The attorney for Blake Lively‘s It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni sounded defiant when he was asked about the possibility of a settlement during a recent podcast.
On the latest episode of Matthew Belloni’s podcast The Town, the host sat down with Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman to discuss the dueling lawsuits his client and Lively, 37, have filed against each other, and how they met finally be resolved.
Although a settlement to the lawsuits would be a common resolution in similar situations, Freedman appeared to suggest that Baldoni, 41, was willing to take his lawsuit all the way to a final verdict.
Lively previously filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in December against Baldoni, who also directed their hit romantic drama It Ends With Us.
Baldoni later followed up by launching a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, her publicist and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
He also filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times for its reporting on Lively’s allegations.
Both Lively and Baldoni have denied each others claims, and the New York Times has denied Baldoni’s accusations and requested that his lawsuit against the paper be dismissed.
During the podcast, Belloni broached the possibility that Baldoni might ending up offering a settlement in Lively’s lawsuit against him.
‘I do not believe there will be a trial in this case,’ Belloni opined, via Us Weekly. ‘I just think that the potential for the circus and the damage to both sides here will ultimately win out and you guys will settle.’
He then asked why the two sides would hypothetically drag out the lawsuit — and the negative publicity that comes with it for bother parties — any longer than was necessary.
‘What is the number?’ he asked, referring to the amount Baldoni would be willing to settle for. ‘What would it require for this to go away?’
But Freedman seemed to push away talk of a settlement by circuitously disagreeing with Belloni’s framing of the situation.
‘You keep referring to it as a circus and I get it. You see a lot of cases. You see a lot of things, but the reality is this is not a circus when you go through an experience like this,’ he replied.
‘I’ve represented a lot of people in the worst moments of their career, the worst moments of their life. Justin has been destroyed by this,’ he claimed.
Freedman characterized Lively’s accusations against Baldoni as a ‘really serious thing,’ and said it was a necessity that they be interrogated in court.
‘In this day and age, the only way that you can truly get back is to prove your innocence and that’s what we’re actively working to [do],’ he declared. ‘That may only be able to be done in a courtroom.’
Freedman also clarified Baldoni’s controversial decision to create a website full of documents with his allegations about Lively’s alleged defamation, as well as his denials of her claims that he sexually harassed her on set.
According to the lawyer, all of the documents have been entered into the court record, and the website is simply an easier access point for interested fans following the lawsuit’s progress.
‘The website is actually a culmination of public pleadings that are publicly accessible and had been filed and they are easily accessible,’ Freedman claimed. ‘It’s a place where you can find things.’
He added that he thought the website was a particularly important tool for his client, as it pushed back against Lively’s accusations that were featured in a blockbuster New York Times story — which prompted prompted Baldoni to sue the newspaper.
The minute the New York Times story came out, Justin was done for all intents and purposes,’ Freedman said.
‘The court of public opinion was against him. There was no side that he had in this. There were no facts that were on his side… It was really important to come out with real, true facts,’ he claimed.
Last month, Lively unleashed a new salvo in her ongoing legal back-and-forth with Justin Baldoni by claiming that she was not the only woman he made uncomfortable on the set of It Ends With Us.
An amended version of her complaint filed late in New York federal court alleged that she has corroboration of her original claims, and a spokesperson for the actress claimed that ‘other women confided in Blake about their discomfort,’ according to People.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Balondi’s attorney Freedman said: ‘Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry picked to the media. Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband.
‘Her underwhelming amended complaint is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims,’ he continued. ‘Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.’
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said her amended complaint against Baldoni ‘provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims.’
They added that it ‘includes previously undisclosed communications’ Lively had with Sony Pictures, Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer Studios and ‘numerous other witnesses.’
The new version of the complaint reportedly includes an added defamation claim against Baldoni that was not part of the initial document, which was filed on New Year’s Eve.
According to Hudson and Gottlieb, Lively is suing for defamation ‘based on the repeated false statements the defendants have made about Ms. Lively since she filed her original complaint…’
She has also expanded her complaint to add Jed Wallace and his Texas-based crisis PR firm Street Relations, Inc., as a defendant.
Wallace, who has denied playing any part in a smear campaign against the Gossip Girl star, previously filed a $7 million lawsuit against her in response to Lively’s allegation in her initial complaint that his firm ‘weaponized a digital army’ against her on behalf of Baldoni.
She had requested Wallace be deposed in her initial complaint, though he revealed in his subsequent lawsuit earlier in February that the request had been rescinded.
Lively’s new filing alleges that others on the set of It Ends With Us can corroborate her claims.
It claims that Baldoni and his co-defendants’ ‘false narrative crumbles under the indisputable truth’ that the actress ‘was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni…’
The filing also tries to establish that she ‘raised her concerns contemporaneously as they arose in 2023, not in connection with some imagined power play for control of the film in 2024.’
According to a spokesperson for Lively, the amended filing ‘details the corroboration that backs up Blake’s original sexual harassment and retaliation concerns.’
They allege that the document proves that ‘other women confided in Blake about their discomfort and fear of coming forward, and their concern about the current public vitriol.’
Despite the escalating legal battle between the two parties, there’s no end in sight for Lively or Baldoni.
In January, a judge scheduled a trial date for their lawsuits in March of 2026, and both parties have already decided to skip any attempt at mediation.
Lively and Reynolds recently made light of the situation when they returned to the spotlight at the SNL50 anniversary special last month.
In one segment featuring questions from the star-studded audience, Reynolds alluded to the dueling lawsuits.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler set off the exchange by calling on it and asking, ‘How’s it going?’
‘Great. Why, what have you heard?’ the Deadpool star responded nervously while clasping his hands together.
Lively then looked up at him with a painfully over-the-top expression of concern, before relaxing into her normal smile.
Insiders later told DailyMail.com that some attendees of the SNL anniversary special were ‘apprehensive’ about chatting with the A-list couple.
‘Some producers were concerned that the show was being used to “endorse” Blake and Ryan because they seem desperate to prove that they’re still in with the Hollywood crowd,’ the insider continued.
‘Their team worked with SNL to create the joke but the truth is, people there weren’t really feeling it. To many it felt like cheap damage control. But it was included as the network knew the appearance would grab ratings and make headlines.’
They continued: ‘Some people thought it was weird that they were so eager to crack jokes about it because the accusations are serious. It felt like Ryan was desperate to stick with the funny guy act which was almost at the expense of Blake. She seemed on edge backstage.’
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman later slammed the joke, despite the fact that it never explicitly referenced the Jane The Virgin actor.
‘I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation,’ he said on an appearance on Hot Mics with Billy Bush.
‘I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that. So it surprised me.’
Earlier in February, Lively’s legal team sent subpoenas to the cell carriers to produce ‘receipts for her legal battle against Baldoni.
‘Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to “destroy” and “bury” her reputation and family over the past year,’ her attorneys Hudson and Gottlieb told Deadline.
‘We will now receive all of the “receipts” that, unsurprisingly, are nowhere to be found on Mr. Freedman’s website, and like Ms. Lively, those “receipts” will have their day in court,’ they added, referencing Freedman’s allegation that Baldoni’s team had ‘receipts’ backing up his claim that Lively had been a bully on the set of It Ends With Us.
Baldoni’s legal team later said the subpoenas went ‘flagrantly overboard’ in a letter to US District Judge Lewis J. Liman.
‘If they have so many receipts why are they so afraid to produce them,’ Lively’s attorneys responded in a statement to People.
