Justin Baldoni and his wife have broken their silence on his “traumatic” two-year Blake Lively scandal, accusing the Hollywood star of causing them “pain” with her “untruthful” claims.
Last month, the It Ends with Us co-stars reached a shock settlement in their contentious battle over accusations of sexual harassment and an alleged subsequent smear campaign during the production of their romance drama film.
Days after Baldoni, 42, was handed an $8m (£5.9m) bill for Lively’s legal fees paid during his defamation countersuit, he and his wife Emily shared an Instagram video, calling it “the right time” to speak out – with Emily claiming Lively’s lawsuit was a “disguise as a fight for women”.
“So 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 started the video.
“It just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, where we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just didn't feel like the right time.”
Emily concurred that it now “feels like the moment”, with Baldoni saying that his “gratitude” for people who have helped him through “saved” him.
However, Emily said that this gratitude “doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years” and is still trying to “understand how something like this could even happen”.
“The truth is – reality is – is that there's been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family,” Emily said, with Baldoni continuing: ”We don't even know this is the right thing to say, but 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 years.”
He said that they “wanted to let the justice system run its course”, with Emily stating: “The truth, and the facts, have spoken for themselves.”
Lively, 38, had originally sued Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, accusing the actor and director of misconduct on the set of Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends with Us and of organising a sophisticated smear campaign to undermine her reputation.
Baldoni later filed a $400m (£298m) countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for allegedly attempting to “destroy” his reputation and career. A judge tossed out the lawsuit in November 2025 and then dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims after "carefully considering the social context in which particular behaviour occured".
He wrote: “There is no question that this conduct might support a hostile work environment claim if it occurred on the factory floor or in the executive suite. [Baldoni] was acting in the scene. Assuming he was improvising, the conduct was not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters during a slow dancing scene.
“The conduct was directed to Lively’s character rather than to Lively herself. Creative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment.”
However, Lively's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, claimed that the majority of Lively’s sexual harassment claims were dismissed due to "a technicality" in which Lively was found to be an independent contractor, not an employee.
The judge upheld three claims – breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting in retaliation – and Baldoni and Lively were due to go to trial last month before they reached a settlement.
Lively’s recovery of legal costs has since been approved, with a judge citing a California law designed to protect survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from retaliatory lawsuits meant to intimidate and silence victims.
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