Blake Lively: Emotional Turmoil from Baldoni Lawsuit, Feels Pain
Regardless of future developments, Blake Lively's powerful statement has brought to light the personal cost of high-profile legal battles, particularly when they involve allegations of misconduct and subsequent retaliation.
Blake Lively Breaks Silence on Justin Baldoni Lawsuit, Shares Pain
Blake Lively has spoken out about the emotional and financial cost and the sense of shame she was manufactured to feel after being sued by her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, in the upcoming film It Ends With Us, to the tune of 400 million dollars. Her comment was made candidly following the dismissal of Baldoni lawsuit by a federal judge, a big win to Lively and her lawyers.
The court struggle was based on the initial complaint filed by Lively in December 2024, during which she charged Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath with sexual harassment and building a hostile work environment on the set of It Ends With Us. In her complaint, Lively alleged that she was the subject of inappropriate sexual remarks and boundary crossing and even improvising unscripted intimate scenes without an intimacy coordinator. She also alleged that following her raising of these issues, a “multi-level strategy” was plotted by Baldoni team to defame her by resorting to a smear campaign.
Baldoni subsequently sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, for defamation of character in the amount of $400 million, and The New York Times, which had covered Livelys initial claims, in a separate $250 million suit. The suit filed by Baldoni claimed extortion and defamation, saying that Lively employed false allegations to obtain creative control of the film.
Lively made her Instagram account private after Judge Lewis J. Liman threw out Baldoni suit recently, and she wanted to say something. She wrote: “I, like so many others, have experienced the sting of a retaliatory lawsuit, and the artificially induced embarrassment that attempts to crush us.” Her words were very penetrating because litigation, especially over such a delicate claim, can cause, as she put it, emotional torture. According to sources near actress, she shed tears of relief on hearing the ruling of the judge, and was vindicated by the ruling.
Lively also used her platform to advocate for a larger message regarding women’s rights and the experiences of women who have vocalized their accounts of safety. “While I have won against the suit against me, many people do not have the resources to defend themselves,” she explained, stating that she felt a heightened commitment, “to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves — in their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story.” She acknowledged, and thanked those who supported her, known and unknown; and shared resources pertaining to organizations that advocate for women’s rights.
Following the court’s decision to dismiss the suit, Lively and her legal team celebrated the outcome as “a total victory and a complete vindication.” However, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman suggested the legal fight is “far from over.” Freedman explained that the court invited them to amend four of the seven claims against Lively, and they plan to present “more evidence and more specific allegations.” This indicates that while the defamation claims do not proceed, the dispute related to issues surrounding the film’s production, and related allegations of conduct on set, may ultimately still be played out in the courtroom.
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