Justin Baldoni’s lawyer made the full settlement with Blake Lively public, saying he wanted to give both sides closure.
Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has made the full settlement between the actor and Blake Lively public. It is the latest step in a long legal fight that started with their 2024 movie It Ends With Us. The lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said he shared the document so both sides could finally move on.
The film was a major release. Lively starred in it, and Baldoni directed the movie and acted in it too. The film did well at the box office, which made the legal fight that followed even more closely watched. Over the past year and a half, the case became one of the most talked-about disputes in Hollywood.
Freedman released the agreement a few days after a judge ruled in the case. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ordered Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios, to pay Lively’s legal fees. Freedman spoke about his decision on The Megyn Kelly Show on Monday. He said he published the settlement “to allow people finality.”
He said the goal was to help both actors move on. He said it would give Baldoni time with his family and a chance to focus on his career. He said it would also give Lively the space to put the matter behind her. When you settle a case, he said, you should settle it, wish the other side well, and move forward. ABC News said it reached out to Lively’s representatives.
The agreement itself does a few things. It ends the lawsuit between the two sides. It blocks any future claims tied to the dispute. And it includes a joint public statement. One part is still open. Lively’s request for legal fees and damages under a California law is left for the court to decide.
Inside the Baldoni Lively It Ends With Us Legal Battle
The fight began in December 2024. Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. She said she had suffered severe emotional distress. She alleged that Baldoni, who also directed the film, and others sexually harassed her on set. She also alleged that they tried to run a smear campaign against her.
Things moved fast after that. The New York Times published an article about Lively’s complaint. Baldoni then sued the newspaper, saying the article was false and damaging. That same day, December 31, Lively turned her complaint into a formal lawsuit against Baldoni in New York. Baldoni answered with his own lawsuit. He sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and others, accusing them of extortion and defamation. In January 2025, the courts combined the cases into one.
Over the next several months, judges trimmed the case down. In June last year, Judge Liman threw out Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane. He also dismissed Baldoni’s defamation case against the Times. In April this year, a federal judge in New York dismissed much of Lively’s case. That included her claims of sexual harassment. The judge did allow her to pursue some claims that Baldoni’s public relations team had harmed her reputation.
The two sides reached a settlement in May. They released a joint statement through their lawyers. In it, they said they remained committed to safe and respectful workplaces. They said they hoped the deal would bring closure and let everyone involved move forward in peace.
With the full settlement now public, both sides have signaled that the case is over. Freedman framed the release as a clean end to a fight that had played out in public for a year and a half. For now, neither Baldoni nor Lively has said anything further beyond the joint statement their teams put out in May.
