After a year and a half of legal battles, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have resolved their case weeks before they were scheduled to go to trial in New York City.
The It Ends With Us co-stars agreed to resolve their legal differences following Lively’s claims that Baldoni’s company, Wayfarer Studios, retaliated against her for complaining about misconduct and organized what she refers to as a “smear campaign” aimed at destroying her reputation and career prospects through negative social media posts.
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios denied Lively’s allegations and Baldoni was dismissed as a defendant in U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman’s April 2 ruling, when he threw out Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
In a joint statement released on Monday, lawyers for Lively and Baldoni shared their feelings about moving on from the legal battle.
“The end product – the movie It Ends With Us – is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors – and all survivors – is a goal that we stand behind,” both parties’ lawyers said in a statement to Variety.
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“We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online,” Bryan Freedman, Ellyn Garofalo, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said.
The settlement comes after a three-hour hearing earlier this month, where both parties’ legal teams discussed arguments over the admissibility of an expert report commissioned by Lively’s lawyers estimating that she suffered as much as US$230 million in lost earnings and profits due to the alleged smear campaign, and at least $40 million from reputational harm, according to Reuters.
A lawyer for Lively, Naeun Rim, claimed that Wayfarer’s attacks on Lively erased years’ worth of investment in her hair care product line and other companies that were built on her reputation, per Reuters.
Lively’s lawyers reportedly argued that she missed out on the opportunity to make up to $35 million directing and acting in a sequel to It Ends With Us.
Wayfarer lawyer Fabien Thayamballi reportedly called those “pie-in-the-sky” figures that did not reflect Lively’s past earnings.
Jury selection for the civil trial was scheduled to begin May 18, with opening statements scheduled to be heard the same day.
After it was announced that Lively and Baldoni had settled their legal battle, the Gossip Girl star was photographed walking the carpet at the Met Gala on Monday night.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal drama began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, first in a complaint. Then, in a lawsuit about a week later, Baldoni claimed in a January court filing that he felt pressured by Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds’ “megacelebrity friend” to approve scene revisions after a meeting at Lively and Reynolds’ home.
Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for defamation in January 2025. That lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.
In late March, Lively asked a judge to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit, calling his claims “vengeful and rambling,” after she filed the lawsuit against him for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Last June, a judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400-million defamation claim against Lively and Reynolds after finding that her accusations of sexual harassment were legally protected, making them exempt from libel claims.
Lively’s lawyers called the dismissal “a total victory and complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times.”
— with files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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