Justin Baldoni speaks out for first time on Blake Lively legal battle

Justin Baldoni and his wife Emily have spoken out after reaching a settlement in his high-profile legal dispute with Blake Lively.

The dispute began in December 2024 after Lively sued Baldoni alleging sexual harassment and a ‘retaliation campaign’ during their time working on It Ends With Us.

Baldoni denied the allegations and eventually launched a $400 million counter-suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynold alleging defamation and breach of contract.

This was dismissed by a judge in June of last year.

In April this year, a judge threw out 10 of Lively's 13 claims against Baldoni, ruling they 'could not reasonably support a claim'.

The case was scheduled to go to trial in May, but just two weeks before it was set to get underway the pair announced that they had reached a settlement.

Late last month, it was revealed that Lively was seeking a huge sum from Baldoni to cover her legal fees.

A filing stated: "Lively respectfully requests the Court award her reasonable attorneys’ fees of $7,495,526.87 and costs in the amount of $539,514.01."

Now Baldoni is speaking out for the first time with a new video uploaded to his Instagram.

“We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years, and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say,” Baldoni said.

“Because Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just didn’t feel like the right time, and we were talking about it and feeling into it and praying about it.”

Emily then chipped in to say now ‘feels like the moment’ adding that there’s ‘so much to say’.

She went on to say she had ‘immense gratitude’ for ‘so many things and so many people’ in their lives but that the gratitude does ‘not negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years’.

“We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like how could something like this even happen? Let alone disguised as a fight for women. So much to unpack,” she said.

Emily said that the family had ‘a lot of trauma’, which made it difficult for them to speak.

“We don’t even know if this is the right thing to say,” Baldoni then said.

“We just know we need to share something. What I will say is that there have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple of years. That created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise. So we just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”

Baldoni then gave an update on how things are going, telling his followers ‘we are healing’.

He said: “If you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It looks different every day. We have had to rethink for ourselves what is real, and what matters. It’s this. It’s our family, it’s our friends, it’s our community, who have been there for us, it’s our faith.”

The couple also took time to thank their supporters as well as their friends and family.

What did the joint statement released by Lively and Baldoni after their settlement say?

Back in May, Baldoni and Lively's team released a joint statement after the lawsuit was settled, telling Variety: “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.”