Blake Lively and Justin Baldonisettled their legal dispute on Monday in New York, pulling back from a federal trial in Manhattan that had been due to begin on 18 May, according to a joint statement released by their lawyers. The deal ends a bruising dispute tied toIt Ends With Us, the 2024 film in which the pair starred, although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The settlement arrived after a long public collapse of what had begun as a professional collaboration and turned into one of Hollywood's most watched legal battles. Lively had accused Baldoni of helping drive an online retaliation effort after she raised concerns about his behaviour on set, while Baldoni denied sexually harassing her and rejected claims that any smear campaign existed.
It Ends With Us... settled! Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni avoid explosive trial after feuding co-stars finally reach agreement in multimillion-dollar casehttps://t.co/TNcqPTnFnO
The now-abandoned trial would have laid bare the working relationship between Lively and Baldoni on theIt Ends With Usset in 2023. In her court papers, Lively described an atmosphere she said was 'rife with sexual harassment.' She accused Baldoni of making what she viewed as degrading remarks and inappropriate physical contact in front of colleagues.
According to her filings, Baldoni told crew members she had never watched pornography, referred to her as 'pretty hot' on set, and leaned in to nuzzle and kiss her without consent during a slow dance scene. She further alleged that Jamey Heath, chief executive of Baldoni's company, stared at her bare breasts in the mirror of her make-up trailer.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled a lawsuit brought by Lively over the filming of 'It Ends With Us,' averting a civil trial set for May where both actors would have had to testify about Lively's allegations of sexual misconduct by Baldonihttps://t.co/um0GCwntIlpic.twitter.com/q039q1QHWK
'They're just being creeps,' Lively texted a friend during the first week of filming in 2023. 'Like keep your hormones to yourselves.' That message, among others, was due to be scrutinised in court, along with reams of emails and internal memos from Baldoni's team.
Baldoni vehemently denied sexually harassing Lively and rejected the characterisation of his behaviour as predatory. His legal team argued that any physical contact was either scripted or misinterpreted, and they insisted there had been no orchestrated smear campaign against her.
A judge had already dismissed Lively's sexual harassment claims, ruling they did not meet the legal standard required, but allowed her retaliation claim to go before a jury. That meant the trial would have focused not on what happened in the trailer or on the dance floor, but on what Baldoni and his associates did once tensions spilled beyond the set.
Blake Lively's lawyers had framed the case as a test of how the law will treat alleged online manipulation in high-profile disputes. They argued that, starting in 2023, people hired by Justin Baldoni and his company strategically engaged with the press and manipulated social media narratives to undermine her reputation and pre-emptively discredit any allegations about his behaviour.
Source: International Business Times UK
