Justin Baldoni has spoken out for the first time about his legal battle with Blake Lively, posting a five minute long video on Instagram on Wednesday (July 8) alongside his wife, Emily Baldoni.
In December 2024, Lively sued her It Ends With Us co-star and director, with her suit claiming that Baldoni exhibited behaviour that caused her “severe emotional distress”, arguing that after raising concerns about an unsafe working environment on set, she faced retaliation that extended into the film’s publicity period.
Baldoni denied the allegations made against him. He also countersued against Lively, as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds, but that case was dismissed last June. Lively’s original case also included a sexual harassment claim, but on April 2 a federal judge in California dismissed that aspect of the suit due to state jurisdictional grounds.
The case had been due to go to court on May 18, but on May 5, both parties confirmed that a settlement had been agreed that means it will no longer go ahead. The particular details of said settlement have not been disclosed, but the joint statement asserted that both parties will “move forward” from the matter.
In a new video, which can be watched below, the Baldonis sit together, nervously laughing as they began. “We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years,” Justin said, “and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say, because Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just didn’t feel like the right time.”
The couple explained that “gratitude has saved us”, but Emily added that the gratitude “doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years. 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. So much to unpack. And the reality is that there’s been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family, which also makes it hard to speak.”
Justin continued that there had “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. We just wanted to let the justice system run its course.” Emily added that “the truth and the facts have spoken for themselves.”
“We are healing,” Justin said of their current situation. “And if you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It looks different every day. And we have had to rethink for ourselves what is real and what matters. And it’s this. It’s the kids. It’s our family. It’s our friends. It’s our community who’ve been there for us. It’s our faith. I think we’re closer and more devoted and steadfast in our faith than we’ve ever been.”
The couple went on to thank their supporters, and credit their faith with getting them through the period. “There is so much more to say, and that time will come” Emily concluded. “But for now, we are going to focus on continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life.”
Blake Lively was reported by People to have been absent from the wedding of Taylor Swift on July 3, as well as the events leading up to it. Attendees included Paul McCartney, who was said to have played ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ for the first time since 1964.
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