“We’ve had to wrestle with so many things”: Justin Baldoni and wife break silence on legal battle against ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni and his wife, Emily Baldoni, broke their silence for the first time since their legal battle with Blake Lively over the 2024 film, It Ends With Us.

The couple shared a joint Instagram post on July 8 addressing the toll the controversy has taken on their family, without naming Lively. They noted the importance of gratitude in their two-year battle and thanked everyone who supported them throughout the fight. Emily said:

“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.”

She added that there has been “a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family” which makes it difficult to speak. Justin added that there’s “been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple years and that created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise.”

They indicated that for now, they’re prioritizing healing and family time with their children, Maiya and Maxwell.

What happened in the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively case?

After more than two years of intense legal battles, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively reached a settlement in May 2026. Reportedly, Lively had accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of their film It Ends with Us, which was released in 2024. She also alleged that after she raised her concerns, Baldoni and his team of publicists orchestrated a smear campaign against her to damage her reputation.

Justin Baldoni denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm, alleging defamation and breach of contract. That suit was later dismissed.

According to a BBC report Judge Lewis Liman determined that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, could not “adequately allege that Lively's threats were wrongful extortion rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions.”

After the dismissal of Baldoni's $400 million countersuit, a federal judge ordered him and his studio to pay Lively roughly $8 million in legal fees. The judge ruled that she was entitled to compensation under a California law that protects survivors from retaliatory, weaponized defamation lawsuits.

In a statement shared with The Guardian, Lively’s attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said:

“The value of this ruling is in the precedent it creates, the accountability it imposes, and the protection it provides to those who may one day find themselves facing similar retaliation for speaking the truth.”

The Guardian reported that the amount covers Lively’s legal costs that she had incurred from January to June 2025 in her fight against the director and her co-star. It also includes the petition for damages that were still pending when Lively v Baldoni was settled in May 2026.

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Lively has detailed $8,035,040.88 in defense fees and costs. Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have until 13 July to respond by either agreeing to pay the fees or challenging Lively’s claim.

Baldoni had largely remained out of the public eye because of the dispute. He now resides with his wife, Emily Baldoni and their children Maiya and Maxwell. The couple came into the spotlight after they recently addressed the repercussions of their legal battle with Lively.

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