Who is Bart Johnson, Blake Lively’s brother-in-law? The High School Musical actor has spoken up for the It Ends with Us actress amid her sexual harassment lawsuit against director Justin Baldoni

Hollywood actress Blake Lively has been in the headlines for the good half of 2024. First, the internet turned against her for her perceived nonchalance regarding the themes of domestic violence portrayed in her film It Ends with Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, while netizens glorified its director and leading actor Justin Baldoni for his supposed gravity concerning the same. Now, in a shocking turn of events, Lively has hit him with a sexual harassment lawsuit and a bombshell exposé, revealing details of an alleged smear campaign against her, orchestrated by Baldoni and his PR agents.

Amid the legal drama, actor Bart Johnson, who famously played Coach Jack Bolton in High School Musical and is married to Blake Lively’s sister Robyn, is speaking out in support of his sister-in-law. “[Baldoni’s] a fraud. He puts on the ‘costume’ of a hero, man bun and all … None of it’s genuine,” he wrote in part on X. On Instagram, he defended Lively again, saying, “The cast unfollowed [Baldoni] for a reason.”

Johnson stars in two of Taylor Sheridan’s biggest shows, Yellowstone and Landman. He played Aaron Christopher on the former, calling the show’s famous co-creator a “freakin’ genius” on an Instagram post, adding that he “would kill to work with him on anything”. Luckily for him, Landman came around, where he now plays the recurring role of Patrick Ramsey beside his wife, who plays Ellie.

Johnson and the Lively family go way back. On a birthday tribute he wrote for Blake on Instagram, he recalled working with her father, Ernie Lively, on the film Mi Familia (1995), after which the Lively patriarch gave him a gig as an acting teacher. He quickly got close to the Age of Adaline actress, whom he referred to as “sister” in the post, and through her, cosied up to her elder half-sis, Robyn.