Video credit: Instagram / @justinbaldoni
Justin Baldoni and his wife Emily have spoken out about their legal battle with Blake Lively for the first time, describing it as an “injustice” that was “disguised as a fight for women”.
Baldoni, 42, and Lively, 38, ended their dispute over the movie It Ends With Us with a settlement in May, before it was due to go to trial.
“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, because Lord knows we have,” Baldoni began in a video he filmed with his wife Emily and posted on Instagram.
“There is so much to say and it makes it hard to speak (…) but what does feel important is that we can genuinely say that we are sitting here today feeling immense gratitude for so many things, and so many people, and so many things that have happened to us,” Emily continued.
“But I also feel that it’s important as we say that – it doesn’t 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.
“And the truth is, the reality is that there’s been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family, which also makes it hard to speak.”
Lively sued Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios in December 2024, alleging on-set sexual harassment, a hostile work environment and a calculated “smear campaign” against her.
Baldoni, the director of It Ends With Us, denied the claims and launched a countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. This was dismissed in 2025.
In April 2026, a judge dismissed 10 out of 13 of Lively’s claims, before a settlement took place between both parties shortly before the trial was due to begin in May.
Neither Lively nor Baldoni received any money in the settlement, but Lively is able to reclaim legal costs of $8 million (about £5.96 million), out of her demanded $300 million (£224 million) in fees and damages, through a law designed to protect survivors of sexual harassment.
“There have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple of years, and that created so much noise,” Baldoni said in the video.
“We didn’t want to add to the noise. So we just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”
Both sides classed the ruling over Lively’s legal costs as a victory for themselves.
Lively’s lawyers said the award of legal fees made it clear the actress had “brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant”.
But Baldoni’s lawyer said Lively had “pivoted to exploit a California law” to receive damages after she failed to get her demands for $300 million.
The law is intended to protect victims of sexual harassment or assault from retaliatory lawsuits meant to intimidate and silence them.
“Throughout this process, innocent people had their reputations unfairly tarnished. There was no sexual harassment. There was no retaliation,” Baldoni’s lawyer said.
“There was no smear campaign. The court recognised it, the record reflects it, and we have maintained it from the very beginning.”
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