Blake Lively still seeking millions off Justin Baldoni despite settling lawsuit
After almost a year and a half after Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively had a public feud over Lively’s claims of sexual harassment against Baldoni, the saga appears to be over. Or is it?
Baldoni and Lively came to an agreement to settle out of court 4 May, 2026 after the Gossip Girl actor first sued her It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni in December of 2024.
Since then, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has hit out at Lively, claiming there is a ‘real reason’ she settled: that he believes she didn’t want to be cross-examined in court.
Whilst Lively’s team issued a short response that appeared to mock Freedman, the battle between her and Baldoni appears far from over.
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Lively is still seeking millions from Baldoni, separately to the settlement (which the details of have not yet been publicised) between the pair.
Why is Blake Lively still seeking millions from Baldoni?
Lively was the first to issue a suit, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and initiating a smear campaign against her using a crisis PR team.
Her It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni responded with his own $400 million countersuit, accusing her and her husband Ryan Reynolds of smearing him and trying to wrestle control of the movie off him.
This was dismissed last year and, in a filing on Thursday, Baldoni indicated he would be waiving his right to appeal this decision.
Now, per Reuters, Lively is seeking to regain her legal fees from Baldoni which will total in the millions.
Lively’s lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said in a statement on Thursday: “By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively.”
What did the joint statement released by Blake Lively and Baldoni say after the lawsuit was settled?
The full statement released by Lively and Baldoni said: “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.
"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.”
What had Lively claimed happened on the set of the film?
Lively had accused the director of sexually harassing her on the set of the film, alleging that he made comments which made her uncomfortable as well as 'improvising' intimate moments in scenes that she said had not been discussed. She also accused Baldoni of adding 'improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film', including scenes in which she was expected to 'orgasm on-camera', after she had already signed onto the role.
She also accused Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath of a 'lack of boundaries', including claiming that Heath had shown her a fully nude video of his wife giving birth without her consent.
Lively also alleged that he had made comments about her weight, contacting her personal trainer to try and ask if she could lose weight for a scene in which she had to lift her just months after she gave birth. She also said that Baldoni had claimed to be able to 'communicate with the dead', namely her deceased father.
Her legal filling suggested that, when she raised these complains against Baldoni and the wider productions, he engaged in an online smear campaign against her, hiring crisis PR management.
The filing, published by the New York Times, included text messages between Baldoni's team, PR veteran Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert, Melissa Nathan.
This included Abel telling Nathan Baldoni 'wants to feel like she can be buried', and the teams celebrating when negative stories began cropping up about Lively.
What were Baldoni's claims to counter Lively's legal filing?
Baldoni denied these claims, himself releasing a massive online document of text messages and emails he claimed vindicated his side of the story and disproved her legal filing.
They suggested that the texts released in the filing by the New York Times were taken out of context.
The director suggested that the feud actually started due to a creative disagreement surrounding editing of the film, claiming that she had fallen out with him after trying to wrestle control of the movie.
Baldoni's legal team also released video footage he claimed vindicated him, though others suggested it showed Lively visibly uncomfortable.
He also alleged that Ryan Reynolds had confronted him at his and Lively's home, suggesting that the actor had confronted him, saying: "How dare you f***ing ask about my wife's weight? What's wrong with you?" Baldoni suggests this was aggressive, and also alleged that Reynolds parodied him in Deadpool and Wolverine with a character called 'Nicepool' who is a faux feminist with a manbun.
Baldoni claimed that Reynolds also attempted to have him fired by his agency, suggesting that he confronted an executive at WME and called the director a 'sexual predator'.
Topics: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Ryan Reynolds, TV and Film, Celebrity
Michael Slavin