Hollywood actress Blake Lively opened up about the legal tussle with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni following a US court’s dismissal of a USD 400 million lawsuit Baldoni filed against her, saying that she was now “more resolved than ever” to stand for women’s rights.
Following the Monday verdict, Lively said, “Like so many others, I've felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. While the suit against me was defeated, so many don't have the resources to fight back.”
The 37-year-old actress went on to affirm her commitment to women’s rights, stating that she was committed to stand by and protect women who don’t have a voice. She also shared a list of organisations working across women’s rights, domestic violence prevention and employment law.
“With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me. Many of you I know. Many of you I don't. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you,” she wrote in a statement shared on Instagram.
The lawsuit filed by Baldoni named Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane and The New York Times, alleging that Lively had “stolen” the 2024 film from him and Wayfarer Studios and had threatened to malign him in the press.
However, Judge Lewis J Liman ruled on Monday that Baldoni’s claims did not meet the legal threshold for extortion or defamation.
“The Wayfarer Parties have not adequately alleged that Lively's threats were wrongful extortion rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions,” Judge Liman observed, according to documents cited by E! News.
While the lawsuit in its entirety was dismissed, Variety reported that the court left room for Baldoni to amend and refile limited claims of contractual interference.
In a statement following the dismissal, Lively’s lawyers called it “a total victory and a complete vindication” for the actor and her co-defendants, as per US media. “As we have said from day one, this ‘USD 400 million’ lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it,” they said, adding that they would now seek attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni and other representatives of Wayfarer Studios.
The defamation suit followed a separate sexual harassment case filed by Lively in late 2024. In that ongoing case, she has alleged that Baldoni and the producers of It Ends With Us launched a smear campaign against her after she raised concerns about conditions on the film’s set. The case is scheduled to go to trial on March 9, 2026.
It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel, released in theatres last year. Baldoni directed the romantic drama and also acted in the film alongside Lively, Brandon Sklenar and Jenny Slate.
