The Email Hollywood Cannot Stop Whispering About
One email, allegedly sent from Blake Lively to Ben Affleck, is now echoing through Hollywood. It reads like a plea for help, a reunion request, and a fresh reminder of an old on-set chemistry that once had everyone talking.
The message surfaced in newly released court documents tied to Lively’s legal battle over the film adaptation of “It Ends With Us.” Names were redacted, but the clues inside the email point straight toward Affleck and to a history that reportedly still hurts Jennifer Garner.
EXCLUSIVE
Truth about those
Blake Lively and Ben Affleck rumors… why he seemingly ghosted her begging email… and Jennifer Garner’s heartbreak pic.twitter.com/JfwqALFIPF— Simo Saadi (@Simo7809957085) February 1, 2026
The result is a very modern Hollywood scandal. A ghosted email, a long-rumored connection, and an ex-wife whose heartbreak, insiders say, still lingers in the background.
‘The Town’ Audition That Changed Everything
Before there was an email, there was the audition. When Ben Affleck cast Blake Lively as his troubled ex-girlfriend in “The Town,” he was openly dazzled by the then-rising “Gossip Girl” star.
The actor, now 53, recalled to Interview magazine, “This girl came in, and no one had said to me beforehand, ‘Hey, look for this person.’ And obviously she was really attractive, and so I thought, ‘Oh, here comes some blonde girl.’ She came in, did one reading, and just crushed it. Like, Boston accent, really good. I was sort of stunned.”
Lively, now 38, had zero film credits at the time. Affleck repeatedly emphasized that there was no backup option for her role. He told Interview magazine, “I think she’s really going to blow up, and I want to look like the smart guy. I want to say I bought the stock when it wasn’t $500 a share.”
The film, which also starred Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm, was set in Affleck’s hometown of Boston. During the shoot, he took Lively sightseeing around the neighborhood where he grew up and praised her in multiple interviews.
Reports from that period claimed they shared dinner after filming a steamy sex scene, with Affleck describing Lively as “very poised and comfortable.” Gossip magazines eagerly amplified their on-screen and off-screen chemistry, suggesting that Affleck had great affection for his younger co-star.
When On-Set Chemistry Meets Real Life Hearts
Behind the scenes, the stakes were personal. Affleck was married to Jennifer Garner while filming “The Town.” They shared two daughters at the time, Violet and Seraphina, who is now known as Finn. Lively, meanwhile, had been dating her “Gossip Girl” co-star Penn Badgley for around a year.
Not everyone watching the situation from the outside felt comfortable. A source told In Touch Weekly back then, “Jen trusts Ben, but there is a part of her that will always worry that he’ll fall back into his former playboy ways… especially when he’s working with a younger co-star like Blake.”
Then came another jolt. In 2011, nude images alleged to be of Lively were leaked online. That scandal added yet another layer of invasive attention to a dynamic that tabloids were already dissecting.
Years later, an insider told the Daily Mail, “The last thing he wants is to start a dialogue with Blake and for it to somehow go public. He knew that would bring up bad memories for Jen.” According to that insider, Garner’s feelings remain a quiet but powerful force in the background of Affleck’s choices.
‘It Ends With Us’ and a Desperate Plea for Help
Fast forward to May 2024. Lively had finished filming “It Ends with Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit novel, opposite director and co-star Justin Baldoni. The project would soon become the center of what has been described as a bitter legal battle, and Lively, according to court documents, was reeling.
In those documents, an email from Lively appears. Names were blacked out, but references inside the message ignited a guessing game. There was a mention of a Dunkin’ commercial. A wife named “Jennifer.” Mentions of “Matt” and “Jason Bourne,” believed to be nods to Matt Damon. The details lined up with Affleck’s world and pointed strongly toward him as the intended recipient.
The email allegedly opened with a striking line. “It’s Blake. Don’t hang up,” she wrote. “I hope life is treating you beautifully. Ryan [Reynolds, Lively’s husband] was going on and on about you recently, amongst all that chaos. He was blown away by you. Though he was equally effusive about your Dunkin’ commercial. So know you have a Canadian fan club in my house. And a Burbank one too.”
Then Lively described what she had just endured on the “It Ends with Us” set. “I’ve just come out the other side (well, almost) of the most upsetting experience I’ve ever had on a movie,” she wrote, suggesting that “the making of doc of this film would be more interesting than the movie could ever be.”
She hinted at “wild HR issues” related to Baldoni and asked the recipient if they could “give me any ideas or notes.” She also added that she would “love” for “Jennifer,” believed to be Jennifer Lopez, to watch the movie, adding, “It would be an honor to have her take.”
The Silence Heard Around Hollywood
For all the emotion and flattery in that email, the court file did not include any response from Affleck.
According to a second insider quoted by the Daily Mail, Affleck “didn’t really get into it.” That insider added, “There isn’t any evidence that he responded more than a few quick pleasantries at best, and that if he could get to it.”
The same insider claimed that Affleck “expects to be asked about it in future interviews” and is “very happy that this all came out after his ‘RIP’ press tour.” In their words, “Once everything gets out there, it will be seen that Ben didn’t really get into it and just let it be something that he let slip by and lost touch with it.”
Representatives for Affleck were contacted for comment, according to the original reporting. So far, the story around his silence has been told only through these anonymous voices and the dry language of court filings.
Jennifer Garner at the Quiet Center of It All
Threaded through the entire saga is Jennifer Garner. She is not in the email, she is not in the court case, and yet, insiders say, she is in the subtext of why Affleck allegedly kept his distance.
The first insider’s comment is blunt. “The last thing he wants is to start a dialogue with Blake and for it to somehow go public. He knew that would bring up bad memories for Jen.” It is a reminder that for Garner, the “Town” era was more than a stylish Boston crime thriller. It was a moment when the gossip world watched her marriage and dissected Affleck’s chemistry with a much younger co-star.
Affleck and Garner’s story has already been written and rewritten in the public eye. Yet this new chapter, playing out through a leaked email and redacted names, shows how that old narrative still shadows his choices, at least according to those anonymous sources.
The Price of a Hollywood History
In one sense, this is a simple story. A former co-star in trouble reached out for help. The man she wrote to apparently stepped back, said little, and allowed the message to fade into the noise of his inbox.
In another sense, it is pure Hollywood. The casting that made Blake Lively a movie star. The married leading man who championed her talent. The wife watching from the sidelines while tabloids hinted at something more. The leaked photos, the whispered dinners, the insider quotes that will not quite let the past die.
Now add a blockbuster book adaptation, “wild HR issues,” an email that begins “It’s Blake. Don’t hang up,” and a silence that insiders insist was intentional. Whether you see Affleck’s non-response as loyalty to Garner, caution around scandal, or simply a busy man opting out, one thing is clear.
The story of “The Town” did not end when the credits rolled. It is still rippling through inboxes, courtrooms, and red carpets, proving that in Hollywood, unfinished business has a way of coming back, line by line, from a single leaked email.
