I just haven't given myself the time to heal from this year.”

He also reached out to his assistant to say, “In the spirit of vulnerability I just need you to know… where I'm at emotionally, and I then shared that text message with him and then I sent a similar text message to my publicist Jen.”

Justin circled back to the original question, saying, “Who I am is a work in progress and who I am is somebody who is always trying to be radically sincere and authentic to myself so that I can be of service in the best way possible and have the most impact and sometimes I can get lost in the same way that everybody gets lost but healing isn't linear and growth isn't linear and if you don't have setbacks and if you don't have plateaus then you don't have the opportunity to regroup and to push forward so I share that with you because while I look like I am all of those things and on paper I am, I am also just like everybody else in the sense that I take on more than I can chew. I overcommit. I say yes to things out of fear. I people please… even now.”

He said we need to “dispel the myth” that though leaders, self-help gurus, podcast hosts and authors have the “keys to the kingdom” and “if we can just get there, then we’ll be in bliss… that’s not the case. Bliss and joy and happiness are here now, wherever you are.”

Weeks after the interview, his “It Ends with Us” co-star Blake Lively filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her on set. She also accused him of a smear campaign in a New York Times article. In return, he sued The New York Times, which denied any wrongdoing. 

Lively then sued Baldoni, and he sued her back. Both parties have also denied any wrongdoing.